What's New What's Old What's New - May 31, 1999 What's New - May 30, 1999 What's New - May 29, 1999 What's New - May 28, 1999 What's New - May 27, 1999 What's New - May 26, 1999 What's New - May 25, 1999 What's New - May 23, 1999 What's New - May 22, 1999 What's New - May 21, 1999 What's New - May 20, 1999 What's New - May 19, 1999 What's New - May 18, 1999 What's New - May 17, 1999 What's New - May 16, 1999 What's New - May 15, 1999 What's New - May 14, 1999 What's New - May 13, 1999 What's New - May 12, 1999 What's New - May 11, 1999 What's New - May 10, 1999 What's New - May 9, 1999 What's New - May 8, 1999 What's New - May 7, 1999 What's New - May 6, 1999 What's New - May 5, 1999 What's New - May 4, 1999 What's New - May 3, 1999 What's New - May 2, 1999 What's New - May 1, 1999 E-MAIL to NORTHERN THUNDER Home Page  
WHAT'S NEW

in the world of drag racing

Black Bar

The latest update as of May 24, 1999

A change of pace for today's update; something completely different. (After all, how many times can I write about the awful weather we've been having down here?) By the way, for a (welcome) change, we've gone nearly 24 hours without any rain and the temperature got up to 26 degrees (79 F) today. Not bad for "winter" eh?

Earlier today I stumbled across something written by a very wise man... No, it sure wasn't me!... and as I read it, the message rang through loud and strong. I could see myself as part of the problem, instead of being part of the solution. Read on and see if you can learn something from this... and if you can honestly say that it doesn't apply to you.... then you're a better person than I.

RUMORS

Heard a good one today? No? Why not make one up? Let's have some fun and see who we can start a good story about. If you work in the drag industry every day you hear the latest hot gossip. If 10% of the stories were true, drag racing would be in serious trouble.

The problem with rumors and gossip is that it performs no valuable function. In fact it makes us all a little smaller because it always preys on the negative. Have you ever noticed which rumor will travel faster: "He just lost his sponsor" or "He just picked up a new sponsor".

What does this say about the person spreading the rumor? Most of the time when a negative rumor is being spread it is done by someone with either a hidden agenda or a "Napoleon" complex. A "Napoleon" complex is the result of an individual's lack of personal esteem. They can be a very smart individual, but still lack personal self esteem. It is their perception of themselves that is in focus here.

Others may see them as smart, rich, successful; all positive aspects, but how the individual reacts to others mirrors how they see themselves. They have little self confidence in their own abilities and therefore have a need to attempt to bring others down to their own perceived level.

A hidden agenda can be anyone who wants to create a hurtful situation for their own personal gain or satisfaction. Hidden agendas are usually very well hidden and the real reasons are very seldom known, but the teller of the story is hoping to gain something or hurt someone and neither situation is conducive to the truth, so just how much do you allow yourself to believe?

If you want to pass the story on, then you have a responsibility to find out the truth, otherwise it is smart to just let it stop with you and carefully evaluate the teller of the story., Just think, they could be telling a story about you next week.

Strong individuals have no need to attempt to pull others down to their personal perceptions of who they are. A strong individual will look at someone successful and say to themselves: "I want to be where he is", instead of "They must have done something illegal to get there."

It it easy to look at a successful person and say that they must have made their money illegally; after all, look how hard I work and how smart I am and I don't make that kind of money. The apparently logical deduction is that they must have made the money illegally.

The unfortunate situation is that in 1% of the cases it is true, so therefore in the other 99% it must be as well. You know the old adage: "Where there is smoke, there is fire." Well, if that were true we would have the slicks on fire in the burnout, wouldn't we? Smoke is smoke and fire is fire, so don't be so quick to judge. Get all the facts -- from the source, not from anyone else.

There is little value in pulling someone down as it only hurts both of you. Most strong personalities usually don't care about the rumors, but problems can arise when the rumors are malicious or libelous. If you are going to pass a rumor on, it had better be true or you can be held responsible for telling the story.

Now have we heard a good rumor today? No? So go ahead and have some fun and start a story; just make the story about yourself. Let's see how much fun that is.

See a little of yourself in there? See a lot of me in there? As I said at the outset, it's a little bit of food for thought that I'm sure we all could heed. Nothing more to add to today's update -- so until next time, keep tuning in to What's New for the latest news.... even if we have to make it up ourselves.... There I go again, eh?

Black Bar
More news as it happens, and if you wish to provide us with any news or information to upgrade or correct any errors at this site:

E-MAIL to NORTHERN THUNDER