Faithless is he...

Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.

-J.R.R. Tolkien

"I've told you things I've never told anyone." -former coworker

"I can't believe he told you about that.  He has shared things with you he has never told anyone but me." -wife of a good friend

There is nothing like a good friend! Or in today's nomenclature a BFF.  For those of you out there that may not be up to speed on current slang, BFF stands for Best Friend Forever.  I was startled the other day when someone I know very well said they did not have a BFF.  The more I thought about it, it broke my heart. I have several BFF's. I have one or two that are probably a step or two above the others, but I would say I have close to a dozen, very close friends and dozens of people I would consider a friend and hundreds of acquaintances in my life. I wouldn't be where or who I am today without them.  These friends and I have been through it all together; marriage and divorce, births and deaths, new jobs and lost jobs, prosperity and hardship.  All of these things help define who we are and our relationship with one another.  We don't always agree.  Frankly, we disagree quite often.  But that doesn't mean we aren't friends. Friendship, true friendship transcends disagreements, arguments and personal failures.

If you are familiar with J.R.R. Tolkien at all, you know that he wrote the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.  While the Lord of the Rings may be a story about good versus evil, I think it is more a story of true friendship. The friendship of Frodo and Sam.  How they stuck together through all of the adversity that came their way.  There are numerous quotes that show the enduring friendship that they had.  A couple of my favorites are:

Sam: Come on Mr. Fordo.  I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you! 

Sam: Don't go where I can't follow.

Sam: I made promise Mr. Frodo, a promise!

Frodo: But Samwise Gamgee, my dear hobbit. Indeed, Sam my dearest Hobbit, friend of friends.

And the list goes on and on.  All you need to do is do a search for Lord of the Rings friendship quotes on the Internet.  There were just over 6 million pages that come up, as of this post.  I believe J.R.R. Tolkien understood the power of true friendship.  It is no secret that he and C.S. Lewis were close friends.  He deemed their friendship as one of the most valuable parts of his life.  Friendship and the bonds of loyalty seem to continuously grace the pages of his work and form the heartbeat of his stories.

So not only is this quote about friendship, it is about loyalty.  It's easy to be a fair weather friend.  But where are you when the going gets tough?  The tougher is got on Sam and Frodo's journey, the more loyal Sam became.  We all need a friend, a true friend.  Someone we can share all of our hopes, dreams and fears with. Not only that, we need to be a friend.  Someone that can listen and be loyal even in the tough times. I think Jesus said it best, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."  Becoming a friend is simple, take the time to get to know someone.  Listen to what they have to say.  Prove you are loyal and hold what they tell you in confidence. Learn about the the things you have in common and the things you don't.  Some of my best friends and I have radically different world views. That's part of what makes each friendship so amazing and unique.

I've mentioned before, I love my wife, my kids and the rest of my family, but I would be missing a huge part of my life without my friends. I count on them and they count on me.  We're all on this journey together.  And I know that when the road darkens, they will still be there, right by my side.

Those who don't know...

Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart, don't know how to laugh either.

-Golda Meir

Mean, rude, self-centered, egotist, hateful, overbearing and the list just keeps on going. Those are all terms, people have used to describe me. I think they have it all wrong. I would illustrate myself with another word, Passionate. I have stong feelings, stong emotions and sometimes that comes across in a very negative way. The things I believe in, I believe to the very core of my soul. The things I love, I love to the very bottom of my heart. It is hard to hold that back. All of this is bottled up inside, it has to come out. I can show you my hurts as well as my joys, my fears as well as my love. They are all, one in the same.

Golda Meir was a passionate woman. She overcame impossible odds to become Isreal's first woman Prime Minister. She was described as, "the strong-willed, straight-talking, gray-bunned grandmother of the Jewish People". She was one of two women to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence. Afterwords, she was quoted as saying, "After I signed, I cried. When I studied American history as a schoolgirl and I read about those who signed the Declaration of Independence, I couldn't imagine these were real people doing something real. And there I was sitting down and signing a declaration of establishment.". She was Passionate about her heritage, her homeland, her people, her freedom. She was literally brought to tears over her actions, and what they meant for the entire world.

In the end, what I think she meant by this quote is, don't be afraid to express yourself. When you cry, cry from the heart. Don't be embarressed by your grief, your fears or your sadness. Show the passion! When you are able to do this, you can truly feel the joy of laughter. You can appreciate it more, because you also know the pain. You can't experience the one, until you've experienced the other.

Never regret...

Never regret. If it's good, it's wonderful. If it's bad, it's experience.

-Victoria Holt

I just heard this quote for the first time, yesterday. It blew me away. I see quotes all the time, that I like, and want to remember. However, very few, hit me the way this one did. I guess when you hear something that relates to life right now, or relates to things you've been talking or thinking about, it hits you kind of hard.

This quote has kind of always been my mantra, without even knowing it. I try not to have any regrets. I tell people that all the time. I am who I am today, because of the decisions I made, and the actions I've taken along the way. I try not to live in the "what if". If I had done anything different, I may not be married to my wife, have MY boys, writing this blog, who knows. Life could be radically different. I don't know how it could have turned out any better. I have a beautiful family, amazing friends and a lifetime of memories. And I have the pictures to prove it!

I had someone recently tell me, they made some decisions lately that they truly regreted. I was dumbfounded by that. As we talked about, it wasn't regret they were feeling. It was sadness. They were sad that things couldn't continue the way they had. Life was moving on. I relayed a couple of other quotes to them that I love to try and help them deal with their feelings. "Never regret something that once made you smile" by Amber Deckers. The other is "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened" by Dr. Suess. (I love those quotes, they are true life lessons) They started to see that maybe regret wasn't it at all. They have taken a new look at the feelings they are experiencing, and starting to see that those decisions were the right one for tha day. They made them happy, and have grown from the experience.

You never know where, what seems like small insignificant decisons will lead you. I recently have had the privelage of reconnecting with an old friend, someone I haven't seen in over 15 years. As we have spent the last few weeks catching up, I relayed to them the story of how we met. The small events in my life that led me to the place where we would meet. Some of those events seem so small, as I look back. But they had to take place in order for me to be there. Also, when we parted ways all those years ago, it wasn't on the best of terms. But now, time and distance seperates us, and all the bad is gone. I have never regreted that friendship or the things leading up to it, and now I know why. We were destined to be friends now. We each just needed to be in the right place in our lives. And those events 22 years ago led us to this place today.

The moral to all of this? Don't look back with regret. Cherish the memories, they are the life that got you to today. They are also the force that will lead you into tomorrow. I would only add one thing to Ms. Holt's quote, the good is an experience too. Revel in the good and the bad, they are the very marrow of your life...

Fortune does not...

Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them.

-Suzanne Necker

I think this is profound. Have you ever known anyone to come into a substantial sum of money? The become different overnight. What is amazing is what some people call a fortune. People's true colors begin to shine through. That being said, I am going to just post some interesting fact I found browsing the Internet. It ought to show you how people are changed by money.

Nearly one-third of lottery winners become bankrupt.“The CFP Board made an offer to the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries to provide the organization's members with information to distribute to winners. The Investment News article highlighted the lack of financial guidance many winners receive from state lottery agencies; estimates show that nearly one-third of lottery winners become bankrupt.”Source: Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc. http://www.cfp-board.org/bulletin.html

Wealth brings unhappiness.“A new study by American psychologists has found that cash and popularity do not bring nirvana. Experts say that excessive wealth,particularly for people unaccustomed to it, such as lottery winners,can actually cause unhappiness.(..) There is evidence that there are very wealthy people who are very unhappy, particularly people who were not born to wealth like lottery winners.”Source: BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1162153.stm

A San Francisco Chronicle article titled “Big lottery winners know alot about what not to do” states:“The newly wealthy spend most of their first $1 million on travel” “Research shows that a significant number of lottery winners lose their winnings within five years, said Stephen Goldbart, a psychologist and co- director of the Money, Meaning and Choices Institute in Kentfield, which advices people who come into financial windfalls.”"We've seen people who had decent marriages who came into money and it destroyed the marriage. Bringing a huge amount of money into the scene is a life-changing event," Goldbart said.”“A hermit drank himself to death just two years after winning $2.57million (1.8 million pounds) in the lottery.”“Tom Grey, spokesman for the National Coalition against Legalized Gambling, said Virginia state lottery officials found in 1999 that of300 millionaire winners, as many as 60 eventually encountered financial problems.”Source: San Francisco Chronicle article 2002. http://www.geocities.com/ccd4664/BigLottoryWinners.htm

Researchers have identified many elements that people report wanting that don't really bring lasting happiness once obtained. For instance,there are interesting data on the clinical depression of megabuck lottery winners, or that the reported happiness of the rich is not significantly higher than the average person's. Apparently, large amounts of wealth, fame, power, sex, and prestige do not bring above-average happiness over time.”According to ABC's John Stossel, "Studies of lottery winners found that within a year, most say that they are no happier than they were before they won. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Pantheon/8320/HAPPNSS.htm

It's sad really. I hope that if I ever come into a large some of money, we find out that I am still a pretty good guy.

There is no greater...

There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone's life.

- Sister Mary Rose McGeady

For over thirteen years Sister Mary Rose McGeady was the President of the Manhattan based home for runaway teens, known as The Covenant House. She took over in that position in 1990 and continued on until 2003. During her tenure there, she succeeded in rebuilding what had become a crumbling institution. Now that we have the background on Sister McGeady, lets take a look at this quote.

First of all let me say, that when I saw this quote today, so many things came to mind that I may just ramble on for awhile. So, I apologize in advance.

By taking over and running a failing home for runaway kids, I would say that Sister McGeady, made a fundamental difference in the lives of hundreds if not thousands of people. We should all strive to make a difference in the lives of just a few, not all of us can be Sister McGeady's.

I am reminded of the families that my Sunday School class helps each year at Christmas. We took on our first family 3 years ago. I was told of this family that had 5 kids, no dad and mom didn't have a job. They had no idea what they were going to do for Christmas. I went and met with the mother and she could not go the normal routes for help that year, for various reasons. I met with our Sunday School class and decided we would "adopt" them that year. It was incredible. We supplied all the children with necessities, such as tooth brushes, tooth paste, new blankets, pillows, etc. We also got each kid pencils, crayons, notebooks, all the things they needed for the rest of the school year, including clothes plus 3 or 4 toys apiece. On top of all of that, we took enough food to feed the entire family during the Christmas break from school.

On Christmas Eve, we went to their house, and Santa Claus went with us. I will never forget the look on those kids faces when they looked out the window and saw Santa coming with that HUGE bag of toys. We walked in and one of the kids jumped in Santa's arm and said "I knew you would come see us Santa, I just knew you would. I love you." If you've never seen four grown men moved to tears, then come and go with us next year. We were speechless. We finally got the kids calmed down and seated and Santa hugged them and loved them, and he started passing out their giftsand telling them the true story of Christmas. They were amazed. The little girl was happier with her tooth brush than anything else. She grabbed my hand and asked me to help her brush her teeth, she was so excited. You would think that we made a fundamental difference in the life of that mom or those kids. Whether we did or not, I'll never know. But I know it made a difference in the lives of those that went. A true fundamental change. I don't think any of us will look at Christmas the same again. We have continued to do this for 3 years now. Each year it is a new family, and the blessing keeps getting bigger and bigger. It's the one part of Christmas I look forward to.

Now, while we are on the subject, let's talk about Santa Claus. We live the Santa tradition at my house. I have have found that I know several people that don't. I really and truly do not understand this line of thinking. I think you are robbing kids of some of their innocence, by not allowing them to believe in Santa. I'm 38 years old and still believe in Santa. There is no denying the fact that there was a man, the Bishop of Myra, in modern day Turkey, by the name of Nicholas. He lived in the 4th Century AD, and was known as Nicholas the Wonderworker. I am not Catholic, but when you study the life of Nicholas he he did many wonderful things for the people he ministered to. He no doubt fundamentally changed the lives of the people around him.

Nicholas was credit with saying, "...it's good to give and have only God know about it." Now if that isn't the Santa Claus mythos, then I don't know what is. I believe Santa is real. His history and giving, loving kindness lives on in the hearts of millions of people. On Christmas Eve, for the last 3 years, I now know of 13 children that believe in Santa. They saw him, they touched him and heard the true story of Christmas from him. That is something they will never forget. No matter where life takes them or what ever lays around the corner, for a short period of time, those kids believed and it was made real for them. I think we all can experience that if we would take the time to believe, to give in secret and to try and fundamentally change the lives around us.

Any fool...(again)

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain; and most fools do.

- Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie authored several best sellers including "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." Over 50 million copies of Mr. Carnegie's books have been printed; they are published in 38 languages. Sounds like a man that could get his message across.

Mr. Carnegie spent a lifetime, touring and lecturing and writing books. His goal was to make each and every person he met a better person, and to help them become the best that they could be. One of his core ideas, was that it is possible to change people's behavior, by changing one's reaction to them. If you're not getting the desired response from the people you deal with on a daily basis, maybe you need to look at how you act or react towards them. Sometimes its hard to look in the mirror and see yourself as the problem.

You have read my previous posts and know that I don't deal real well with all the negativity in the world. Everyone seems to be a part of the problem, and not part of the solution. A fool is defined as someone who lacks judgement or sense. So according to Mr. Carnegie, someone who constantly complains or criticizes, lacks good judgement. Sometimes its best to hold your tongue. I am the worlds worst. I will tell you what I think, before you even ask. However, I have made a real effort to stop complaining. I'm not there yet, but I think I'm getting better. Complaining and criticizing, just for the sake of complaining, NEVER solves the problem.

The next time someone isn't doing what you think is right, or something has gone terribly wrong. Don't let your tongue get ahead of your brain. Stop for a minute, assess the situation, and formulate a plan to fix it. Be a part of the solution, and quit being the fool.

Don't be too...

Don't be to moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

-Henry David Thoreau

Think about that!

Don't cry because...

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

-Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel

I have a friend of mine that says, "You make me smile.", all the time. How awesome is that? I don't say it very often, but I think it a bunch. I need to start telling more people that.

I am as guilty as everybody else out there, I can't help but think about the past. Good times with friends and family. Vacations, parties, "road trips", moments that were to short, with that someone special, even good times at work. Sometimes it depresses me, when I think about yesterday. The times we had, the friendships, the memories. But, I soon get over it, because I think about how great it was, and think, "you make me smile"! And, when tomorrow comes, today will be a memory too.

People that truly know me, know I love the moment. I love making the memories. I love to share them, the good and the bad. I have found that the "bad" memories make me smile too. Because, I am who I am today, because of all of those events. So when you start to look back, the bad wasn't really all that bad.

Music is an incredible force. I can be listening to the radio and hear a song, and it will make me think of someone I haven't thought about in years. It can bring back so many wonderful memories. Songs can bring a tear to our eye and make us smile at the same time.

I believe there are happy tears, tears that flow from smiling. Very seldom do I cry because its over. I sometimes cry, because of the wonderfully happy memories that I have, and can reflect on what a great life, mine has been.

Take the time to smile because it happened, and tell the person that made that memory with you, that they make you smile!

The longer I live...

The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes.

-Frank Lloyd Wright

Wow...

As I've said before, life gets in the way. We get blinded to what's going on around us. We miss the beauty of the world, the beauty of our spouse, the beauty of our family, the beauty of our friends. The beauty of everything. The beauty of LIFE!

Frank Lloyd Wright was a man that understood beauty. He designed and built some of the most beautiful buildings in the world. He had a gift, to take something as ugly as concrete, and rugged oldwood and turn them into a beautiful, marvolous creation.

Life is so short, it is but a vapor. We see new beauty everyday! Life can't help but become more beautiful. There are a lot of problems in the world, but the beauty always shines through, if we are willing to open our eyes and look for it.

We don't have to look very far. It's taken me a long time to realize it, but all I have to do is look into the eyes of my wife or my kids, or spend some time with friends, and I see all the beauty in the world. Love is a wonderful thing, it pushes the beauty to the front. Wright, loved his architecture, the beauty jumps out of his creations. My family and friends love me, as I do them, the beauty is all around them.

Take the time, notice the beauty, and life will become more beautiful every single day.

The children now love luxury...

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

- Socrates

Was this quote written 2500 years ago, or 25 minutes ago. I know I use a lot of quotes to talk about quotes, but there is something to be said here for the famous quote of 20th Century Philosopher George Santayana, "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it". This quote is typical Socrates. His main contribution to philosophy was in the field of ethics. He would have found it unethical for children to act in this way, as well as unethical for parents to allow this type of behavior.

I like this quote, because I am always trying to relate what has happened in the past, with what is going on in the world today. When we look back every great empire or civilization has fallen. The Greeks, The Romans, The Persians, and the list goes on and on. The world has become a much smaller place in the last 30 years. We have information at our fingertips, we truly live in an information age. Everything happens quickly.

I believe the tyranny of children, perverted immoral living, and a selfish, me me me mentality along with a long list of other things led to the destruction of all of the great civilizations.

What does that say about America today? Take a look around. His description of children could have been taken right out of todays newspapers. And parents continue to allow it. And it all falls back to the me me me mentality. Everyone thinks their kids should be first, have the best, the most. We are raising a group of children that will be greedier than we are as their parents. I understand, I am a parent. I want the best for my kids. But they know, that we don't get things, just because we want them. We have to work for them, or earn them. Unfortunately, someone has to be first and someone has to be last. My kids know that, that is not what is important to us. We expect their best. Thats it! If they give their best and that makes them last then so be it.

I hope parents can see the damage we are doing to our kids, our nation and our world. We don't want America to become the next great failure. Learn history, so we aren't condemned to repeat it.

Congress shall make no law...

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances

- The United States Constitution

For those of you that don't know, this is the First Amendment to the Constitution. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out, that there are five different issues being addressed in this one sentence. If I gave my thoughts on all five issues in this post, it would take me weeks to write, and would probably be to long for any sane person to want to read. So, for the purpose of this post, I am going to share some thoughts the first issue, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, of prohibiting the free exercise thereof".

An establishment is an arranged social order or system. I don't understand why someone as simple as I am, can get this, but the Supreme Court and all the left wing nut jobs in this country can't. If my child prays at school, or if the Ten Commandments are posted in my local courthouse, it does not mean the Federal Government is endorsing or "respecting" any religion. We hear all the time about "Seperation of Church and State". You just read it for yourself. Does our Constitution mention anything about seperation of church and state? The answer is simple. NO!

Now, if the Supreme Court does not allow students, teachers or administrators to pray in school or talk about their faith, they are obviously violating the second part of this sentence. They are prohibiting these people the free exercise of their religion. The same applies to a judge or official that wants to place the Ten Commandments in their place of business. Just because that person may work for the government, and is a Christian and wishes to share their faith, just by displaying the Ten Commandments, it DOES NOT mean the government is endorsing it! We have let too many people try to tell us we should be ashamed of our faith, and tried to tell us we can only practice it in our homes or churches. The Constitution, clearly states that the Government will not prohibit our free exercise. Yet, it happens everyday!

So many peoples lives are affected on a daily basis by extreme decisions that have been made about a sentence that is sixteen words long. Most people don't even know what those sixteen words are. They have only been told that the Constitution demands seperation of church and state. When in fact is says nothing even close to that. This country was founded by; and our founding documents were written by; God fearing, moral and upright men. They simply did not want to be in a situation where the govenment said you HAVE attend this church, pray in this way or be told our "official" religion is, so and so.

One final thing, when ones ability to practice his religion is diminished, it also starts to violate their freedom of speech, which is the very next line of this article.

I encourage everyone to take the time to read the Constitution, find out what it says for yourself. You may be surprised to find, it may not say what you have always been told!

I look to the future...

I look to the future, because that is where I'm going to spend the rest of my life.

- George Burns

Not all quotes need a lot of explanation. This is one of those quotes. With nowhere to go but forward, we have no choice but to spend the rest of our life in the future.

I never realized, that George Burns was Mr. Obvious.

Happiness and moral duty...

Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.

- George Washington

The dictionary defines happiness as; "the quality or state of being happy", it goes on to say, "happiness results from the possession or attainment of what one considers good". That has a lot to say about what George Washington thought of moral duty. Moral Duty can be defined as "an action founded on the fundemental principles of right conduct rather than on legalities, enactment, or custom".

Let me say for the record, I have the upmost respect for our founding fathers. They took on a fight, against the tyranny in the world, that completly changed the world, all the while, maintaining their faith in God, faith in their fellow man, and performing their moral duty.

He is saying, that to be truly happy, one must fulfill their moral duty. They are eternally connected. You can not have one without the other. When the two definitions are combined, it says, "happiness results from the attainment (fullfilment) of a duty founded on the fundemental principle of right conduct".

With so much anger, hatred and apathy in the world today, so many people don't want to do what is right. All you have to do is watch TV for 30 minutes, and you will see an advertisement for at least one drug for depression. No one is happy! Why? No one takes the time to fulfill their moral duty. What has happened in the last 200 years, that we have lost the compassion for our fellow man?

Next time you are feeling a little down, do a little good for someone, fulfill your moral duty, you might just find a little happiness for yourself.

Success usually comes...

Success usually comes to those who are

too busy to be looking for it.

- Henry David Thoreau

Everybody whats to a rock star or a movie star or famous, anyway they can get it. The problem is, few people want to work for it. The work ethic in this country has just about reached the bottom. All you have to do is go to your nearest fast food restaurant, and the service is in the toilet. I worked in that industry when I was a teenager. If we had tried to get away with the way they do things today, we would have all been fired!

I believe success comes in all parts of your life, at your career, parenting, your marriage, friendships, anything you're involved in. So many people worry about being successful, trying to prove themselves, stressing over what everyone else thinks. All the time that is spent on the worry and the stressing take away from the true work.

Being a parent is hard. Being a husband or wife is hard. Careers are hard. Life is hard! So why do we spend most days making it harder? We get tied up trying to be the "Success" that we think everyone expects us to be. As I type this it reminds me of another quote that I love, by Steven Tyler. "Life's a journey, not a destination". We need to take the time and enjoy the journey, we WILL reach the destination. If we've worked hard and done our absolute best, when we reach our destination, we will look back and discover, that we were truly successful.

Fools you are...

Fools you are...Who like to learn from your own mistakes, I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others, and avoid the costs of my own.

- Otto Von Bismarck

I wish I could get my 7 year old to understand this. Everyone talks about how teenagers know everything. So does my 7 year old. I talked with his teacher the other day, and she was telling me, that he has been in trouble lately, because he wants to get the last word in, because he thinks she is not doing things right. When we confronted him, he told his teacher he only does that because he knows he is right, because that's the way his dad is. He told her he was just like his dad! He doesn't understand that his dad has quite a few years on him, and has learned from his mistakes as well from the mistakes of others.

We all like to think we are right, and barge into new territory, like we are the worlds leading expert. When we make mistakes, it hold us up or pushes us back. If we would take a little time to study or listen to our parents, our teachers or our peers, we could save ourselves a lot of heartache.

When you take a few minutes to study Otto Von Bismarck, you learn, that he was one of the most prominent European statesmen of the nineteenth century. He grew to have immense political power, because he saw the problems of other politicians and nobles, and learned from their mistakes.

Next time you are about to try something new, remember this, and seek out help from someone that has done it before, and learn from the mistakes they have made.

There's a fine line...

There's a fine line between fishing, and standing on the shore like an idiot.

- Steven Wright

What do you say about this, other than it's true? I just think it's funny. I think one of the best things about comedy is, there is always a little bit of truth in it.

If you can dream it...

If you can dream it; you can do it.

- Walt Disney

I got to looking at the last few quotes I have posted, and I noticed that I have talked about a lot of negatives in the world. So I need to cheer it up a little. Who else brings more joy and more cheer, than Walt Disney. He changed the world with his wit, charisma and optimism. Walt was the eternal optimist.

Most people don't know it, but Walt was bankrupt by the time he was 21 years old. Yet he had a dream. He put everything he owned on the line more than once. His first attempts at animation were moderately successful at best. But he never gave up, he kept the dream alive. Then in the summer of 1928, Mickey Mouse was born. It was then that Walt's dream came true. With the birth of Mickey, the world was changed. Today, kids and adults alike all over the world recognize Mickey Mouse.

The great thing about Walt was, once he realized his dream, the dream just got bigger! After numerous successful feature films, he open Disneyland in 1955. And the dream just got bigger! He opened Walt Disney World in October of 1971. These two parks have had hundreds of millions of visitors since.

His name has come to mean different things, Imagination, Creation, Optimism, and good ol' American made Success.

In other words, don't stop dreaming, it CAN become a reality!

It is easy to sit up...

It is easy to sit up and take notice. What is difficult is getting up and taking action.

- Al Batt

Not only do I like to collect quotes, I like to know the context in which the person used them. When you refer to quotes by people like Ben Franklin or Will Rogers, they made observations about life. They were just looking to pass some wisdom along.

I love this quote, but I don't know the context in which is was used. So, with that being said, I'll just pass on what I think is means and how we can put it to use.

The President is doing a bad job, we shouldn't be in Iraq, gas prices are too high, I don't make enough money, he has a better car than me, my kids don't mind me, and the list goes on and on. I don't have any of these problems. But everywhere I go, there is always someone complaining about something. Complaining is one of the easiest things in the world to do. Almost everyone has the ability to "take notice". The problem, no one wants to be the one to step up and fix it. Everyboby wants to take the easy way out. It's time people start getting up and taking action.

The next time you start to complain about something, bite your tongue for just a second and think of this quote, and try to figure what YOU can do to fix it. Once you take notice, take the road less traveled, be a part of the solution, not the problem.

The great use of life...

The great use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.

- William James

ME! ME! ME! My Kids! My House! My Dog! My Cat! My Stuff! That pretty much describes society today. I'm sure there have always been greedy selfish people in the world, but they seem to be every where I go today.

I went Christmas shopping last Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). Everywhere I went people were rude, impolite and down right mean. Everyone was pushing trying to be the first in line, rushing to beat someone to a parking space or snatching things off of shelves. I don't know, maybe its just me, but none of is that important to me. I would rather let the lady that has 2 children in tow, who are screaming and into everything, go ahead of me. I held the door open for people. When you do things like that people look at you like you must me insane. They aren't used to people being helpful. It's a very sad commentary on the world today!

That's why I love this quote from the great American philosopher William James. It's not about me, me, me, it's about doing something that matters. Make a mark on the world. One that will make a difference in the lives of others. Donate to a charity, help in a disaster relief program, go on a mission trip with your church, or give some time to a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. The list is endless. And remember, just being kind, may make the difference in someone's day. You never know what a difference it might make. So the next time you see a Mom walking through the parking lot with a buggy full of groceries and a couple of kids, how about you remember this and let her go first, I'm sure the 10 seconds that it takes won't make that much difference in your day, but it might for her.

All we have to decide...

...that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world besides the will of evil.

- Gandalf the Grey

As a teenager I never read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Then when the movies came out, I did not want to see them, because when something is hyped that much, I am usually disappointed.

I ended up getting the first on as a gift. I had it for a couple of months, before I ever watchd it. Needless to say I made a mistake by not seeing it sooner. I loved it so much I went out and bought the books. For those of you out there that have seen the movies, but never read the books, you don't know what you're missing.

These books are filled with hundreds, if not thousands of quotes that are full of wisdom and insight. However, this is probably my favorite one.

If you may remember, Gandalf is giving this advice to Frodo, when they are in the cave near the beginning of their journey. In the book, it is actually much sooner, when Gandalf explains the Ring to Frodo, shortly after Bilbo had left. The meaning is the same, because the context in which he says it is the same.

Frodo is worried that all of these terrible things are happening in his "time". Gandalf quite simply tells him, it is not his place to worry about what happens in his time, but what he will do with the time that is given him.

This is a profound statement, that I think we can all learn something from. We all get tied up in our own lives, and all the bad things going on in the world. We don't need to "worry" about these things. It is our place to decide what we are going to do for the short time we are here. Are you going to make a difference in the world, or are you going to set back and be crushed by all the evil in the world around you!

We all have the responsibility to step up and be the absolute best we can be so that as Mark Twain says, "Let us so live, that when we come to die, even the undertaker will be sorry"

Another related quote is from Jesus himself. It is found in Matthew 6:34; "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Render therefore unto Caesar...

Then said He unto them, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.

- Jesus Christ

This really doesn't need any commentary. Tax day is a few days away, and as much as I hate to pay them, this quote says it all.

Do, or do not...

Do, or do not. There is no try.

- Yoda

The Star Wars Trilogies. My all time favorite movies. There is just something about them. Even when I watch them today, I feel like a 7 year old kid again. And of all 6 of the movies, none of them are like The Empire Strikes Back. I don't think anyone can forget, finding out that Darth Vader was Luke's father. Or when we found out that a little elfish figure, was the Jedi Master we were looking for.

Throughout his training, Luke struggles with many things. However when confronted with raising his ship from the swamp, Luke tells Yoda, that he tried, but it is to big. Yoda makes it a point of asking Luke if he judges him by his size. The entire scene has such a wonderful message.

First of all, don't be fooled by appearances. Great things have come from some of the strangest places. Whether big or small, short or tall, we all have the ability to accomplish great feats. Yoda finally tells Luke, don't try. the point is to do it or don't.

To many times we set ourselves up for failure, because we start out thinking we will try. If we will set out thinking we can do it, we have already won half the battle.

Any fool...

"Any fool can know, the point is to understand."

- Albert Einstein

This is actually the title quote from my other blog. When I first started collecting quotes, this was one of the first ones I came across. It was the one that got me interested in collecting them, because of what is says.

Einstein had insight into so many different things. He was a student, a teacher, a philosopher, and humanitarian. Because of this, other than his Theory of Relativity, this quote could be the most profound statement he ever uttered.

It is so simple it almost doesn't need explaining. It is simply his urging to completely understand something beyond simply knowing it.

I know a lot of things, however I completly understand very few. This simple quote is what pushed me to try and gain knowledge from wherever possible.