“Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.”

Whether you are a religious person or not, those words from 1 John 3:18 likely hit home. Saying we are going to do things right is easy. Actually doing them right requires planning and effort and accountability, and that’s not easy.

“There are people who talk and people who do. Be very cautious of the first group.”

My former boss and continual mentor and friend, Michael Gartner, gave me that advice many years ago, and I continue to heed it on a daily basis. The smartest people I know tend to be the ones who talk very little yet get the most accomplished. When they do choose to speak, it is meaningful, and they avoid the big talkers like the plague.

“Do what I mean and not what I say.”

Bill Fjetland, one of my high school wrestling coaches, was an incredible instructor and motivator; the words just didn’t always come out of his mouth like he meant them to, and he would often offer a comment such as that as a follow-up. Those of us who wrestled for him didn’t have to ask for explanations. We absolutely knew what he meant.

Every generation seems to think that much has changed from the decades prior, and much has. Fortunately, many constants have carried on through the years, too — like love and words and speech and deed and truth.

For the most part, we know the difference between basic rights and basic wrongs; it’s the stuff in between that gets tricky. The gray area. These are, quite often, the things that divide us. We are so convinced that we are right and others are wrong, even though we never walked in each other’s shoes. Again, talk is cheap.

Today, though, it is about more than talk. It is about comments fired off on keyboards or phones and permanently posted on social media in a matter of seconds, often without much thought or consideration. Hatred. Arrogance. Disgust. Venom. My friend Darren Tromblay calls it “Internet Hercules,” noting how strong people can be when hiding behind a monitor.

Social media has changed the world — for the better and for the worse — but there’s no question it has attracted hatred in droves. You don’t have to make very many keystrokes to find it. Meanwhile, we should be mindful of our words and speech — and even more mindful in our deed and truth.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com

See Shane Goodman's previous columns here.

ART NEWS
Riffing on the 1980s

By Jim Duncan

Chris Vance’s annual show at Moberg Gallery cements his stature as Des Moines’ most popular painter. Some 32 of the paintings were sold before the exhibition even began. Vance consciously comments each year on what he finds most interesting about the contemporary world outside his studio. This year it’s AI and how it can regenerate old ideas and attitudes while synthesizing something new and original.

A visual voice for Gen Xers, Vance comments this year, among other things, on baseball and smoking in the 1980s. “Little League Dream” is nostalgia in cut paper. Gallery archivist Michaela Mullin calls it “dark and dusty as a softball field of activity, kicking up dirt. The black and white collaged pieces show up in a blur, figurative subjects in parts — legs and feet here, upper body there, a ball in midair somewhere between, etc. Subjects seem to be running bases, and the green swirls make grass at the forefront of the paper, while at the top, the stadium panels in perspective hold lights to shine on everything below.”

The gift of a future
Residents share their stories of organ transplants.

By Jackie Wilson

Parents with children who have chronic disease will often make tremendous sacrifices to ensure their child’s survival and ease their pain.

For April Hansman of Waukee, that meant donating her kidney — but not to her daughter. Instead, she donated it to someone completely unknown to her in hopes of getting a kidney for her daughter if she needed one.
April’s daughter, Autumn, was born a “preemie” at 27 weeks and consequently suffered numerous medical challenges, including epilepsy and learning disabilities.
When Autumn was 11, she was diagnosed with stage 2 chronic kidney disease. April was told she might need a kidney at some point, but not yet.

“As a mom, you want to fix your kids. I couldn’t do that,” she recalls.

Official 2024 Community Guide
 
• Events
• Parks
• Attractions
• Bridges
• Communities
• Churches
• Schools

These celebrities were born on this date: Adrian Pasdar, Brandon Lancaster, Clark Vogeler, Dianna Agron, Isiah Thomas, Kirsten Dunst, Lloyd Banks, Travis Scot, Mac DeMarco, Justin Vernon

SUBMIT: Send your birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

The answer to yesterday's riddle:

What’s a forklift? FOOD TO YOUR MOUTH! (Or any similar variants) - Mike Chiston, Aaron Burns, Lori Bluml, Carolyn Rogers, Mark Arends, Rex Post, Gail Tomlinson. Or, A"special ops" move by elite picnic- raiding ants. - James Taylor

Today's riddle

What is a donkey's favorite garden tool?

Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

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