09Feb 2015 by CJ

Valentine’s Day has very little to do with true love

Information & Education, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“To love is to accept a soul entirely, not wishing that the person was otherwise, nor hoping for change, nor clinging to some ideal past.” — Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway: Quotes, Verse, & Grumblings for Every Day of the Year For the majority of us, we’re only given one chance to fully experience a genuine, honest love with another person. The sad reality is that far too often time makes us unconsciously forget just how memorable, how valuable, how immeasurable that feeling truly is. Though definitions vary, love has commonly been defined as “a strong, complex emotion or feeling causing one to appreciate, delight in and crave the presence of another”. The ability to give and receive love has little or nothing to do with an exchange of gifts, and yet…
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27Jan 2015 by CJ

A lesson about making quick judgements while in the Home Depot

Information & Education, Life & Living
As anyone who’s visited a Home Depot knows, many now feature self-check out lines, which are a great time saver when you’re buying nothing more than a handful of screws, a light bulb or a roll of duct tape. Typically there are four stations – two on the right, two on the left and a station in the middle for that helpful store representative when the computers begin acting up. Logically speaking, one might assume that two lines would form on each side – customers passing through one right after another, not crossing lanes. But maybe I’m wrong on this one, as I found out today on a recent trip to the home improvement giant. I was on the left hand side waiting for a station to open up. Directly…
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15Jan 2015 by CJ

The consumer deserves better products for their money

Information & Education, Life & Living
“As a business leader you have to ask yourself, “Am I creating a consumer environment that is conducive to loyalty?” If the answer is no, FIX IT!” ― Steve Maraboli Years ago I was the kind of consumer that based my decisions more on price than anything else. What I learned from doing this was price does not always equal quality in the products and services we obtain for ourselves. As a consumer in today’s highly complicated and competitive product landscape, I can now tell you with great certainty that a company’s customer service is more important to me than just about anything else. Companies would be remiss if they haven’t yet figured out that brand loyalty is built not only from product offerings, but perhaps more importantly on the…
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08Sep 2014 by CJ

What example are YOU setting for today’s children?

Information & Education, Youth
By now I’m sure you’re all familiar with the popular ALS ice bucket challenge, which for the most part has had nothing but positive results for the cause. I say “for the most part” because with every act of kindness people do for the greater good of humanity, there are always those insensitive, self-gratifying individuals who find a way to disgrace the efforts of many. It seems a group of teenagers from Bay Village High School near Cleveland, Ohio used the “challenge” to pull a horrific prank on a very unsuspecting 14-year-old autistic student. If you’re not outraged by what you’re about to read, then I’m sorry to say you’re no better than the teenagers who instigated this prank. Instead of filling the bucket with the customary water and ice…
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05Sep 2014 by CJ

A little boy’s death helps put life into perspective

Information & Education, Life & Living, Youth
Every now then you get passed all the sensational headlines today’s news outlets cram down your throat, and discover a story overflowing with sentiment. So much so that you can’t quite shake the profound impact it’s left upon your heart and in your mind. I recently came across such a story about a young boy name Cole. After reading his tale, told bravely by his father Tony, it left me with so many unanswered questions about life, religion, the universe and all the material possessions we believe are vital for our survival. Sadly, Cole died two and a half years ago from neuroblastoma - a common childhood cancer. He was just five years old at the time. When I came across the following paragraph, I was actually overwhelmed with tears…
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