Ode to Honeybell Tangelos and Sweet Friendships

Ode to Honeybell Tangelos and Sweet Friendships

Margaret E. Holt

Oh this little orange so sweet---

You are an end-the-old-year treat

A “healthy” gift of friendship mellow

The Florida Honeybell Tangelo--

When tonight we lift our champagne toast

To lifelong friends from coast to coast,

The Hepburns first we must salute

For sharing their own handpicked fruit!

Fifteen Minutes on Two of My Values

Fifteen Minutes on Two of my Values: Inclusiveness and Humor

Margaret Holt

January 11, 2011

12:35-12:50 p.m.

On the surface, I like the expression, “no child left behind.” You could change this I suppose to “no person left behind,” and the meaning is expanded. I think intentionally excluding persons from almost anything is dangerous. There are individual, community, national, and international implications for exclusivity. I wonder when I think of individuals who have acted out in the most violent ways, how much of their behavior resulted from incidents of exclusion – by their families, schoolmates, or employers. There is much written about “relationships”, not surprisingly. It is damaging to the human psyche to tell someone they aren’t invited, perhaps meaning they don’t count. I value all efforts to include people in almost everything I think about, do. I think the metaphor of who is at the table is huge. When I was younger I didn’t consider too seriously who or who was not “at the table.” Now I immediately look at any gathering and say to myself, who is not here. Is their absence intentional? What does it mean if people are excluded, especially in all those circumstances where a group is going to make decisions that will matter in the lives of those who aren’t included.

I deeply value humor, especially the capacity to laugh at one’s self. I don’t know if any psychologists would agree with me or not, but I find people problematic and difficult if they don’t have this ability. Now our country is incredibly polarized. Often people who can make us all laugh bring us together in lighter moments. I haven’t met too many people who don’t have a sense of humor, but the few who have crossed my path have concerned me and sometimes made me uncomfortable. I feel some facet of their personality didn’t develop. How sad that they cannot “let go” of tensions. I find people who are genuinely funny, magnetic. They start a group laughing and then the laugher echoes and intensifies. Much about life is funny. I’d like to think when my time is up that I will have the “last laugh.”

My values are connected, I believe. When lots of people are included in whatever we do, the humor is exponential. I am definitely the beneficiary of so many inclusive groups who know how to do very important work and pepper their work with wonderful humor.