I present to you the following story – words once spoken by the late Fred Rogers as only he could. “There was a story going around about the Special Olympics. For the hundred-yard dash, there were nine contestants, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. All nine of them assembled at the starting line and, at the sound of the gun, they took off. But one little boy didn’t get very far. He stumbled and fell and hurt his knee and began to cry. The other eight children heard the boy crying. They slowed down, turned around, and ran back to him – every one of them ran back to him. The little boy got up, and he and the rest of the runners linked their arms together and…
I recently started a new job. Well, it's not really a NEW job, since it's for the same company just for a different department. I thought since I already knew many of the people I'd be working with and utilizing many of the same skills and abilities that it'd be a piece of cake to transition from one job to the other. Fat chance. On my first official day I found myself riddle with computer issues from my new system and a learning curve I wasn't fully expecting since the nature of the work was so similar. But I suppose every job has its share of nuances which can seem challenging and even overwhelming at times to anyone unfamiliar with them. I found myself feeling insecure and defeated as the…
Though my last name is pronounced the same with a similar spelling, I have no familial relation to the infamous midnight rider Paul Revere. Shame really, for I’d love to have capitalized on that. Paul Revere's been in the news of late as Alaska’s former governor, Sarah Palin, was recently quoted as saying that his April 1775 ride was actually to “warn the British.” Silly girl, everyone knows he was warning the patriots that “The British are coming!” Of course Democrats and journalists have been having a field day with this blunder, but I offer you the following information. A 2000 study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni found that the majority of seniors at the nation’s very best colleges could not identify words from the Gettysburg Address…
At first I was a little confused when my wife gave me a children’s book called "The Giving Tree" to read. Was she trying to tell me something, I thought. Turns out it was a book she first read and fell in love with back in a college literature class. “The Giving Tree,” written and illustrated by Shel Silverstein, was released in 1964 and is still popular today – even though its meaning continues to be the subject of debate. Some readers felt the story was too depressing, supporting codependency and selfish behavior. One blogger even said he’d read the book over 60 times and still wasn’t sure what the author was trying to say. That’s a little extreme for a book of simple line drawings and a sprinkling of…
Losing the ability to see must be a frightening and harrowing experience as your world becomes filled with nothing but darkness. Famed American author and political activist, Helen Keller, was not only blind, she was also deaf, but you wouldn’t know it. Her writings and teachings show a young, confident woman filled with enormous strength, passion and the knowledge of what’s truly important during our tenure here on this earth. She once wrote, “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Though the majority of us are fortunate enough to possess the ability to see and hear clearly, that doesn’t mean some of us aren’t blind – willingly blind that is. While those two words, “willingly blind,” might seem like an oxymoron, in reality it…