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January
2004
HAPPY
NEW YEAR!
Anger is
a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.
You can’t
change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future.
All people
smile in the same language.
The real
measure of a person’s wealth is what they have invested in eternity.
It’s
important for parents to live the same things they teach.
If you fill
your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you
have no today to be thankful for.
The choice
you make today will usually affect tomorrow.
Take time
to laugh, for it is the music of the soul.
Patience
is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your
gears.
The best
thing parents can do for their children is to love each other.
Harsh words
break no bones but they do break hearts.
To get out
of a difficulty, one usually must go through it.
We take for
granted the things that we should be giving thanks for.
Happiness
is enhanced by others but does not depend upon others.
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February
2004
Balance
of Life
This
was written by the CEO of Coca-Cola, Brian G. Dyson. It was used as
Georgia Tech’s Commencement Address
–
Imagine
life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air.
You name them: Work, Family, Health, Friends and Spirit, and you’re
keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work
is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other
four balls – family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass.
If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked,
nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You
must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
How?
1.
Don’t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It
is because we are different that each of us is special.
2.
Don’t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only
you know what is best for you.
3.
Don’t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling
to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
4.
Don’t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the
past or the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live
ALL the days of your life.
5.
Don’t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is
really over until the moment you stop trying.
6.
Don’t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is
this fragile thread that binds us together.
7.
Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that
we learn how to be brave.
8.
Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible
to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way
to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love
is to give it wings.
9.
Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve
been, but also where you are going.
10.
Don’t forget that a person’s greatest emotional need is to
feel appreciated.
11.
Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you
can always carry easily.
12.
Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.
“Life
is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.”
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March
2004
Always
Remember Those Who Serve
In
the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy
entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass
of water in front of him.
“How
much is an ice cream sundae?”
“Fifty
cents,”replied the waitress.
The
little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of
coins in it. “How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired.
Some
people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.
“Thirty-five cents,” she said brusquely.
The
little boy again counted the coins. “I'll have the plain ice
cream,” he said.
The
waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked
away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.
When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then
swallowed hard at what she saw. There, placed neatly beside the empty
dish, were two nickels and five pennies – her tip.
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April
2004
An
elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer contractor
of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely
life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck,
but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry
to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more
house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was
easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy
workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to
end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder
came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front door key
to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my
gift to you.” What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known
he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.
Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.
So
it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way – reacting,
rather than acting – willing to put up less than the best. At important
points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we
look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living
in the house we have built. If we had realized that, we would have done
it differently.
Think
of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer
a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only
life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more,
that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque
on the wall says, “Life is a do-it-yourself project.” Who
could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes
and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your
attitudes and the choices you make today.
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May
2004
The Train
Tucked
away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We are traveling by train
– out the windows, we drink in the passing scenes of children waving
at a crossing, cattle grazing on a distant hillside, row upon row of
corn and wheat, flatlands and valleys, mountains and rolling hillsides
and city skylines.
But
uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day, we
will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving.
Once we get there, our dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives
will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. Restlessly we pace
the aisles, damning the minutes – waiting, waiting, waiting for
the station.
“When
we reach the station, that will be it!” we cry.
“When I’m 18 …”
“When I buy a new 450sl Mercedes Benz!”
“When I put the last kid through college.”
“When I have paid off the mortgage!”
“When I get a promotion.” “When I reach retirement, I
will live happily ever after!”
Sooner
or later, we realize there is no station, no one place to arrive. The
true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly
outdistances us. “Relish the moment” is a good motto. It isn’t
the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday
and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us
of today.
So
stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains,
eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch
more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along.
The station will come soon enough.
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June
2004
The
Water Bearer
A
water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a
pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack
in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full
portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the
master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full
two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and
a half pots full of water in his master’s house.
Of
course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to
the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed
of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish
only half of what
it had been made to do. After two years of what it perceived to be a
bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream.
“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”
“Why?” asked the bearer. “What
are you ashamed of?” “I have been able, for these past two
years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes
water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because
of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get
full value from your efforts,” the pot said. The water bearer felt
sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As
we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful
flowers along the path.”
Indeed,
as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun
warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this
cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because
it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer
for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that
there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other
pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your
flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side
of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve
watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful
flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the
way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”
Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots.
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of Newsletter Archive
July
2004
The
Farmer and the Mule
This old farmer
had a mule that fell into the farmer’s well. The water wasn’t
very deep, so the mule was able to stand on the bottom. The farmer heard
the mule praying or whatever mules do when they fall into a well and
went to investigate.
After assessing
the situation the farmer sympathized with the mule but decided that
neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. The farmer called his
neighbors together and told them what had happened and enlisted them
to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of
his misery.
Initially
the mule was hysterical, but as the farmer and his neighbors continued
to shovel dirt on his back a thought struck him. It dawned on the mule
that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back he would shake
it off and step up. This he did, blow after blow of dirt hitting his
back.
Shake it off
and step up … Shake it off and step up … Shake it off and
step up. The mule repeated this statement over and over to encourage
himself. No matter how painful the blows or distressing the situation
seemed, the old mule fought panic and just kept on shaking it off and
stepping up.
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August
2004
The
Triple Filter Test
In ancient
Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One
day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do
you know what I just heard about your friend?”
“Hold
on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything
I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple
Filter Test.”
“Triple
filter?”
“That’s
right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about
my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what
you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter
test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that
what you are about to tell me is true?”
“No,”
the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”
“All
right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know
if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter,
the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my
friend something good?”
“No,
on the contrary…”
“So,”
Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about
him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass
the test though, because there’s one filter left: the filter
of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going
to be useful to me?”
“No,
not really.”
“Well,”
concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither
true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”
This is
why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
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September 2004
Who
Are You?
“There’s nothing
noble in being superior to some other person.
True nobility is being superior to your former self.
It is more important what you believe than what you possess.
It is more important what you do than what you profess.
And it is more important who you inspire than who you impress.”
- Dag Hammerskjold
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October 2004
The man’s name was Fleming, and he was a poor
Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his
family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped
his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black
muck, was a terrified boy screaming and struggling to free himself.
Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and
terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s
sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and
introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
“I want to repay you,” said the nobleman.
“You saved my son’s life.”
 “No,
I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer
replied, waving off the offer.
At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to
the door of the family hovel.
“Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.“Yes,”
the farmer replied proudly.
“I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him
with the level of education my son will enjoy. If the lad is anything
like his father, he'll no doubt grow
to be a man we both will be proud of.”
And that he did. Farmer Fleming’s son attended
the very best schools and in time, he graduated from St. Mary’s
Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout
the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of
Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who
was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his
life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.
His son’s name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
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November
2004
HAPPY
THANKSGIVING
This
is the time of year for each of us to reflect on all that we have
to be thankful for. Let’s be sure to remember some of our most
basic blessings.
A
group of students was asked to list what they thought were the present
“Seven Wonders of the World.” Though there were some disagreements,
the following received the most votes:
1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter’s Basilica
7. China’s Great Wall
While
gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one quiet student hadn’t
turned in her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having
trouble with her list. The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I
couldn’t quite make up my mind because there are so many.”
The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we
can help.”
The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the ‘Seven Wonders
of the World’ are:”
1. To see
2. To hear
3. To touch
4. To taste
5. To feel
6. To laugh
7. To love
The
room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we
overlook as simple, ordinary, and take for granted, are truly wondrous!
A
gentle reminder – that the most precious things in life cannot
be built by hand or bought by man.
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Happy
Holidays – Happy New Year!
The
longer I live the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important
than the past, than education, than money, than circumstance,
than failures, than successes, than what other people think
or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness,
or skill. It will make or break a company … a church …
a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every
day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We
cannot agree on our past … we cannot change the fact that
people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have control
of, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10%
what happens and 90% how I respond to it. And so it is with
you … we are in charge of our attitudes.
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