COMMENTARY 785.3: Change Everything

Looking back on your life, what would you change if you could? In the classic 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, the main character, a small-town bank officer played by Jimmy Stewart, is about to commit suicide when an angel shows him how different the lives of people in Bedford Falls would be if he hadn’t been born. The movie is …

COMMENTARY 785.2: The Family Treasure

A 6-year-old girl I’ll call Sarah knocked over a display case that contained a much-cherished vase once owned by her great-grandmother. Her mom loved that vase and frequently referred to it as the family treasure. The vase hit the floor with a loud crash and shattered into pieces. Sarah, shocked and frightened at what she’d done, screamed and began sobbing. …

COMMENTARY 784.1: What You Do Is What You’ll Get

If you want to help your children do well in life there are a few things you can do. A high proportion of high achievers had two things in common: First, there were lots of books in their homes and a great emphasis on reading; Second, there was a family tradition of regularly eating dinner together. Filling a house with …

COMMENTARY 783.5: Do A little More

In 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Queens, New York. She was attacked repeatedly over the course of an hour and despite her screams, none of the 38 neighbors intervened or called for help. Some were afraid. Some didn’t want to get involved. Some thought someone else would do it. …

COMMENTARY 783.3: Noah’s Term Paper

Noah really needed an ‘A’ on a term paper.  His friend Jason tells him that lots of kids “re-cycle” papers they don’t write and offers to give him a paper his older brother got an ‘A’ on three years ago. When Noah asked his for advice, his father hoped his son wouldn’t cheat but he didn’t want to be judgmental …

COMMENTARY 783.2: Family Values

Our values — the core beliefs that drive behavior — determine our character, our ethics and our potential. Thus, the most important thing we can do for our children is to stimulate them to develop positive values that will help them become wise, happy and good. This is no simple matter. The first step is to achieve greater clarity about …

COMMENTARY 783.1: Experimental Operation

Tess, an earnest eight-year-old was worried. Her little brother was very sick and she overheard her mom crying on the phone: “They say his only chance is an experimental operation but it isn’t covered by insurance and there’s no way we can pay for it.” she sobbed. Tess went to a jar containing all the money she had saved. Though …

COMMENTARY: Power of Words

“Stick and stones can break your bones but names will never harm you.” Really? In fact, insults, teasing, malicious gossip and verbal abuse inflict deeper and more enduring pain than guns and knives. Ask anyone who as a kid was fat, skinny, unusually short or tall, flat-chested or big-busted, acne-faced, uncoordinated, slow-witted or exceptionally smart. In schoolrooms and playgrounds across …

Love Your Country

Love your country. Your country is the land where your parents sleep, where is spoken that language in which the chosen of your heart, blushing, whispered the first word of love; it is the home that God has given you that by striving to perfect yourselves therein you may prepare to ascend to him. ~Giuseppe Mazzini

COMMENTARY 782.2: Borrowing One Hundred Dollars

Tim knew his father was an important lawyer who worked most nights and weekends. So he was disappointed but not surprised when his father didn’t attend the last soccer game of the season. That night he got up the nerve to interrupt his dad’s work to ask: “How much do lawyers make?” Annoyed, his father gruffly answered, “My clients pay …

Your Comfort Zone

Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone. ~Neale Walsch. If You Want To Get Something You Don’t Have, You’ve Got To Do Something You’ve Not Done. ~Michael Josephson.

Lead an Extraordinary Life

WORTH SEEING: Poster – Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible. ~St. Francis of Assisi. When you link desire with effort you can accomplish extraordinary things and lead an extraordinary life. Michael Josephson.    

COMMENTARY 782.1: Improving Your Life By Improving Your Mind

Our abilities to think, reason and learn are among the most powerful tools we have to make our lives safer, more comfortable and more fulfilling. Yet many of us simply do not develop our mental capacities. Although we can learn important information in school, the wise person in pursuit of self-improvement realizes that education is a lifelong process of expanding …

COMMENTARY 781.4: Making the Best from Adversity

No one wants pain, troubles or hardship, but it’s absolutely inevitable that we all will have plenty of each. And they won’t always come in forms we prefer, doses we think are manageable or at times of our choosing. Adversity is never welcome, but it is not necessarily our enemy. Still, the lesson we must teach our children is that …

COMMENTARY 781.1: Enough is Enough

What does it take to make you happy? How much do you have to have to be grateful? To the barefoot man, happiness is a pair of old shoes. To the man with old shoes, it’s a pair of new shoes. To the man with new shoes, it’s more stylish shoes. And, of course, the fellow with no feet would …

COMMENTARY 780.4: Digging and Filling Holes

Charlie, a road crew supervisor for highway landscapers, came upon a pair of workers from one of his crews seemingly hard at work. He watched one fellow dig a hole while his partner waited a few minutes and then filled the hole. After a few repetitions, Charlie demanded an explanation. The hole-filler was offended: “We’ve been doing this job for …