A high school football coach wrote to tell me his team was going to the state finals, but he was troubled. An English teacher had caught three of his players cheating on an exam they had to pass to remain eligible. He told the coach he had passed them anyway, “for the good of the school.”
COMMENTARY 766.5: Coaching a Winning Machine
When Larry volunteered to coach a kids’ football team he wanted to help each youngster develop not only their football skills but their character and work habits. He also wanted mold these youngsters into a winning machine. Early on, however, he saw that these goals were not always compatible. In the end, his desire to win won, and he convinced …
COMMENTARY 766.4: Leadership By Example
Mark Gibson, a former gymnastics coach who worked with many elite athletes, tells a wonderful story about a 15-year-old girl whose work ethic and attitude brought out the best in everyone. Cindy wasn’t a great gymnast, but when she was in the gym everyone complained less, worked harder, and, not surprisingly, achieved more. Cindy was such a powerful motivator because …
COMMENTARY 766.3: Doctoring With A Heart
When you visit a medical specialist, an emergency room, or a patient in the hospital, are you ever struck by a sense that many doctors are so focused on the scientific aspects of diagnosis and treatment of illness or injury that they ignore, maybe even become annoyed by, things like pain, fear, or anxiety? In her book Medicine as Ministry, …
COMMENTARY 766.2: Appreciating Appreciation
There’s a song titled “Thank God for Dirty Dishes” that makes the point that if you’re lucky to have enough food to make dirty dishes, you should be grateful. So instead of grousing about your property taxes, be thankful you own property. When you have to wait in line at the bank or are stuck in traffic, just be grateful …
COMMENTARY 766.1: The Paradoxical Commandments
In 1968, when Kent M. Keith* was a 19-year-old sophomore at Harvard University, he wrote “The Paradoxical Commandments” as part of a booklet for student leaders. He describes the Commandments as guidelines for finding personal meaning in the face of adversity: 1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. 2. If you do good, people will accuse you …
WORTH READING: Dealing With Grief: 17 Deep Thoughts for Dark Times
There are no magic potions or secret strategies to deal with grief but here is a selection of special quotations and poems that might provide some perspective, if not comfort. 1. Sorrow makes us all children again — destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing. — Ralph Waldo Emerson 2. Time is a physician that heals every grief. …
WORTH READING: For those who are grieving — I Carry Your Heart With Me, a lovely poem by e.e. cummings
I Carry Your Heart With Me i carry your heart with me (i carry it in my heart) i am never without it (anywhere i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done by only me is your doing, my darling) I fear no fate (for you are my fate, my sweet) i want no world
WORTH WATCHING: “I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” — See the video that got 20 million views and some of the responses
See the original video that started it all. See an interview with Mr. Bethke on ABC. See Jefferson Bethke’s Facebook Page. Just three of the better response raps: One response Catholic response Another response
QUOTE: We each decide whether to make ourselves learned or ignorant, compassionate or cruel, generous or miserly. No one forces us. No one decides for us, no one drags us along one path or the other. We are responsible for what we are. — Moses Maimonides (adapted)
See more than 100 quotes and images about ethics and virtue from a spiritual or religious perspective here.
WORTH SEEING: A Spiritual or Religious Perspective on Character and Ethics – More than 100 Great Poster Images and Quotes
The Josephson Institute and CHARACTER COUNTS! are based on a secular perspective of character and ethics. We believe the Six Pillars of Character — trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship — transcend social, economic, ethnic, and religious differences. We believe that people of character may or may not be committed to a religious or spiritual perspective.
COMMENTARY 765.5: Controversy – Young Christian Says He Hates Religion but Loves Jesus
I recently posted a commentary about religion in America and additional data based on a massive study by the Pew Foundation. Today I want to seek your opinion on a passionate controversy ignited by a You Tube video posted by a 22 year-old named Jefferson Bethke.
COMMENTARY 765.4: Using All Your Strength
A young boy was walking with his father along a country road. When they came across a very large tree branch, the boy asked, “Do you think I could move that branch?” His father answered, “If you use all your strength, I’m sure you can.” The boy tried mightily to lift, pull, and push the branch, but he couldn’t move …
WORTH READING: Wow! Lots of interesting findings and facts on Religion in America
Today’s commentary looks at some of the data in a major survey conducted by the Pew Forum for Religion & American Life. The study comprehensively details the belief patterns of the 14 largest religious traditions. Below is a more complete summary of key findings I found interesting. BELIEF IN GOD. 92% believe in God or a universal spirit; only 8% say …
COMMENTARY 765.3: Religion in America
Many people see a close connection between religion and ethics for good reason: ethical principles like love, compassion, mercy, charity, and justice are common foundations to all major religions. This doesn’t mean that religious beliefs are essential to ethical conduct or that everyone who professes to be religious is virtuous. History is full of examples of hypocritical and exploitive religious …
GUEST POST: Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes by Anne Josephson
Anne Josephson, the wife of Michael Josephson, founded The Josephson Academy of Gymnastics (JAG Gym), one of the largest and most successful gymnastics schools for children in Los Angeles. She is a prominent member of the gymnastics community and an expert on youth sports. She writes a regular blog posted on her website. This post originally appeared on her blog …
WORTH SEEING: Poster – Don’t Make Things Worse
When bad things happen to you, DON”T MAKE THINGS WORSE by starting to see yourself as a victim, or someone who doesn’t deserve
OBSERVATION: You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present. — Jan Glidewell.
Bad things happen to us and around us. Often the best we can do is to limit the harm with a resolve to move forward with open arms.
OBSERVATION: Bad News and Good News
Here’s the bad news: Virtue isn’t a golden ticket to a pain-free life. Bad things happen to good people as often as they happen to bad people. It seems unfair, but in the natural order of the world, suffering is random. To expect otherwise is to sentence oneself to despondency, disillusionment, bitterness, and anger. Here’s the good news: The magic …
OBSERVATION: “Don’t confuse fun with fulfillment, or pleasure with happiness.” — Michael Josephson
One of the gifts of maturity is to realize that happiness is bigger, broader and more enduring than pleasure, and that fulfillment is more meaningful and rewarding than fun and that sometimes, the pursuit of pleasure and fun obstruct the achievement of happiness and fulfillment. — Michael Josephson www.whatwillmatter.com.
COMMENTARY: Dealing With Grief — If You’re Going Through Hell, Keep Going
A few years ago I spoke at a fundraising dinner for the Erika Whitmore Godwin Foundation, the creation of Susan and Wendell Whitmore, a couple who transformed their personal mountain of sorrow into a living monument to their daughter Erika who died in the prime of her life. The Whitmores created a website, www.griefHaven.org, to help parents and others maimed …