3/6/12...I was reading some online content regarding the Shingo Prize, named in honor of Shigeo Shingo, one of the innovators of Lean. As I was reading a thought struck me. Shigeo Shingo is dead. The prize is named in honor of him. Deming is dead. Taiichi Ohno is dead. JFK is dead. Martin Luther King is dead. Einstein is dead. Michaelangelo is dead. C.S. Lewis is dead. In other words, there is a lot of dead people. What I find interesting in all this deadness are a couple of things. One, how most on this list spent a lifetime crafting their trade or calling or purpose, usually with very little recognition to the collective whole before their death. Only in their death, whatever true worth they created in society sustained itself and almost became what some would call mythology. After all, when a person dies, we can then form in our minds who they were, or what they meant to us, and I think most of us tend to discard their flawed humanity. It is almost as if we are elevating them to a "savior" status, or someone who exemplified what is the best in us. Lately on the news, there has been a woman coming out discussing her affair with JFK, a president that most of America holds in high regard. Even if it is true, I think most people while acknowledging the story also dismiss the story all at the same time.
Look at rock stars and athletes. I marvel at how we hold them up to some status level, and then somehow we become disappointed when they fail and they do not live up to our desired expectations. A great example is Tiger Woods.
What is it in us that wants us to mythologize those who are living, and mythologize those in their death? Shigeo Shingo now has a prize named in his honor. All these people who administer this prize now speak on his behalf as if they actually knew all his thoughts, and doubts, and fears. They do not. Therefore they present a mythological character based on some truth. I do not get to see the blood, sweat, and tears it took Mr. Shingo to succeed in his trade. I do not get to see his humanity. I only get to see the mythological result, and to now be told by those who administer the prize if I do not achieve the Tools, Systems, Principles progression, that somehow I am not living up to the mythology.
Yes, to seek perfection is noble and ideal. To acknowledge we can never reach it, but should strive for it is also noble and ideal. But I am wondering if this is rooted in truth or mythology.
What becomes apparent to me in these ruminations is grace. Grace is rooted in perfection, but not my own. Perfection in this earth I live on only exists in mythology. The Shingo Prize is nothing more than mythology. Oh, it has it's good points so do not get me wrong, but it is rooted in something of which can give me false hope. I can spend my career leading others in pursuit of this prize, but the prize is mythology. In my lifetime, I have chased after many mythological things of this world, only to find every single one of them let me down.
The beauty of grace is rooted in the acknowledgement and realization that I am not, nor will I, become perfected. This is a hard pill to swallow, because deep down I desire this, and so there is an ongoing battle between pursuing perfection, realizing I will not get there, and yet still carrying on.
This also requires a decision. Jesus Christ presented himself as God. Whoa! Jesus Christ in his humanity presented himself as God. Therefore when He died, I can no longer mythologize Him because He already presented Himself as God. Perfection. Shigeo Shingo became mythologized by others in his death but he never claimed to be God during his lifetime either. Jesus did.
There are more thoughts to this that I am afraid are swimming around in my head, but are not finding connection. Alas I am tired so I will stop the blog entry for now.
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