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Health & Fitness

Malibu: A Way of Life?


Malibu: A Way of Life?

 

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the Truth has a chance to put it’s pants on” – Winston Churchill

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Malibu is a cool place…that is for sure….I have been around for almost 5 years and I have met a lot of great people.  I have tried to celebrate them as much as possible…in writing, in video, whenever.  I am blessed to call many of them my friends.  My kids love this town and I am so grateful for that.  My daughter has met some great kids and families here in Malibu.

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Celebrating Malibu is important and I have thrown my hat in that ring …but I have also noticed something in Malibu (from my perspective, at least) that is a touch less admirable and not cause for celebration.  Maybe it is the nature of some small towns to adopt this personality but I have to say that I am often shocked by what I see as a “defamation” culture in this town.  Not from most people, of course not, it’s a small minority, but it is palpable.  Part of the problem is that so many are willing to tolerate it.

 

Before I came to Malibu I lived in another part of Southern California….from a professional standpoint I never had a speck of acrimony…..total collegiality and professionalism…we all supported one another….I have definitely not found that to be the case here in Malibu.  The rumor mongering and slandering is calculated and unfounded, and unprofessional.  Not all of my colleagues, thankfully, but a handful.   I know that many people don’t like change, they don’t like new blood…they would rather just sit back and feel entitled to what they feel is rightfully “theirs”.   There is a feeling of entitlement based on how long one has been here, or who they know. 

 

I don’t understand that mentality at all….go out, work hard, act with integrity,  serve your community if you can, and let the chips fall where they may…say nothing disparaging about others….just do the best you can with the purest motives you can muster.

 

I see it in the politics in this town…slanderous, reckless, statements made about others and their motives.  People’s reputations brought to their knees in unsubstantiated rants on public forums, such as this one here.  Ascribing sinister motives to this person or that person: people getting very unbalanced “shakedowns” in the town square….

 

The irony is that when I meet some of these people who have been slandered in my presence, I find them often to be very different from how they were characterized.   I’ll pick one example and I apologize if I offend this person, but Jeff Jennings was characterized to me by more than one person as being a “certain way” with regard to city politics.  I don’t know Jeff extremely well but I know him well enough to say that he is a very sincere and dedicated civic leader who is reasonable and balanced, not an ideologue.  Because of someone’s characterization I was predisposed to judging Jeff before I ever knew his positions.  Is that fair to anyone?  

 

Skylar Peak has been confronted by some very significant emotional challenges over the last few years.  Without knowing the full story one might be inclined to make judgments out of context.   Politics aside, I think Skylar has been pretty courageous and proven a lot of people wrong.  Let’s remember that these people we talk about, they are people’s son’s and people’s fathers…they are someone’s mother, etc..  They are not perfect, but there is often a back story that goes unnoticed.

 

Who among us would want to be characterized recklessly or due to selfish or thoughtless intent, or without the full story?  We all, myself included, could stand a refresher course in the “golden rule” from time to time.

 

  I am not saying we should leave things unchallenged, but let’s try to challenge the issues and not slander the man or woman who is behind the “issues”.  What if we get it wrong?  The stakes are high.  What happened to walking around in the other guy’s moccasins?  Let’s be thoughtful and careful before we burn down someone’s barn.  After all, we are trying to have a civilization here…

 

Food for Thought….

 

 

 


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