Maurilio Amorim

Month: November 2011

  • Authenticity and the Deceptive Allure of Perfection

    Authenticity. It’s a big word and it’s everywhere today. We want an authentic life with authentic friends, even down to attending church with an authentic preacher. But sadly, we, myself included, are often guilty of measuring ourselves against the impossible: the manufactured image of perfection we hear, watch, and read about. These works of populist fiction become our target in real life.

    I must congratulate my fellow marketers in succeeding selling us plastic perfection but derailing us in our pursuit of an authentic self.

    But no matter how philosophical I get, I find myself going back to the old adage, “beauty is skin deep, but ugliness is to the bone.” So I try harder, run longer, hit the gym at 5 a.m. and pass up on the chocolate cake that beckons for me every time I walk into the kitchen. My insecurity demons emboldened by the latest picture of the shirtless, buff and Photoshopped (as in touched up, enhance, beautified by software) Brad Pitt, have their way with me as I try, still unsuccessfully, to measure up.

    I want authenticity from people around me while I try to sell everyone on the Photoshopped version of myself. I sell it to those around me as “giving it” my best, but is that my real motivation?

    Do you feel pressure to look, behave or become someone other than whom you believe God has created you to be?

  • What I Learned from Andy Rooney as I Watched 60 Minutes

    I want to live and  die like Andy Rooney. This past week he passed away at the age of 92. After watching Mr. Rooney’s life from my seat in front of the TV since I was a child, I have come to the realization that when it came to work, he got it right. I never met Andy Rooney or knew much about his personal life or religious views. That’s not the point of this post. But here’s what he taught me about life over the decades as I saw him on my tv.

    What Andy Rooney taught me about life While watching him on 60 minutes

    He taught me that I need to love what I do. There was no question Andy loved his job. At get 92 in this final interview, Mr. Rooney answered the if-you-had-to-do-it-over question with a simple answer: I would have been a journalist; I would have worked for 60 minutes. In other words, he would have it done it all over again.  I want to look back in my career and know that I did what I loved in a the place where I loved doing it.

    He taught me to speak my mind. Andy cared more about speaking what he believed than what it was popular.  Whether you agree with Mr. Rooney’s views or not, he let you know where he stood. A few years ago, he said something that upset a minority group. CBS suspended him for a month and saw a 20% decline in viewership. He was quickly re-instated. I want to stand up for what I believe even when it’s not the popular thing to do.

    He taught me that while my body might age, my mind doesn’t have to. He was old, he was feeble and according to some, cantankerous–at that age, I say you can be whatever you want to be. But his mind was sharp and his memory strong until the end, allowing him to write and comment on the world around him with a perspective very few could have. After all, he didn’t read about it but  lived through The Great Depression, World War II,  Vietnam, the Civil Rights Movement, Reaganomics and beyond. I want new generations to engage with the content that I produce in my latter days because it brings a critical perspective that only experience can generate. It’s not looking back and glamorizing the past, but interpreting the present in the light of where we have come and understanding where it might take us.

    He taught me that I should not quit until I’m really done. Mr. Rooney died less than a month after his last broadcast. What great timing. I want to contribute to my world until the day I die: nothing left to do, no more work left to be done, no bucket list item left uncrossed. I know that’s not up to me, and God’s timing is different for all of us, but what an awesome way to go.

    How do you feel about working until you die? Shouldn’t we retire?

     

  • Top 10 Worst Church Moments from a Church Secret Shopper

    I have attended hundreds of church services as a church secret shopper. I’ve had thousands of conversations with volunteers, staff and visitors. Here’s my list of the top 10 worst things people said to me:

    10. “Excuse me, but you’re sitting in my seat” It seems cliche but it happens more often than you think.

    9. “ya’ not from around here, are ya?” Older man said to me after I asked directions to the restroom. I didn’t respond, but I was thinking: “What gave it away? having all my teeth?”

    8. “Follow the blue line. It’s kinda of complicated. Good luck.” Said the two men sitting inside the information kiosk before turning to each other and finishing their conversation. They pointed to a board on the wall with multiple color lines leading to different locations on campus.

    7. “Nazarenes are a lot like the Baptists, but holier,” middle aged man at a Nazarene church when I asked him the difference between a Nazarene and a Baptist church.

    6. “You’re the prettiest thang I ever seen!” I’m not telling you who said it.

    5. “We Lutherans are a homely bunch.” A greeter at a Lutheran church as I asked more information about her church. She was right.

    4. “I don’t know anything. I can’t really help you. This is my first day at the information table and the person who was going to train me didn’t show up.”

    3. “I’ve got dresses that are older than you!” I don’t really remember how I got into this one, but does it really matter?

    2. “It must be a special day, I see a lot of strangers here today.” Misguided Music minister during a Sunday morning greeting time.  No warm and fuzzies for this stranger.

    1. “Hey, Mister, come back here! You’re not Catholic, are you? Give me the wafer back!” A Catholic Priest on the rightful suspicion I was impersonating a catholic worshiper during communion. I had to give it up.

    I’m sure you have a favorite line you got at church. Please DO share!