“In your face!”
If this was American Top 40…these three words would be bubbling under the hot top spot of the week for the most famous threesome of all time. I’m not Casey Kasum or Ryan Seacrest but let’s face it…Yes you can from the Presidential race and I Love You have some stiff upper lip competition.
Alexis on American Idol didn’t say it but pretty much delivered it in the seconds that followed Simon Cowell’s comment of her journey being in serious trouble. The struggling car industry caught some serious flack from the government when their CEO’s came to the Pow Wow in private jets…those controlling the dollars and cents didn’t have to say it…the lack of money being poured was loud enough.
“In your face!”
As kids and playful adults we’ve half heartedly joked and at times sarcastically pounded these three words into the hearts, souls, ears, eyes and noses of coworkers and friends while sipping on another twelve ounces of its attitude on the idea of moving forward.
Say what?
Yeah…personal growth at work, home, church or out on the golf course with Tiger Woods suddenly stops when you elect to remove what you need to truly do from your eyes connected to the head that’ll take you there. In martial arts, if you want to win at sparring, the goal is to work your way to the opponents head. It doesn’t matter how much you fork out for product or style, wherever your head is positioned, your body is following.
So where’s your head today? Business meetings are in the way. Meeting new clients is such a waste. I just want two hours of silence; let the kids do whatever they want. Nobody should have to say hello to the neighbor…just wave! Then Bob drops and the only memory you have is something that resembles the palm of a Prom Queen at the Macy’s Day Parade.
Nobody really knows where the term In Your Face arrived, but it’s been used countless times in some of the most memorable places, movies, MTV Video Awards, between basketball and football players and hot topics like Mohammad Ali and Mike Tyson. Before it became cool, even my brother Terry had a unique way of rubbing his attitude in places he felt it belonged.
We get it! Right? Not really. Nobody wants to take themselves on. Today’s leaders will be tomorrow’s leaders. The right of passage has become extinct. The only change coming our way is a constant need to clean the slate. Unless you stand up and take pride in your efforts of becoming what you’ve spent years or even five minutes thinking...nothing is going to take place.
In your face! Notes! Today I’m going to participate in the meeting by offering ideas. Today at lunch I’m going to thank the person behind the counter for being dedicated to making sure hundreds of people are served hot food. In your face! Notes! Today I’m going to stop by the music store and sit down at one of the electric pianos to see what feels like to put my fingers on each key. Rather than mow the lawn when I get home, I’m going to lie in the grass and look up into the trees to watch other living things around me. In your face! Notes! I’m not going to yell at the kids or pets when something doesn’t seem to be right at home. I’m going to try something like Facebook for no reason other than to connect with the friends I lost contact with after high school.
Wherever your head is…your body was created to follow. Wednesday nights are fight nights in Hop Kido, we play for real. The 325 pound monster appointed to me has one mission…take me out as quickly as possible. He’s no different than your boss and or most recent reasons for stress such as sickness or unpaid taxes. The only way to beat the beast is not to get in his face but your face.
Whatever...right? My little finger can lift the monster off my throat. I need this thing that connects my brain to my shoulders. Couldn’t survive in radio for five minutes without it. Patiently waiting for the monster is a good decision but within seconds you’ll have no air for your eyes to remain open. Using my little finger and placing it inside his snot canal, his head begins to follow and with him, that stinky uniform.
In your face! Notes! You aren’t paid to create a new family at work…but it’s expected that you use family qualities when building bridges to open ideas. If your children came up to you and said, “Mom, Dad, glad you’re staying home…the car is mine, taking all my friends to the movie then dinner on your dime.” You’d have a fit! Your work ethic does it to you everyday. Instead of playing out the role of Johnny Joe’s job description, we’ve entered an age when our current leaders could use a little help. In your face! Notes! In Tae Kwon Do we clean our own school and that requires us to take out the trash. Save your company money by helping to keep the building clean. Spend a day mowing the lawn. It’s amazing how your spirit about being at work changes when you become part of the process rather than seat number 2115 in cubical 39-B.
My first wife used to play an evil game, “If I can’t see it…it doesn’t exist.”
Where’s your head?
The economy is sour…Swine Flu has claimed its first America life. Are you popping on the tube to wash the worries away? It took billions of long hours hoisted into play by millions of volunteers and professional scientists to locate not a cure for AIDS but slivers of peace. We’ve learned this generation not to shove In Your Face into the presence of disease and or financial reality…it has a crazy way of spinning around and coming back stronger.
In your face! Notes! If you can’t see it…it won’t exist. Please don’t steal her art.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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