I did another thing today which I have never done before. I picked my youngest son up from his school. Sounds rather silly does it not, but this is an opportunity that I have not had before. I even got there early and watched him operate in his class. Chalk up another new experience for me in terms of getting closer to my family! It really was great to get a view on a slice of his life that I had never seen.

The principal of the school asked me how the man of leisure was doing. I blogged yesterday about this being my favourite question. Yes, I know I am doing nothing to earn an income but I am not sitting around doing nothing! Anyway she said that she was chatting to my son and asked him what his dad was doing. He replied that his dad was writing a book. She asked him if he knew what it was about. He said that his dad was writing a book on how to get a job! So at last I know what my kids think I am up to. Interesting that at the age of three my son understands that having a job is important!

I also did a bit of homework this morning. I took some photographs of my running shoes. I failed to take them out for a run today, so I thought that they could feature in my blog. If you are wondering why this photo does not look like my running shoes, you obviously are pretty sharp! I tried to use some of my new Photoshop techniques, and no, I did not turn my shoes into a cat, but have discovered that it is never a good idea to photograph stuff you want to cut out, with a grass background! As a result, my cat became the focus of my attention.

I also had a very interesting discussion with a chap from church this morning. He shared some of his books with me and told me his story about values. He used to work for a mining company. The day before his holiday he was asked by his boss’s boss to dismiss an employee. On investigating the issue, he could find no reason to do so and reported this to his boss. He went on holiday and on his return discovered that he had been retrenched. I suppose that there are many stories out there that talk to people standing up for their values and paying for it dearly. His point is that he can live with himself today as he did the right thing. In the end both himself and this employee that he was asked to fire were both given their jobs back. What a painful and annoying thing to go through due to the ego and values of senior people in your organisation!

I was amazed that he was able to go back to work in that environment. How on earth do you screw your head back on in such a way as to be the best possible employee for an organisation that has treated you so badly. I suppose it talks again to attitude – with the right attitude, anything is possible.

The other key issue to me is that we need to stand up for what we believe is right. If we don’t, we just sell another piece of our soul very cheaply and that is the last thing that this world needs!