A dignity-first exploration of choices, contexts, and consequences—and what we do next.

There is plenty going on in the world, I live a short 40 minute drive north of the border between Canada and the United States, it’s February 20, 2026 as I write this and when I stood up out of bed this morning like every morning for the last very many years now I said outloud, “Today is going to be a great day.” And…I meant it. Like absolutely everything that happens in this life since I was cognizant enough to capture a thought and had a modicum of frontal cortex control, I have the ability to choose my response. I have agency, which, like everyone else, some days I use wisely and some days, like the character Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, though thankfully not with the same consequences, many observers could say of me, “he chose…poorly.”  I am particularly grateful for those times when I am the first to recognize that I have chosen poorly and can make efforts to seek forgiveness from those I have truly offended and change my course. 

I am, by nature, a very positive person. I tilt to seeing the good in people and the prospects of bouncing back from mistakes and events that did not go, or are not going, as hoped. My hope is to share thoughts on a wide range of topics to shine a light on what it means to be on a team with no limits on membership, and that can’t be defeated, even in the most trying of circumstances. I have long been an advocate of the core concepts that I’ve come to embody or define as being on Team Awesome. I try to acknowledge the awesome efforts of those around me and invite others to “be awesome” or “stay awesome” in all they do and say. In short to “Choose Awesome.” 

As I alluded to above, at the core of all this is agency, the ability to choose your response regardless of circumstances. To meet actions, behaviours and challenges that conflict with all that is meant by character traits like grace, honesty, humility, integrity, gratitude, pride (note there is a good pride and it has, as C.S. Lewis noted, an evil twin of the same name¹), cooperation, and more, much more really, and chose how I will respond. Sometimes it’s hard, and sometimes the response is to express your concern and invite someone to reflect on other options. Even then, there is a choice about how those concerns are expressed, and I really strive to achieve a high score on the “respond with dignity” index. (I’ll share more about dignity.us over subsequent posts – they have done great work, and have great resources for individuals, teams and schools) 

Go Old School – Stephen Covey’s Fifth Habit of Seven

Then again, sometimes it’s really quite simple, you can capture the very essence of choosing awesome, and being a member of team awesome when you remember that the person you see in the mirror and every single person you see out the window (and there are a lot more outside the window than in the mirror) hold so much more in common than is different and the elements we hold in common that are eternal in nature,… well my friends, those are the foundational elements that do allow us to expect a bit more of each other. To pause and to consider Covey’s fifth Habit, “Seek first to understand…” Understand is not the same as agree but it’s an important sequencer, if someone is way out from where you or I would like them to be, there is a much better chance that they will be interested in what I have to say if I seek first to understand and then, work on the other part of that 5th habit, …and then be understood. 

I will share more about what this Choose Awesome/Team Awesome Global looks like to me over the weeks, months and years I have left on this planet; I don’t anticipate dying anytime soon, I’m not at the don’t buy green bananas stage, but I have more years in the rear view mirror than on the trail ahead.  

I hope to highlight some great efforts others have undertaken to help us lean into being our best selves. To be clear, being our best selves should exist in an abundance mentality, one that is not scrambling to have more at the expense of others, one that brings out the very best of others and is not given to seeing others as less than. 

To be awesome is to recognize who we really are, all of us that share this marvellous planet that was absolutely created for all mankind. Those of us fortunate to be born in a land of abundance or into a family of limitless possibilities and great peace have an obligation to recognize the blessings we have and do all we can to value those of us who have a few mountains and rivers of trials, through no fault of their own, to climb and overcome. Many with fewer material goods have limitless more character than those with visibly more, even appreciating and honouring that is a step right into Team Awesome. 

I may write about books, news, sports, faith, family, football, leadership, politics, conflict…but it will always look at the issues through a lens of Team Awesome, Choose Awesome, Be Awesome and Stay Awesome and see the potential for everyone to do likewise. 

 I don’t think we can continue down the path that distances us from dignity, limits opportunity, frames conversations as us-versus-them, embraces shaming, and takes no shame in doing so without serious consequences for all mankind. I have sat at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and directly across from the Peace Statue at the Nagasaki Peace Park. I’ll share more about both in future posts, but suffice to say that far too many people died needlessly in both instances, in part because they failed to see the awesome in others and chose the awesome. I hope you’ll come back for more and invite you to be awesome. 

Cheers,

Rick

Footnotes¹ See C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity Chapter 8 The Great Sin.