If you want to be a positive force in someone’s life, it’s wise to remember that few people are truly open to criticism of any sort from any source. If you want to grow, understand more, and get better at whatever you do, it’s wise to be open to learn from every sort of criticism from any source. Implicit in …
WORTH READING: What is Constructive Criticism?
An excerpt from WiseGeek.com: Constructive criticism is criticism kindly meant that has a goal of improving some area of another’s person’s life or work. Often constructive criticism refers specifically to the critique of someone else’s written or artistic work, in perhaps a teacher/student setting, that would allow that person to further improve the work or to improve their approach to …
COMMENTARY 773.2 & SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT #5: Will, Fern, and the Power of Encouragement
Two frogs named Will and Fern fell into a deep pit together. At first, they thought it would be easy to jump out. But after lots of failed attempts they cried for help and a crowd of animals gathered around the pit. Everyone agreed it was hopeless so they urged Will and Fern to accept their fate. The harder the …
QUOTATION: “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in”. — Andrew Jackson.
Contemplation and planning are important, but your life and its significance is shaped by action. Begin to do what you need to do. Begin to do what you want to do. Paint your future with the bold strokes of action.
WORTH SEEING: Poster – “You will never know how strong you are or how strong you can be until you lose something you really care about.”
Adversity will come and it will bring out the best or worst in you. Be ready. Be strong. Be better.
COMMENTARY 773.1: Good Ethics Make Better Relationships
While I believe that good things tend to happen to people who consistently choose the high road, the correlation between ethics and success is a loose one at best. Thus, it’s pretty hard to sincerely promote ethics by appeals to self-interest. What’s more, when self-interest is the controlling justification for moral behavior, moral reasoning is replaced by a pragmatic cost-benefit …
OBSERVATION: Life is difficult
M. Scott Peck said: “Once we truly know that life is difficult — once we truly understand and accept it — then life is no longer difficult. Because once it is accepted, the fact that life is difficult no longer matters.” His point is that we have a much better chance of finding happiness and contentment if we abandon our …
Strength, Courage & Confidence
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt More images and quotes about …
WORTH WATCHING: Special Athletes Acting in Special Ways
Here’s an inspiring little video about “true victory.”
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT #4: I Just Have to Outrun You
Hi, this is Michael Josephson with something to think about. During a camping trip, Marie and Jessica were hiking in a trail when they saw a big black bear. Marie started to take off her backpack. Jessica whispered, “What are you going to do?” Marie answered, “I’m going to run for it.”
COMMENTARY 772.5: Planned Abandonment
Management guru Peter Drucker advocated a practice he called planned abandonment. He stressed how important it is that managers develop the wisdom and courage to regularly review what their organization is doing and determine whether it’s worth doing. He urged executives to note and resist the systemic and emotional forces that make it difficult to abandon activities that drain resources, …
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Leadership on a Bus
Mr. Martin told his English class that leadership was “influencing meaningful change either through your own conduct or by motivating others to act,” and he assigned an essay requiring students to write about a personal experience with leadership. The students groaned, insisting they couldn’t think of anything, so Mr. Martin read an essay submitted last semester:
COMMENTARY 772.2: Ethics — Easier Said Than Done
As a full-time ethicist – can you believe there even is such a thing? – I spend lots of time talking and writing about right and wrong. One thing I’ve learned is that in the last analysis, consistently doing the right thing is easier said than done. For one thing, it’s not always easy knowing what’s right. We want to …
COMMENTARY 771.4: The Responsibility to Decide
Frank is a new supervisor who wants to do well. Maria consistently comes in late. When he confronts her, she makes a joke out of it. Hoping to win friendship and loyalty, Frank is painfully patient with her, but Pat, a conscientious employee, urges him to do more. Soon others begin to come in late, and Pat quits. Frank feels …
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT FOR TEENS: Is This Generous or Just Dumb?
Hi, this is Michael Josephson for CHARACTER COUNTS! with “Something to Think About” A few years ago, I told this story on the radio and it generated a lot of disagreement. Jack was excited when he was given an unexpected bonus check of $1,000 from his employers. He was anxious to rush home to tell his family, but before he …
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT FOR TEENS: The Choices You Make in Your Life Make Your Life
This week marks the beginning of a new venture for Michael and CHARACTER COUNTS! — an effort to directly engage high school and middle school students in thinking and discussing ethical issues on a wide range of topics relevant to their lives through a series of specially adapted commentaries for teens.
OBSERVATION: Expressing Appreciation — Why is it that so many of us wait until it is too late to experience and express real gratitude to those who gave us the gifts of love, wisdom, and encouragement?
Why do we wait to put our deepest emotions into eulogies? Everyone should have the pleasure of hearing the eulogies they have earned. The greatest gift you can give someone you love is to express sincerely your appreciation for the things that they have given you. It might be a parent, grandparent, brother or sister. Maybe it’s a teacher, coach …
COMMENTARY 770.5: Desiderata
In 1927, Max Ehrmann gave us timeless advice in a poem called “Desiderata” (Latin for “things desired”): Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and …
WORTH READING: An Insightful Article on the Scope and Causes of Bullying
This article is somewhat dated (2008) but still is a very useful resource and worth reading. You can read the whole thing at the San Francisco Chronicle. Bullying takes twisted turn for the worse Regan McMahon, Chronicle Staff Writer Sunday, August 17, 2008 Oakland first-grader Zachary Cataldo suffered a skull fracture when a fifth-grader allegedly slammed him against a tree in …
COMMENTARY 770.2: Establishing a Culture of Kindness
Though intensive media attention to bullying has died down, the problem persists in many forms, and it continues to diminish the lives of tens of thousands of young people every day. According to a recent survey, roughly half of all high school students say that in the past year they were bullied in a manner that seriously upset them. A …