My mother was the most inclusive person I've known. Her approach gifted me with the moral inclination to seek what I have in common with others more importantly than our differences. After 72 years I now know Mom’s inclinations apply to every phase of my life.

• Inclusive spirituality. When I returned to the parish of my youth 18 years ago, I assumed I would fit in just as my mom always did.
• Inclusive business organizations. The company I sold in 2007 was available in 2014 for a fraction of its selling price. I acquired it hopeful that our culture remained.
• Inclusive families. When divorces hit our Irish Catholic family, I believed I could still connect with exes since Mom taught we (already) were a family of misfit toys.
• Inclusive government. From 16-62 I was hard core Republican, proud that my conservative party, while less open minded, accommodates compromise.
  
• Inclusive education. I returned home (also) excited that I could help St John School, my alma mater, grow.

Having acquired the discipline over time to “play the hand that is dealt to me”, these disappointments broke my heart, then led me to fight in mom’s name. Nothing can be done about my parish, now down to a few hundred members, so I’ve invested my time and money in other organizations that model faith, hope and charity. Every business we’ve ever owned focuses on people development, for all. Our family’s outcasts who wish to have a connection know they have a place with me and Alice. I’m restarting my political career on the ground, now 8 years into being a precinct election official. And we are 12 years into a St. John’s rebuild (600+ students) behind our inclusive President, Sister Maureen Burke.

Practically speaking, community growth through exclusion is simply metaphysically impossible, whether it is our family, our faith, our business or our government. Organisms only grow via inclusive change. Policies of exclusion are established to tighten control by fewer people, of fewer people. I find sad irony in the fact that the Catholic Popes and Republican Presidents of my youth were the architects of ecumenism and détente.

Most importantly, I’ve found that inclusion is more fun. Just like growing is more fun. Life and love are difficult, so we need boundaries, but life is more fully lived inclusively.

Peace.

Tim McCarthy  

tim@thebusinessofgood.org 

www.thebusinessofgood.org 

Quote of the Month: Alex Hormozi

“Whoever says money can’t buy happiness hasn’t given enough away!”

---Alex Hormozi

Editor’s Note: This quote was sent by my friend and editor, Mary Beth Conlee, seemed first an instruction to give more away. After reading it a few times, though, I realized it says more, which is: “Since happiness is a byproduct of giving, more is better”.

Song of the Month:  “Long As I Can See The Light”, by John Fogerty

Editor’s Note: A recent article about “alternatives to “doomscrolling” suggested reading posts to songs on youtube.com as an option to getting trapped in the chaos of other media. Sounded weird until she suggested this Credence Clearwater Revival song because, she said, two of the postings for it on youtube.com were “this song kept me hopeful during my 34 years in prison” and another message, “I played this in the shower every morning before I went to chemotherapy”. Consider those thoughts while you enjoy this beautifully crafted song and video.

Favorite lyric:

“Though I’m going going going
I’ll be coming home soon
Long as I can see the light.”

Listen to the full song here

Book of The Month: “The Mysterious Case of Rudolph Diesel”, by Douglas Brunt

Editor’s Note: The past few years, I’ve enjoyed travelling into non-fiction history with a twist; true stories never entirely solved. This book was enjoyable mainly because it is
really a biography of a name, we’ve all heard many times without thinking of the person behind the name. The inventor of the diesel engine was a visionary German engineer who had quite a different plan for his invention than its eventual use. Rudolf Diesel was a peaceful guy looking for an internal combustion engine for manufacturing (not war)
that could use vegetable oil (not petroleum) when he stumbled into the sights of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II, the British Navy’s young Winston Churchill, and Standard Oil’s JD Rockefeller at the dawn of World War I.

Favorite Excerpt:

“To conclude his speech, Rudolph reflected on the geopolitical implications of his discussion and made the point that was also then top of mind for Churchill, Rockefeller and Wilhelm II: that fuel is the decider of the fate of nations.

Deisel made three predictions. First, he insisted that pollution, largely ignored in industrial nations, would become an important consideration in engine design. Second, despite the slow start of diesel power in America, he believed America would come to utilize the Diesel-powered locomotive more than any other nation in the world. Third, while America was monstrously rich in its domestic supplies of fuels, eventually economic efficiencies would transcend wasteful habits.”

Read it for yourself here

Truly Funny: Linda

From my sister, Linda, about a chat she had with her granddaughter recently.

“Slowly, I'm trying to concoct a plan for the next couple years”, Linda said to her very wise granddaughter. To which, Caroline responded: “Hmm, a senior without a plan...bad idea!"