The Stanfords — Learning, and Me

Good Morning, God!

I had never seen this statue of the Stanford family — but then, I wouldn’t have appreciated it when I was young. If young Leland had lived, there would be no Stanford University. Or, if the story is “true”, if the President of Harvard had been a bit more gracious toward the “Western” visitors, there might just have been a Stanford building on the Harvard campus. Apparently he put Mrs. Stanford’s back up and she asked him how much the WHOLE of Harvard had cost — then turned to her husband and said something to the effect of WE COULD DO OUR OWN UNIVERSITY, DEAR.

The campus is FILLED with buildings named after the living and the dead. Attractive buildings, and all filled with BRIGHT young people — the best and the brightest, God. And that brings me to the talk I attended yesterday by Carol Dweck on Mindsets. I had read her book and wanted to see the author. I am so glad I heard her, God, because I NEEDED to hear her.

In her book, Mindsets, she makes the point that people tend to have either a FIXED mindset — this is just the way I am, I can’t change — or a GROWTH mindset — I can work hard and get help and learn. Sitting there, I realized how easy it is to slip into a FIXED mindset. More to the point, God, I realized I had done that in areas of my life. Saying stuff like, “Oh, I’m not good with details” to take the easy path of not checking carefully. Excuses that let me off the hook of personal responsibility!

As Dr. Dweck said, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE to become a LEARNER — no one has to stay a Non-Learner. Thank You, God, that You are never done with us!