{"id":2616,"date":"2011-09-23T09:34:58","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T13:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allandouglas.com\/blog\/?p=2616"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:41","slug":"whence-the-wind-blows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/whence-the-wind-blows\/","title":{"rendered":"Whence Blows the Wind?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"sunset,mountain,evening,tennessee\"<\/a>
Photo by Allan Douglas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the orange orb of the sun slid down behind English mountain, splashing the sky with rose, vermillion and mauve, the day\u2019s heat began to wane.\u00a0 The air started to move; a cool caress of their faces as they sat in their rockers on the porch before it drifted off to play among the trees.\u00a0 The rustling leaves were like soft music.<\/p>\n

The breeze wafted first from the south, then paused, and resumed again from the northwest, paused and swung back again as though it were playing a game.\u00a0 \u201cI wonder what makes the wind change like that.\u201d She sighed.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

His mind filled with images of weather charts and thermal differential flows; warm air rising, pulling cooler air in from all around, mobile low pressure cells.\u00a0 He turned to deliver the dialogue that was forming.\u00a0 She sat there, eyes closed, head against the tall chair back, as she lolled gently to and fro.\u00a0 His nose wrinkled in thought, then he leaned back in his chair and resumed a slow rocking.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, it\u2019s just playful I reckon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sky deepened through the shades of purple into silver-specked black as the Chuck-will\u2019s Widow added his melody to the concert of nature.<\/p>\n

\u00a0* * * * *<\/p>\n

\u00a0An on-line friend and I spoke on the phone yesterday.\u00a0 She sought advice concerning an opportunity which the winds of fate had blown in her direction.\u00a0 She too is a writer.\u00a0 She too is trying to produce income from her work.<\/p>\n

A popular and successful businessman had offered to help promote her work through collaborative efforts between them.\u00a0 He preferred an informal approach; no contracts or lawyers.\u00a0 This made her uneasy, though she could not say exactly why.<\/p>\n

After our discussion I thought about her situation as I worked, for this day was spent doing things that allowed time for contemplation while my hands did what they needed to do.\u00a0 I pondered the phenomenon of people helping people \u2013 and people taking advantage of one another.<\/p>\n

In this world there are certainly many people who reach out to others not so much out of a desire to help those others, but out of a desire to help themselves.\u00a0 Some do so in deceitful ways that will end up hurting, or at least disappointing, the other participants; some do so in ways that may benefit both.\u00a0 But, there are also those who recognize that they have gotten where they are through the intervention of others and wish to \u201cpay forward\u201d the kindness and good fortune that has put them where they are. \u00a0How do you tell the difference?\u00a0 How do you separate con men from Saints from savvy businessmen?\u00a0 I did not have a definitive answer for her.<\/p>\n

I myself spend a part of each day trying to encourage and promote other writers.\u00a0 And I admit that I do so in the hope that they will reciprocate by recommending me to their friends.\u00a0 But I also know that 90% of them will not.\u00a0 Some will thank me and move on with what they were doing, others never respond at all.\u00a0 And that\u2019s OK; it\u2019s just their nature.<\/p>\n

I have been taken advantage of.\u00a0 I\u2019ve done jobs where the client was demanding, imposed unrealistic deadlines, changed the specs in mid-project, and then tried to weasel out of payment when the job was done.\u00a0 Most of the time these people did not seem treacherous during the negotiations.<\/p>\n

On the rare occasion I have also been presented with an opportunity that seemed incredible.\u00a0 Not on the scale of what my friend has been offered, but something pretty good.\u00a0 In one case a three-way collaboration resulted in a business that not only benefited the three of us as principles but over 50 others who stepped up to be a part of the venture we managed.\u00a0 In time the third principle got greedy and demanded more than her due, and a declining economy doused the enthusiasm for the venture, but for over five years we did well and everyone benefited through cooperative efforts.<\/p>\n

There are probably those who feel that I took advantage of a situation.\u00a0 I\u2019m not perfect either.<\/p>\n

Like the evening breeze, good fortune can be fickle.\u00a0 When something seems to be blowing fair and steady, how can you be sure it is what it seems?\u00a0 I don\u2019t have the answer; I don\u2019t know that there is an answer.\u00a0 Sometimes you just have to trust your gut; if it feels wrong, step back and look it over carefully.\u00a0 Sometimes something that seems too good to be true \u2013 is.\u00a0 But sometimes\u2026 some<\/em>times, the offer is genuine.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not talking about when the widow of a former African President wants to deposit five million dollars into your bank account because you\u2019re a swell guy, but when someone in a position to help offers to do so, take a good look at the offer before rejecting it out of hand.\u00a0 Specifically look at what they are expecting from you.\u00a0 Weigh your required involvement against your expected gains, account for your time and effort as well as financial involvement.\u00a0 Do some homework; check out the potential partner.\u00a0 Are they who they say they are?\u00a0 Do they have a history of tossing partners under the bus?\u00a0 Have they helped others?<\/p>\n

If a formal agreement or contract is offered, read it carefully.\u00a0 If it is at all unclear to you, have a lawyer examine it before you make any decision.\u00a0 If no contract is offered, you are guaranteed nothing, but you also have the option of bowing out if you become uncomfortable with the arrangement.<\/p>\n

Has the wind of opportunity brought you something tempting?\u00a0 How did you handle it and how did that work out for you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the orange orb of the sun slid down behind English mountain, splashing the sky with rose, vermillion and mauve, the day’s heat began to wane.  The air started to move; a cool caress of their faces as they sat in their rockers on the porch before it drifted off to play among the trees.  … Continue reading “Whence Blows the Wind?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[34,35,29],"class_list":["post-2616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sell-yourself","tag-business","tag-partnering","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2616"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21624,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616\/revisions\/21624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}