For the most part we know only "sound bites" about one another. Events we have heard about, rumors passing our way, and highly selective (sometimes unflattering) comments in both the online and real world conspire unconscously to create an image wholly incomplete about a person, organization, cause, or event. Getting out the full story for our lives and strivings takes much effort in a "sound bite" world. Fortunately, social network media is maturing to the point where you can put forth "the rest of the story", as Paul Harvey used to intone on radio as I was growing up.
I have been experimenting with a site called brandyourself.com. It offers a chance to pull the online fragments of your life into a single place where the best of who you are and what have done become more fully available. For a sample, check out my new site at: http://erniebeal.brandyourself.com.
If you elect to use this tool drop me a note via the links provided in that profile with your new site name. I would love to get to know you better.
~ Ernie Beal
Folks curious about my preaching style sometimes ask for examples. Video recordings do not exist. However, sound recordings were made for messages offered across several years at Faith UCC Fort Wayne. Two representative examples are:
Feel free to download and listen.
~ Rev. Ernie Beal
Between 1980 and 1992 my professional focus involved representing people who claimed their civil and human rights had been violated in some particular. Within this period I handled several hundred lawsuits filed in federal courts and many more administrative claims. My practice ranged broadly, in both geography and scope of claim. Though most cases concluded via settlement several went to trial with verdicts favorable to the folks I served. Among the most notable were:
Keehr v. Consolidated Freightways
http://openjurist.org/825/f2d/133/keehr-v-consolidated-freightways-of-delaware-inc
Reeder-Baker v. Lincoln National Corporation
http://openjurist.org/834/f2d/1373/reeder-baker-v-lincoln-national-corporation
Moffett v. Gene B. Glick Company
http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1985865621FSupp244_1829.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17329818169633542294&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr
http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=1984654593FSupp61_1642.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985
Reflecting on this period of my life I am reminded strongly that every life story contains many events, successes, and mistakes no individual one of which tells the whole story. My legal career reflects my desire to work with folks who have been abused, to apply my skills to great achievement, and to work successfully in contexts not ordinarily receptive to the cause I pursued. Those qualities continued to be evident in later professional work, even when making mistakes or falling short of a desired goal.
I recently had an opportunity to talk with an agency providing housing supports to individuals who had experienced multiple life challenges and for whom the present "story" of their lives had very little positive detail. Thinking about my past, present, and future compelled to realize the importance of working with those folks to uncover, recover, and retell the full story of their life. I suspect we can all benefit by remembering the great moments, the good work, and the pleasant memories associated with every person we know. Such action on our part makes a great antidote to the modern tendency to reduce people to "sound bites" and one-dimensional characterization.
~ Ernie Beal
