COMMENTARY: True Friends 757.3
So what are the qualities of a true friend? True friends are good companions, people you enjoy doing things with, but they are also people you just enjoy being with. In true friendships the activity is incidental – it doesn’t matter much what you are doing together as long as you are together. True friends are people you want to …
WORTH SEEING: Poster of True Friends poem by Michael Josephson
You are welcome to copy the image paste it in Word, enlarge it and print it out.
COMMENTARY: The Treasure of Old Friends 757.2
In my lifetime, I’ve had the good fortune of having a handful of good friends. Each of my four teenage daughters have many hundreds. At least that what they call every Facebook connection they collect like trophies. The list of those kinds of friends includes people they barely know, some they don’t know at all and even some people they …
WORTH SEEING: Posters – True Friendship, A-Z, from young to old
Click on image to make it larger. You are welcome to copy the image, paste it in Word, enlarge it and print it for your own personal use. You may also want to see our poster on True Friends https://whatwillmatter.com/2012/01/worth-seeing-poster-of-true-friends-poem-by-michael-josephson/
WORTH READING & WATCHING: Simon & Garfunkel’s “Old Friends”
Simon & Garfunkel “Old Friends” Old friends, old friends sat on their park bench like bookends A newspaper blowin’ through the grass / Falls on the round toes of the high shoes of the old friends Old friends, winter companions, the old men / Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sun
COMMENTARY: Living a Life That Matters 757.1
I saw a cartoon showing an old king checking in at the gates of heaven. He introduced himself as “Edward The Good.” The gatekeeper with a large book in front of him said, “Well, Eddie, we’ll be the judge of that.” The point is that, in the end, generous self-appraisals won’t matter. Our epitaphs will be written and eulogies delivered …
What Is Beyond Happiness?
Think of a purpose for your life that goes beyond being happy, and you will be happy. – Michael Josephson
COMMENTARY: A Mother’s Message About Bullying: Hang in There. It Will Get better. 756.5
While researching the bullying issue for a CHARACTER COUNTS! seminar, I came across Vicky Bell’s blog, where she posted a letter to her daughter in college. I think her advice moving and wise. Here’s an abridged version: Hello my girl. . . You may have heard about the NJ college student who killed himself because his roommate posted a videotape …
Bullying
There are lots of resources dealing with bullying. Here are some especially useful ones.Are your kids at risk? Three online surveys to determine whether one’s child is being bullied, whether one’s child is a bully, and whether parents are doing all they can to prevent bullying, can be found at CHARACTER COUNTS!’s Bully Quiz. Also, check out these other anti-bullying resources …
OBSERVATION: According to a 2010 study by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, half of all high school students admit they bullied someone in the past year, and nearly as many, 47 percent, say they were bullied, teased, or taunted in a way that seriously upset them in the past year. That’s an awful lot of kids who are inflicting and suffering serious emotional injuries, some so serious as to cause deep depression and even suicide.
Read the Josephson Institute’s 2010 study here. At the root of all this misery is the willingness of our sons and daughters to say and do mean and awful things that humiliate, embarrass, intimidate, or degrade others. Most of the perpetrators of all this pain are not brutish thugs with severe self-esteem issues. Many are intelligent, highly confident teens good at …
WORTH SEEING: Beautiful images to remind you to spend more time looking at the stars above — and within
A collection of beautiful images
COMMENTARY: Stars Above and Stars Within 756.4
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal, two-thirds of the world’s population, including almost everyone in the continental United States and Europe, no longer see a starry sky where they live. The reason: City lights prevent us from seeing much more than a canopy of gray shadows. What a pity. In rural or remote areas with little or …
COMMENTARY: 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 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 — he’d …