THE HAND FOR LIFE

Lemons for sale - “When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”

At first it sounded like a Thanksgiving story, but the more I
reflected on it, the more appropriate it seemed for any time of the
year. The way I heard it, the story went like this:

Thanksgiving Day was near. The first grade teacher gave her class a
fun assignment -- to draw a picture of something for which they were
thankful.

Most of the class might be considered economically disadvantaged, but
still many would celebrate the holiday with turkey and other
traditional goodies of the season. These, the teacher thought, would
be the subjects of most of her student's art. And they were.

But Douglas made a different kind of picture. Douglas was a different
kind of boy. He was the teacher's true child of misery, frail and
unhappy. As other children played at recess, Douglas was likely to
stand close by her side. One could only guess at the pain Douglas felt
behind those sad eyes.

Yes, his picture was different. When asked to draw a picture of
something for which he was thankful, he drew a hand. Nothing else.
Just an empty hand.

His abstract image captured the imagination of his peers. Whose hand
could it be? One child guessed it was the hand of a farmer, because
farmers raise turkeys. Another suggested a police officer, because the
police protect and care for people. Still others guessed it was the
hand of God, for God feeds us. And so the discussion went -- until the
teacher almost forgot the young artist himself.

When the children had gone on to other assignments, she paused at
Douglas' desk, bent down, and asked him whose hand it was. The little
boy looked away and murmured, "It's yours, teacher."

She recalled the times she had taken his hand and walked with him here
or there, as she had the other students. How often had she said, "Take
my hand, Douglas, we'll go outside." Or, "Let me show you how to hold
your pencil." Or, "Let's do this together." Douglas was most thankful
for his teacher's hand.

Brushing aside a tear, she went on with her work.

The story speaks of more than thankfulness. It says something about
teachers teaching and parents parenting and friends showing
friendship, and how much it means to the Douglases of the world. They
might not always say thanks. But they'll remember the hand that
reaches out.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

BELIEVE IT IN LIFE

Jing Jing the dog relaxing on the floor - “Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.”

Writer Norman Cousins tells about a football game at which a doctor
found himself treating five spectators for stomach disorder. Each
complained of nausea, dizziness and cramps. Upon checking, the doctor
learned that all five had previously consumed soft drinks from the
arena's concession stands. In the interest of protecting public
safety, an announcement was made to the crowd that it would be wise to
forego drinks in the stadium because certain people were becoming ill.

By the third quarter of the game, 200 people – all of whom had been
slurping sodas – were reporting the same symptoms. Half of these
hurried off to a nearby hospital. Later in the afternoon the doctor
determined that his five original patients had also eaten potato salad
from the same delicatessen on the way to the game. The potato salad,
not the drinks, was apparently the culprit.

An announcement was made. Almost immediately those who were sick felt
remarkably better. The fans taken to the hospital were sent home as
their symptoms quickly disappeared.

All of this goes to show the tremendous power of belief. What we
believe to be true will often become true.

The power of our beliefs will dramatically affect our future. Like
automaker Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or not, you are
right." If you believe you will succeed or fail, you are probably
right. If you believe strongly enough that something good or bad will
surely happen to you, it likely will.

Mahatma Gandhi found this principle to be true in his own experience.
"If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing
it," the Indian leader said. "But when I believe I can, then I acquire
the ability to do it, even if I did not have the ability in the
beginning."

Where did that ability come from? Was it the sheer power of his belief
that gave him the capacity to do what seemed impossible? He was sure
that was the case.

Great belief is great power. And probably more than any other single
factor, great belief that something just might be possible … can bring
about what we want in life.

Believe it.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

KEEP ON SWINGING IN LIFE

Mobile Suit Gundam model kits - “Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”

They say that opportunity only knocks once. But temptation seems to
pound on my door forever. Even opening up and letting it in doesn't
seem to make it go away. More temptations come along and the beating
goes on.

Those temptations that cause me the most problems are those that
pull me away from being my best self. So I can relate to the Swiss
woman who was served dinner on a domestic American flight. She
opened up her dessert - a delicious looking piece of chocolate
cake - and immediately sprinkled a generous layer of salt and pepper
over it. A shocked flight attendant exclaimed, "Oh! It's not
necessary to do that!"

"But it is," the woman replied, smiling. "It keeps me from eating
it."

She found a way to drive temptation away from her doorstep, at least
for a while.

The most persistent temptations in my life are distractions that
keep me from doing what is in my best interest.

I forgo some much-needed exercise because I "just don't feel like
it" today. Have you ever felt like that?

You may want to quit that reading group, that difficult class or
those music lessons. It's easy to become distracted and get
discouraged.

Or maybe we say we just "can't find the time" to spend with those
closest to us, such as family. We may want to do these things; it's
just that sometimes we need a nudge.

Something baseball great Hank Aaron once said can help out here. "My
motto was to keep swinging," he said. "Whether I was in a slump or
feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do
was to keep swinging."

Sometimes we just need to keep swinging. And if we tell ourselves
that all we need to do today is to take one more swing, that may be
enough. We can always take one more swing. And who knows -- today we
might hit a home run.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

AREN'T THEY ALL OUR CHILDREN IN LIFE?

Lotus flower in bloom - “The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.”

There are few things in this life more difficult to experience than
the loss of one's child. Jim Wallis, in WHO SPEAKS FOR GOD tells about
a sad and terrifying incident that occurred during the tragic war in
Sarajevo not too many years back. A reporter who was covering the
violence in the middle of the city saw a little girl fatally shot by a
sniper.

The reporter threw down his pad and pencil and rushed to the aid of a
man who was now holding the child. He helped them both into his car
and sped off to a hospital.

"Hurry, my friend," the man urged, "my child is still alive." A moment
or two later he pleaded, "Hurry, my friend, my child is still
breathing." A little later he said, "Hurry, my friend, my child is
still warm."

When they got to the hospital, the young girl was gone. "This is a
terrible task for me," the distraught man said to the reporter. "I
must go tell her father that his child is dead. He will be
heartbroken. "

The reporter was amazed. He looked at the grieving man and said, "I
thought she was YOUR child."

The man replied, "No, but aren't they all our children?"

I think that is one of the great questions of our age. Aren't they all
our children? It is a question that deserves an answer.

Aren't they all our children? Those who live under our roof and those
who reside with another family? Those to whom we are related as well
as those whom we have never known?

Aren't they all our children? Those on our side of the border as well
as those on the other side? Those of our nation no more or less than
those of another?

Aren't they all our children? Those who worship like us and those who
worship differently? Those who look like us and those who do not?

Aren't they all our children? The well-educated and the
under-educated? The well-fed and the under-fed? Those who are secure
and those who are at risk?

Aren't they all our children? The highly valued and highly esteemed as
well as the castaways and the lost?

Aren't they all our children? Aren't they all our responsibility? ALL
of them? Ours to nurture? Ours to protect? Ours to love?

I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that the survival of our
world hinges on the answer to that question.

To say they are NOT all our children is to condemn the world to more
struggle – family against family, group against group, nation against
nation.

Aren't they all our children? If we say yes, can we ever again pit
them against each other? "If we have no peace," said Mother Teresa,
"it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

Aren't they all our children?

There may be no greater question for our generation. And how we answer
that question will determine the shape of our world for years to come.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

TURTLES CAN'T FLY FOR LIFE

Browsing through the Sunday morning market - “Welcome every morning with a smile. Look on the new day as another special gift from your Creator, another golden opportunity to complete what you were unable to finish yesterday. Be a self-starter. Let your first hour set the theme of success and positive action that is certain to echo through your entire day. Today will never happen again. Don't waste it with a false start or no start at all. You were not born to fail.”

A determined little turtle once climbed a tree. He somehow made it to
the first branch. Then he jumped into the air waving his front legs
and crashed to the ground.

After a while he slowly climbed the tree again. And again he jumped.
This time he flapped all four of his limbs, but still plummeted to the
hard ground.

The persistent turtle tried again and again with the same results. A
couple of birds perched on a branch nearby watched his futile efforts.
One of them turned to her mate and said, "Dear, don't you think it's
time to tell him he's adopted?"

There are simply some things we cannot do. Turtles can't fly.

Comedian Bob Hope once thought of pursuing a career in boxing. Later
in life he quipped about it: "I ruined my hands in the ring" he said.
"The referee kept stepping on them."

Fighting is something he could not do well. But he became a great
comedian.

Lots of people have ability and talent. And most people have an idea
about what they think they can do. So why do some excel but many do
not?

The famous American caricaturist Al Hirschfield explained it like
this: "I believe everybody is creative and everybody is talented," he
said. "I just don't think that everybody is disciplined. I think that's a rare commodity."

The secret seems to be discipline. Whatever ability we are born with
is not enough. Even raw talent requires discipline to be nurtured and
developed. And enough hard work and discipline can turn the most
meager skill or ability into a great strength.

A man jumped into a taxi cab in New York and asked the driver, "How do
I get to Yankee stadium?"

The cabbie replied, "Practice! Practice! Practice!"

He's right. And although discipline and practice may never get a
turtle to actually fly, it will probably get you and me just about
wherever we want to go.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

TRUE LOVE FOR LIFE

Silicon baking trays for sale - “A bad review is like baking a cake with all the best ingredients and having someone sit on it”

I'm not sure I can always tell love from passion. One father said of
his teenaged son, "I don't know if he's in love or in heat!" What
teenager would know? Besides, feelings of attraction can change more
quickly than a pouty expression.

But love, in its truest form, is greater than feelings. It is as much
a decision as it is a feeling.

Love is what Mr. and Mrs. Strauss shared. Mrs. Isadore Strauss was one
of the few first class women passengers to go down with the Titanic in
1912, and she drowned because she could not bear to leave her husband.

They remained calm throughout the excitement of the sinking vessel.
They both aided frightened women and children to find places aboard
lifeboats. Finally, Mr. Strauss, who had repeatedly urged his wife to
claim a spot safely aboard a lifeboat, forced her to enter one.

She was seated but a moment, however, when she sprang up and climbed
back on deck before he could stop her. There, she caught his arm,
snuggling it familiarly against her side, and exclaimed, "We have been
long together for a great many years. We are old now. Where you go, I
will go."

Where you go, I will go. It is a decision to be together, come what
may. I suspect she said something like that to him many times before.
Maybe the words she used were different, but the meaning was the same.
I want to be with you. Let's do this together.

Where you go, I will go. It's a decision to love. It is deciding to be
there, wherever "there" may be. It is a decision to sacrifice, if
sacrifice is needed. And it is choosing to re-decide it all over again
tomorrow and the next day and the next.

As the ship sank beneath icy water on that cold and dark, April night,
the Strausses merely re-made a decision they had made many times
before throughout their life together. They decided on each other.

Where you go, I will go. At the heart of true love is often a
decision, made again and again, to face the next day together … hand
in hand.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

ARE YOU HAVING FUN YET FOR LIFE?

Fresh vegetables for sale - “Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.”

Plato said that work should be play. Some airline employees have taken his injunction seriously. After landing, one flight attendant announced, "Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride." There's a flight attendant who knows how to turn her work into play.

She may have been the same one who, as the passengers disembarked from the aircraft, announced, "Last one off the plane must clean it."

A British insurance agent has fun with the accident reports he reads from some of his clients. Like the one who wrote: "I started to slow down but the traffic was more stationary than I thought." You know, stationary traffic can be like that.

Another client reported, "Windscreen broken. Cause unknown. Probably Voodoo." Voodoo would be a worry.

Before he became an actor, Ray Liotta worked in a cemetery. "I had a hundred people under me, and it was quiet," he fondly remembers. Actually, that doesn't sound half bad.

I have friends in the medical industry. She is a pharmacist and he is a sales rep for a pharmaceutical company. When I first met them I asked what they did for a living. He said, "She make drugs and I sell them."

I like the idea of injecting some play into work. And one of the great benefits is this: when our work is more fun, we like it better. And when we like it better, we do it better.

Are you having fun yet?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

CAN YOU SAY, "AWE" FOR LIFE?

Work gloves for sale - “Work out your own salvation. Do not depend on others.”

Albert Einstein said that wonder is the source of all true art and all
science. "He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer
pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes
are closed."

I remember standing in rapt awe when I gazed upon the wonders of the
ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in Peru. That amazing city was
built above the clouds, and it was more than the high altitude that
took my breath away. Can you say, "Awe"?

I'm reminded of the little girl who rode a train with her mother.
Looking out the window, she exclaimed, "Look! A horse!" And a moment
later, "Look! Houses!"

She gave every indication of keeping this up, so her embarrassed
mother apologized to the man next to her. "I'm sorry my daughter is
going on like this," she said. "She still thinks everything is
wonderful."

When do we stop thinking everything is wonderful? When we grow up?
When do we stop saying, "Awe"? Does growing older mean growing jaded?

And must we travel to faraway places to marvel once again? Can't we
experience wonder and awe today - this moment?

The slice of raisin toast I ate this morning was no less marvelous
today than when I first tasted it. But I did not notice how good it
really was. I think that few things are commonplace in themselves –
it's our reaction to them that grows dull over the years.

A man on his way to lunch happened to notice a visitor in Venice's
Piazza San Marco standing among the pigeons and gazing in apparent
rhapsody at the Doge's Palace. After his meal he noticed the same man
still studying the magnificent structure. Curious as to whether he'd
been standing there all morning, he asked the man, "How long have you
been here?"

"Twenty six years," came the reply, "and I never grow tired of it."

As Einstein observed, those who will "pause to wonder and stand rapt
in awe" will TRULY LIVE. They will see what others miss. They will
feel what others cannot. Life will be for them both exquisite and
mysterious when they learn to say, "Awe."

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

JOY IN THE JOURNEY FOR LIFE

Fresh starfruits for sale - “Loving someone that doesn't love you is like reaching for a star. You know you'll never reach it, but you just got to keep trying.”

Anonymous did it again. Whoever this person is put it well: "Follow
your dream! Unless it's the one where you're at work in your underwear
during a fire drill." Yes – some dreams should be forgotten as soon as
possible.

But when it comes to life dreams, rather than sleep dreams, I am
coming to believe that it is less important whether you actually reach
a goal or achieve a beautiful dream than just to follow. Simply start
following and see where it leads.

Let me explain.

Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they
were working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch.

"What are you doing?" asked one of the visitors.

"We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth!" one of the
brothers volunteered excitedly.

The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a
hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a long
silence, one of the diggers picked up jar full shiny pebbles, worms
and a wide assortment of odd insects. He showed it to the scoffing
visitors and said quietly and confidently, "Even if we don't dig all
the way through the earth, look what we found along the way."

Maybe their goal was too ambitious, but it did get them to dig. And
that is what following a dream is about – our best dreams point us
where we want to go and then nudge us in that direction. In other
words, they set us to digging.

But you know how it goes – you just won't achieve everything you
attempt. You may shoot for the moon and only hit the neighbor's
window.

You may fully intend to be in love for a lifetime. But not every
relationship will endure. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every
endeavor will be completed. Not every dream will be realized.

But here is the wonder of it all …when you fall short of your aim,
perhaps you can say, "Yes, but look at what I found along the way.
Look at the wonderful things which have come into my life because I
tried to do something."

I think those boys got it right. It is in the digging that life is
lived. It's the joy in the journey that matters most.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

EARLY TO BED IN LIFE

Stainless steel chopsticks for sale - “Marriage is like twirling a baton, turning hand springs or eating with chopsticks. It looks easy until you try it.”

I know one man who says he likes work. It fascinates him. He says he
can sit and watch it for hours.

He was probably the same guy who went to his supervisor to ask for a
raise.

"I am already planning on giving you a raise," she said.

"Oh, great!" he said. "When will it be effective?"

"As soon as you are!" shouted the boss. (Do you know that man?)

Someone said, "Find a job that you love, and you'll never work a day
in your life."

Some people are fortunate enough to be able to find a job they love.
But not everyone can follow their bliss into the marketplace. I've
had jobs where my motto was closer to "Early to bed and early to
rise, 'till you make enough money to do otherwise." I had to decide
to at least try to like what I do, since I did not find myself doing
what I liked.

There are benefits to learning to enjoy at least parts of what we do
if we can't do what we love. It stands to reason that the more
pleasure we find in our work, the more effective and successful we
will become. And usually we will make more money. But mainly, who
wants to spend a life dreading to climb out of the bed every morning
only to spend the rest of the day watching the clock tick off
endless minutes and hours?

Can you concentrate more on the aspects of your work that you enjoy?
Can you find ways to develop nurturing relationships in your
workplace? Can you remember why you are working: to educate your
children or to save for retirement? Can you see yourself less as
chipping stones and more as building a temple.in other words, can
you see the big picture of what you do all day? Are there ways you
can serve others in your work environment? All of these techniques
and others can help you to learn to find more enjoyment at work.

It was the mystic Kahil Gibran who put it this way: "Work is love
made visible. And if you cannot work with love, but only with
distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at
the gate of the temple and ask for alms of those who work with joy."

If you can't do what you love ALL of the time, can you learn to
enjoy what you do MORE of the time?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

GETTING FREE FOR LIFE

One of my best kept guilty pleasure secret is I love hunting for Free Stuff on the net whenever I get the chance. Call it my strong sense of frugality or whatever that suits your fancy, there is no denying that wonderful good feeling of achievement whenever I am successful at grabbing any Freebies on the internet. Just recently, my 'Freebiemania' fascination has spread to my cousin and she was quite happy and excited when she received her first Freebie: a nifty Bear Safety sticker all the way from Alaska!

Throughout the years of my experience of hunting for Freebies online, I have come to realize that if you look hard enough at the right places, there are well hidden treasures to be found. Truth to be told, finding good Free Samples or Free Products can be a bit frustrating when weeding out huge amounts of spam from those genuine offers out there. Well here is my tip of the day: this is where I go for Free Product Samples. Have fun!

FOLLOWING YOUR BLISS FOR LIFE

Little yellow chicks for sale - “Our theories of the eternal are as valuable as are those which a chick which has not broken its way through its shell might form of the outside world.”

Who was it that said, "Follow your dream - unless it's the one where
you're at work in your underwear during a fire drill."?

Author Joseph Campbell's advice was to "follow your bliss." American
painter Grandma Moses did that. She actually started painting at age
76, after arthritis forced her to give up embroidery. "If I hadn't
started painting, I would have raised chickens," she once said.

And I heard of a bus driver in Chicago who followed his bliss with
some surprising results. He sings while he drives. That's right...
sings. And I don't mean he sings softly to himself, either. He sings
so that the whole bus can hear. All day long he drives and sings.

He was once interviewed on Chicago television. He said that he is
not actually a bus driver. "I'm a professional singer," he asserted.
"I only drive the bus to get a captive audience every single day."

His "bliss" is not driving a bus, though that may be a source of
enjoyment for some people. His bliss is singing. And the supervisors
at the Chicago Transit Authority are perfectly happy about the whole
arrangement. People actually let other buses pass by so they can
ride with the "singing bus driver." They love it.

Here is a man who believes he knows why he was put here on earth.
For him, it is to make people happy. And the more he sings, the more
people he makes happy. He has found a way to align his purpose in
living with his occupation. By following his bliss, he is actually
living the kind of life he believes he was meant to live.

Are you following your bliss? When you do, you may discover that you
are experiencing the kind of life you feel you were meant to live.
And what's more, you will be happy.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

NEEDING A NUDGE IN LIFE

Steel ladles for sale - “Courage is to feel the daily daggers of relentless steel and keep on living.”

A wiser person than I once said that humans have four basic needs.
One is the need to be nurtured. Next is the need to be needed.
Third, the need to be noticed. And finally, the need to be nudged.

Although I never had much luck nudging my own children, I've often
thought of a story about a small boy who could not be nudged to quit
banging a drum. Various attempts were made to do something about
quieting the child.

One person told the boy that he would, if he continued to make so
much noise, perforate his eardrums. This reasoning was too advanced
for the child, who was neither a scientist nor a scholar.

A second person told him that drum beating was a sacred activity and
should be carried out only on special occasions. A third person
offered the neighbors plugs for their ears; a fourth gave the boy a
book; a fifth gave the neighbors books that described a method of
controlling anger through biofeedback; a sixth person gave the boy
meditation exercises to make him placid and docile. None of these
attempts worked.

Eventually, a wise person came along with an effective motivation.
He looked at the situation, handed the child a hammer and chisel,
and asked, "I wonder what is INSIDE the drum?"

No more problem.

I agree that we sometimes need to be nudged. At times, we may need
to be nudged into healthier behaviors. Or maybe nudged out of
destructive relationships or patterns. Or simply nudged to think a
little bigger; to do or be a something more challenging and less
mediocre.

No doubt, that is why the motivational industry is so successful.
(And no, it is probably not true that if you listen to your
motivational tapes backwards you will become a failure. I think a
couple of you may have been worried about that.)

It seems to me that good leaders know about this basic human need to
be prodded, challenged and encouraged. They also know that the best
way to nudge someone is often simply to invite them along a path
that is more appealing than the one they've chosen. The best leaders
teach us to dream and tempt us to do more than we ever thought
possible. They challenge us to be a part of something great.

Writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "If you want to build a ship,
don't drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give
orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
Sometimes all we need is a nudge to desire something magnificent.

Is this the nudge you need?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

A HUMBLE SPIRIT FOR LIFE

Jing Jing the dog cooling off on a hot day - “Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable.”

In his own eyes, Mike was the most popular guy around. "A lot of
women are gonna be totally miserable when I marry," he boasted to
his date.

"Really?" she said. "And just how many women are you intending to
marry?" (Maybe you knew that guy.)

But I like the story of a young woman who wanted to go to college.
Her heart sank, however, when she read the question on the admission
form that asked, "Are you a leader?" Being both honest and
conscientious, she wrote, "No," and returned the application,
expecting the worst.

To her surprise, she received this letter from the college: "Dear
applicant: A study of the admission forms reveals that this year our
school will enroll 1,452 new leaders. We would like to accept you
because we feel it is imperative that they have at least one
follower."

Sometimes a little bit of humble pie goes well with a rich meal.

Actually, what passes for conceit in many people is often just a
plea for attention. A poor sense of self may cause one to want to be
the prominent star in every constellation. Humility, on the other
hand, does not require that one shine less brightly than others,
simply that all be given opportunity to shine.

That great 19th Century African American educator Booker T.
Washington exemplified the power of a simple and modest spirit. A
story is told of a day when Washington, then a professor at Tuskegee
Institute in Alabama, happened to pass the mansion of a wealthy
woman as he walked to work.

The woman did not recognize him and called out, "Hey you! Come here!
I need some wood chopped!" She was a product of her southern
post-Civil War culture and simply perceived him as a black man who
was there to do her bidding.

Without a word, Dr. Washington peeled off his jacket, picked up the
ax and went to work. He not only cut a large pile of wood, he also
carried the firewood into the house and arranged it neatly by the
fireplace.

He had scarcely left when a servant said to the woman, "I guess you
didn't recognize him, ma'am, but that was Professor Washington!"

Embarrassed and ashamed, the woman hurried over to Tuskegee
Institute to apologize. The great educator respectfully replied:
"There's no need to apologize, madam. I'm delighted to do favors for
my friends."

The professor may have taught one of his greatest lessons that day.
It was a lesson about astronomy: he taught that every star can shine
without one out-shining all the others. It was a lesson about peace:
he taught how self-interest must often be set aside for the good of
the whole. And it was a lesson about spirituality: he taught about
the power of a meek and humble spirit in a world where aggression is
too-often confused with strength.

It is a lesson we are still learning.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

A WAY TO FIND ENJOYMENT IN LIFE

Fresh brinjals@eggplants for sale - “I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant.”

At one time, Bangkok television aired the American situation comedy
LaVerne and Shirley. For whatever reason, officials there believed
that a disclaimer was necessary for the Thailand audience, so this
subtitle was added to each show: "The two women depicted in the
following episode are from an insane asylum."

Personally, I'm thankful there is a little silliness in the world.
And I don't mind not acting like everybody else. Like the
"irrepressible" educator and speaker Leo Buscaglia once said: "I don't
mind if people think I'm crazy. In fact, I think it's great! It
gives me tremendous latitude for behavior."

Buscaglia knew how to laugh. And I think knowing how to laugh and
have fun is an important part of living.

Someone asked me what I do for fun. I felt I should answer with
something others enjoy, like golf or skiing. But my idea of fun is
not usually associated with entertainment and recreation. It is more
about squeezing as much enjoyment into every day as I can. Instead
of looking for something fun to do, I try to make whatever I do a
little more fun. And if I can't always do things I enjoy, I can
learn to enjoy more of the things I do.

I like the word "enjoyment" because it has "joy" inside of it. So
does the word "rejoice." And rejoicing is a way to find enjoyment of
life.

Speaking of Leo Buscaglia, he used to tell a story about his mother
and their "misery dinner." It was the night after his father came
home and said it looked as if he would have to go into bankruptcy
because his partner had absconded with their firm's funds. His
mother's response was to sell some of her jewelry to buy food enough
for a grand feast. At first, other members of the family scolded her
for it. But she told them that "the time for joy is now, when we
need it most, not next week." They learned to appreciate the hopeful
attitude that lifted them out of fear and into joy.

I want to learn to be happy even in those difficult and trying
times. I won't be happy FOR them (who likes problems?), just IN
them. I need the soothing medicine of laughter when it hurts. I want
to learn that the time for joy is now, when I need it most.

Maybe it sounds silly, but I want to learn to rejoice in all things.
And If I'm doing that well, it really doesn't matter what I like to
do for fun.

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes

THOSE YOU TOUCH...YOU CHANGE IN LIFE

Fake Gundam action figure toy - “An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

Did you know that your money likely has traces of cocaine on it?

A study by Jack Demirgian of the Argonne National Laboratory
revealed that a full 78% of the currency circulating in Miami and
other major US cities carries trace amounts of cocaine. That's
probably true elsewhere, too.

They were only looking for cocaine, but I wonder what else might be
found on the bills? Maybe fast-food products, such as frying grease,
mustard or teriyaki sauce? Tea or coffee? And how about rouge or
lipstick from purses and lint from pockets? Perhaps ink from a leaky
pen? I've found more indistinguishable stains on some of my money
than I care to think about.

What's more, we're told that if they look closely enough, they can
even learn something about where your money has been. To the store.
To the beach. Even hidden beneath a mattress.

Just about anything that comes into contact with money leaves a bit
of itself behind. Then, when the bills rub up against each other in
a wallet or billfold, they share contaminates. Everything the bills
touch will be changed, however slightly.

So it is with us. Everything we touch is changed. I used to play
English hand bells. "Don't touch the bells with your bare hands," we
were told. "Wear gloves." The oils from our hands changed the
quality of the bells.

Everything we touch is changed. And everybody we touch is changed --
even if we're not infected with something contagious. I'm not only
talking about physical touch, either. Often we touch their minds and
spirits and hearts. Everybody we speak to, rub shoulders with or
even smile at...is changed in some minute way. These changes can be
helpful or hurtful, depending on our interaction. It is like leaving
a piece of ourselves behind with everyone we meet, and taking a
piece of them with us.

And even little changes can make a difference. NO ONE is
insignificant in this regard.

Bette Reeves said, "If you think you are too small to be effective,
you have never been in bed with a mosquito." You don't need to be a
mosquito to have an effect on people around you. The question is:
what little part of yourself will you leave behind? How will you
influence them? Will your encounter be thoughtful or hurried?
Helpful or harmful? Intentional or accidental?

There is something awe-inspiring about the influence we have on one
another. Whom will you touch today? What will you leave behind, and
what will you take with you?

From Lifesupport

Lifesigns Life Quotes