This post has little to do with work or self development or leadership.

Except, I think, that it does.  

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Why am I so taken by this DVD?  It is nearly 6 full hours of the funeral proceedings for a recent US president.  And all of it draws me in.

I ran it across it a couple of weeks ago while at the Library and had a chance over vacation to watch it.  I spent nearly a day doing so; and don’t regret for a moment that I did.   The video is The Reagan Library’s Tribute to Ronald Reagan.

It’s not the man or the politics I am obsessed with.  That’s not what draws me in.

It’s the ballet and the precision of color guards that are so much the very essence of these services that draw me in.   Even more, it is that beautiful precision interspersed with tightly controlled emotion and tears. That draws me in even further.

It’s the stirring poignant music of choirs and soloists and military bands that draws me in.   Even more, it is that all of that music is juxtaposed amongst non-melodic sounds like the 21 gun salute and cannon fire.  That draws me in even further.

It’s the speeches from heads of states, childhood friends and former presidents that draw me in.  Even more, it is that some of those speeches written with the help of aides and speechwriters while others were seemingly written on a blank sheet of paper the night before.  That draws me in even further.

It’s the thousands of people lining the streets watching the procession of family behind the horse drawn carriage that draws me in.  Even more, it is that you oddly cannot hear a single sound except footsteps and birds chirping as those thousands of people stand in complete silence. That draws me in even further.

I know what it is.   I know why I am so drawn in. 

There is no middle ground here.  It is a palette of only the brightest and the darkest colors standing apart at times, and then, mixing together. 

It’s a place where not only you may cry tears of joy or tears of pain, but you may actually cry both.   There is no middle ground. 

I’m drawn in when you have to invest and where there are, extremes.  The highs and lows in people, places, history and work I think, make it all worth it.  And when these extremes are inexorably tied together, I can’t turn away.

Till next time,

Grow The Business.

Mark