Everyone dies.
All we can do is take care of the people who matter most to us. And if we don’t, we’ll have to live with every moment of our carelessness. Every memory. Believe me, it’s not an easy thing to live with. This goes for the person in the mirror too. We have to honor ourselves. If we don’t, there will be more regret than we can comprehend. But how many of you are living incredible lives? Is this the best version of yourself? Are you a daily inspiration to the people around you? Probably not. And it always comes back to those same pesky facts…
You are scared.
You are selfish.
You are in denial.
(Insert defensive reaction here)
Don’t confuse your lack of self-esteem with kindness. You do self-destructive things, both big and small. You’ve made this bed for yourself and only you can fix it. But it’s not just people who need to be be cared for. It’s things. In fact, that was one of the first lessons you learned as a child – “You have nice things and you need to take care of them.” But what did you do instead?
This week is evidence of what we all did….with others, ourselves, and our things. We messed them up. I’m not going to spell it out here, but a major tool in the world of miles and points has died. In codespeak…a popular ice cream flavor (not chocolate) has been totally shut down at our favorite Target competitor. This begs the question:
Why did this have to happen?
Problem 1 – Idiot bloggers who point arrows with this stuff make it hard for good deals to last. As our moms used to say, “This is why you can’t have nice things.” It’s obvious…certain things get shut down if publicized too much. These selfish bloggers are not interested in helping people. What they want is notoriety, hits, and eventually…income. It’s the old “all publicity is good publicity” strategy.
Solution – Ignore bloggers you don’t believe in. That doesn’t mean talking everywhere about how much you hate them. It doesn’t mean typing angry comments on their blogs. It means IGNORE THEM altogether. Don’t speak to them or about them…and you sure as hell shouldn’t be going to their credit-card-showroom-disguised-as-a-blog ever again. If you don’t like deals dying, then stop supporting the people who kill them.
Problem 2 – Flyertalk kills deals. Yes, this is also true. Newbies post too much information, old timers get angry, and arguments ensue. The posts and threads get noticed. Companies take action.
Solution – Don’t argue with these newbies. Again, it’s self-defeating. Your angry responses are drawing more attention to the posts. If you want to teach a lesson, do it with a private message. Give the posts a chance to get buried. There will always be newbies who blow it…don’t make things worse by drawing attention to it.
Problem 3 – Big interviews. A perfect example is the attention-seeking moron who decided to talk to CNN this week. Or the guy who talked to the Wall Street Journal about the US Mint deal. You know the type…these people will say anything to a big enough microphone and camera.
Solution – You can’t argue with people like this. Almost everyone gets why these interviews were bad news. These types of people don’t understand. So, again, don’t give them what they want most. Without attention, they’ll eventually go away. If you feel like you MUST argue with them, do it privately. Seeing the pattern here?
Problem 4 – Human nature. We are not meant to be secretive. Humans are social creatures. We feel good when we share with each other.
Solution – Know this about yourself. You have an itch that needs to be scratched. This desire to share isn’t a bad thing at all. Just be more selective. I have people emailing me things all the time because they’ve trusted the right guy. Be aware of your need and be careful with it.
I think most of this was common sense. And sometimes deals die. It happens. But let’s not be so eager to kill everything quickly. Then maybe one day we’ll be able to have nice things again. Maybe…
