Join the Club

Join the Club



I lived in Santa Barbara for a long time, and one year I noticed a club started up called the “Center of Attention Club.” A group of people met once a week and paraded through the streets and the malls. One by one they would exchange places so that on that day each person got to be in the limelight for a little while and experience what it was like to be the center of attention. It reminded me of the time in grammar school when the big boys dragged some poor chap along and threw him into the girls’ bathroom. I didn’t like that very much, and when I thought about the Center of Attention Club I knew they were bound for failure because the whole idea was redundant.



Everyone craves attention.

. . . and they get it.



Babies want food and we learn immediately if we want food we have to have get Mom’s attention. Life passes in the blink of an eye, and shortly getting food is less of a problem than getting attention. You can feed your family, feed your friends, feed your co-workers, feed your nation and the world if you open up your eyes and ears and see and hear the needs of others and give them attention. This opening up is breaking your outer crust. By understanding that everyone, even you, needs to be in the forefront once and awhile. . . . that people need you to see them and listen to them . . . you crack your own shell. You shell out when you pay attention.

Everyone wants to be the center of attention, but because of unfinished situations, those danged pictures again, in which they got thrown into the girls restroom, or tried to dance, or were put down by a parent . . . they may attempt to get attention by overtly shrinking away from attention. Some people are playing ‘hide and seek.’ They’re hiding behind their own façade waiting for you to discover them.

Feed people with your attention. It will make you powerful, and when you need attention, join the club.