My thought for today....

A dear friend came by the other day, completely inconsolable.  She had a problem that was taking up all of her time and thinking. She was obsessed with it.  After listening for a while I asked her why she was so angry?

She explained, that although some of the fault for the problem was hers, the bulk of the blame had to go to someone else.

She was surprised at what I told her.

"Forgive them, when you do, the anger dissipates and the solutions will come.  Anger darkens your mind so much you cannot "see" how to proceed correctly.  Your anger will keep you from the answers you need.  And the best way to forgive someone is to be grateful...they go hand in hand.  Be grateful and you can forgive, forgive,  and you will see all your blessings, gifts and opportunities.  The solutions are there....but you need light to see them, and your anger has made that impossible."

Forgiveness works....it clears you to see your preferred path.

Because gratitude gives forgiveness a place to grow.

What I Believe

A dear friend of mine writes a column for the Salt Lake City Tribune and recently wrote the most thought provoking column I have read in a long time.  Ann Cannon is one of those writers that brings emotions you love to feel.  Find her column here.  She wrote about the concept of beliefs and the ongoing "This I Believe Project" (http://thisibelieve.org)  Ann inspired me to think about what I believe in....


I believe being surrounded by books is more comforting than macaroni and cheese

I believe the sound of my children laughing together is the best sound created.

I believe dogs are the best barometer of our worth, if your dog loves you then you are OK!

I believe hugs should be at least 9 seconds long and several times a day.

I believe older people have the best wisdom.

I believe a drum line at a football game could make you forget all your problems.

I believe good feelings from a sweet memory should be brought out and worn often.

I believe in learning, whether a formal education or simply living life, it equals the same.

I believe winning is wonderful, loosing is educational, and having the right attitude about both is inspirational.

I believe Frankincense is a miracle essential oil.  Or maybe magical...whatever, it is amazing, and it works.

I believe the things you should never be without in the kitchen is a great olive oil, fresh herbs, onions, garlic and celery.  With that you can create anything.

I believe you should never make excuses for wanting to set your table with the "good stuff".  Your grandmother will be happy you did.

I believe knowing who "your people" are is important.  Know where are your grandparents and great-grandparents are from and celebrate them!

I believe having a hobby and making time for it is imperative.

I believe lipstick and a strand of pearls help you feel pretty.

I believe prayer is the greatest power on earth.

I believe sitting by a fire in a comfortable chair, with a great book, watching it rain or snow is the essence of comfort.

I believe in having a favorite blanket and a favorite bathrobe.

I believe in the magical powers of a donut you bought while no one was looking.

I believe furniture finds you...

While I believe in the intelligence of order, keeping a few odd things does not clutter make.

I believe some books are holy and are filled with truth.  They make us better for having read them.

I believe God talks to us, and if we are willing to listen, our lives improve.

I believe we are all entitled to our own beliefs and deserve the respect of others as we follow the "dictates of our own conscience"

I believe making assumptions about what people are like will rob you of the potential of a great friend.

I believe the causal effect of forgiveness is intelligence.  Anger literally halts our progression and keeps us from finding the answers that are always there.

I believe in the power of words, be careful how you use them.

What are your beliefs?

How far is too far?

A lifetime ago I wrote exclusively about politics, very strident, very opinionated.  I was very loose with facts in order to prove my point.  Funny, I was able to see all the mistakes and weaknesses of my "foes" but I never saw the ones on my side.  Their leaders were useless, out of touch and actually evil.  My leaders? Forward thinking, honest and trustworthy.  I never thought I hurt anyone because the response from readers was so positive.  People loved what I wrote.  And then one day I ran into a friend of mine who happened to be a member of the opposite party.  He looked at me and said very slowly..."you are very.....political."  His words just hung there, like a gym sock on a curtain rod (totally stole that) I knew exactly what he was referring to, and I realized immediately how hurtful I had been.

I had gone too far.

I realized that politics is subjective and worse it is often run on emotion.  There is a big difference between being lighthearted and light minded, and when I started to look at both sides, really look at both sides my point of view changed.  I saw that hypocrisy drives the political bus. One side screams in pain over tactics they employed when their crowd was in power....I guess amnesia was riding on that bus to.

Right now we have the equivalent of a rancorous family dinner with all the organization of a food fight.  Democrats fling accusations that republicans want poor people to remain poor, women to remain barefoot and pregnant and hungry children should stay hungry.  And don't forget Republicans would like babies to have gun permits.  To flick the mashed potatoes back in this food fight the democrats are being served up as anti-Israel and not caring if Iran has the bomb.  Democrats are so anti war that they will let prisoners out of Gitmo under any circumstance, give them a one way ticket to Falujah where they receive a hero's welcome and immediately go back to the front lines of Al Qaeda.  In this fight, Democrats don't care about the Arab problem because President Obama is a Muslim and those are his people.  With democratic rule our military is weak, our debt is skyrocketing, and we have impossible rules from small business to environmental problems.  Republicans are the party of hate, they hate homosexuals, women and Marni the Instagram dog.  Democrats just want to tax you to death (and after death) spend your money on a $300 million dollar blimp and give Facebook a $250 million dollar tax refund.  Republicans are hailed as the party of "NO!"  Yet their Republican held congress passed more bills than any other congress had.  But none of those bills were even voted on in a Harry Reid Senate.  President Obama pushed through a health bill that made insurance affordable to a great, great many people.  But because it had to be paid for somewhere, many middle class folks got hikes in their premiums to a place they had never seen before.  Some people see it in a monthly bill so it hurts...others don't see it because their employers absorb the extra cost.  But someone will have to pay for that, so the widgets being made at the factory are now more expensive.  If you are not able to breathe in the next 20 years, or if your home is under water due to glaciers melting, well find a Republican and thank them.

People who are pro choice view pro lifers as getting in the way of freedoms...a woman's freedom to choose.  But should it be ok to abort a baby because its a boy and not a girl?  Just like there are speed limits on a road couldn't abortion limits be a good idea?  Speed limits don't keep you from driving just keep you a bit safer.

Gun Control.....oh how I hate the word control, no matter where it is used.  But the problem with the anti-gun crowd is they don't like the people who like guns.  Think about that....they don't like the people who like guns.  And to the Republican backed NRA, is a waiting period to buy a gun such a bad thing?  Why don't we trade?  A waiting period for the gun crowd, and a waiting period for the abortion crowd.  They could have just a few days to think about it.

"We are supposed to fix our problems, government is not supposed to create them for us."

Both parties are expert at putting a bill together for something wonderful, then inserting something in the bill the other side would never pass.  AND THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING!  Then they go to the press and say "See!  See!  We try to govern but they won't cooperate"  When in fact both sides make governing impossible.  It's all staged to make the other side look unreasonable.
I would like to ask most folks to admit the news they listen to is biased.  Fox is slanted right, MSNBC is slanted left.  We watch to buoy up our position, not for critical thinking.  Some will bring the opposite viewpoint in for a more interesting debate, but Rachel? Nope, Sean? Nope, Megan? Nope, Ed? Nope.  For instance this morning I heard the president's trip to Saudi Arabia for the King's funeral described two ways.  The Right leaning network said President Obama changed his mind and decided to go to the King's funeral instead of the planned Biden led group.  He didn't want  another "Paris" like firestorm.  The left leaning network reported President Obama was cutting his trip to India short to attend the funeral.  One side reports the news and adds an opinion, the other side reports the news and adds an opinion.  Not very honest is it?   We watch "our news" just like I read the football bleacher report from the University of Texas.  It's always slanted toward the Longhorns, weaknesses are hidden, strengths are heralded and anyone who disagrees is an idiot.  Hook e'm!

Every time I see something on Facebook that is politically incendiary I "hide" it.  I am able to avoid  disliking the person who posted it, or taking it personally.  I wrote a lot of opposition papers in college...lots of them. I have learned how to bolster almost any argument.  It's easy...use enough truth to make it plausible, mix in some threats and emotion and you really have something.  I am suggesting we think about the stories we share.  Words are powerful, if it is written down people have a tendency to believe it.  Fact check your articles to the best of your ability and then if you still think it's worth passing around, well, go ahead.

People that I am friendly with I have written some ghastly things about conservatives...they are all this or all that.  And people I am friendly with have written some ghastly things about liberals.  They would be the first person to be appalled at hearing a racist remark...how is this different?  
We have even discussed anti-bullying laws, don't you feel bullied sometimes when someone attacks your opinion?  Remember that the next time you suggest a liberal isn't patriotic or a conservative hates women.

Most people are center right or center left and want as much government as it takes to keep the water running and bad guys off the streets.  

We are supposed to fix our problems, government is not supposed to create them for us.

I want a leader to stand up and say America is a great place and we not only have room for all opinions, but we must have all opinions.  If your stand is a good one it will stand up to scrutiny.

Maybe I just want someone to stand up and lead us.

Selma

The movie Selma is important for many reasons.  For one, Selma uncovered what evil looked like in America.  Human beings hell bent on denying other human beings the right to vote.  People so blinded by prejudice they could not see the obvious unfairness of their acts.  It was finally time to change wrongs for good.  But the fact that the person who ran the entire country wanted the voting rights bills passed is important to me.   It gave me comfort that not every white person in power was determined to keep black people from voting.  So why did the filmmaker feel the need to make Lyndon Johnson such a force against voting rights when he was, in fact, so determined to make it happen?  Why did she infer LBJ ordered the FBI to investigate Dr. King?  The director felt making LBJ a sympathetic character would result in him being the great white Savior.  In my opinion, nothing could have been further from the truth.  Martin Luther King Jr. was the heart and soul of the civil rights movement, no one else.  There are certain facts associated with Selma and the entire civil rights movement that are simply beyond my comprehension.  Law enforcement being ordered to beat defenseless men and women is small next to the fact that these same men and women came back to march in Selma again, and then again.  That is a testament to the capacity and limits a human beings will go to seek freedom.  In this case the freedom to vote.  Without Martin Luther King it would not have happened in the compelling and inspiring way it did.  I watched him give "The Dream" speech on Television...I was only 8 years old but he touched something in my soul I will never forgot.  I knew he was telling the truth, and I raised my children to judge people on the content of their character and not the color of their skin.  One generation in my family went from not being able to drink from the same water fountain to being best friends.  Dr. Martin Luther King was the central character in this story, in comparison no other leader even comes close.  It wasn't necessary to make LBJ small to heighten Dr. King.  Martin Luther King was the giant in this story.  He changed the lives of disenfranchised people everywhere, and he did it with leadership, love and fairness. As much as he could have, he never appeared to hate anyone.  He is an American hero for all Americans.  

Although the climate of my generation made it easier for me to be "color blind" my father had the seed.  He told me about the time his Platoon was moved by train from San Diego to Jacksonville Florida.  It was 1952 and the Marines were "cautiously" desegregated.  They all rode together until the New Mexico/Texas border then the black marines were forced to go to the back of the train.  In a show of solidarity these men who had trained together, lived together and could all die together went to the back of the train together.  My dad, raised by segregationists....knew what was right.  He didn't think it was a big deal...but it was.  And it is the reason I know things will continue to get better and better.  I have been chastised by some because I feel we have come such a long way.  There is still so much unfairness they tell me.  Of course there is...and it is heartbreaking to me.  

But this is my reality.  

This is a picture of my daughter when she was homecoming queen.  When I was growing up this would never have happened.  

I believe things are better...I hope things are better...and I know you have to hope and you have to believe before anything substantial can occur. 

Here are 3 articles you can read that may help formulate your own opinion

By Lois Alter Mark Movie Review on Boomeon "Selma"

By Ann Hornaday Film Fact Checking is here to stay

By Joseph A. Califano Jr. who was President Lyndon Johnson's top assistant for domestic affairs from 1965 to 1969

What are you afraid of?

What are you afraid of?

Take a moment and ponder your fears....don't be afraid.  I am not talking about the typical stuff, heights, edges, snakes, the scale and libertarians.  I mean real things that go bump in the night.

Like being afraid you will run out of money...that you cannot provide for your needs.  So you pay bills at the last possible second, sometimes even late because you are afraid to send out the money.  You certainly don't pay a bill early...you are afraid something might happen.  You don't spend money to fix something in your house or your car or your mouth because you are afraid to spend the money...the problem exacerbates and the money to fix it quadruples.  You ignore the phone because you are afraid of what bill collectors will say.  Awful, awful fear.

If money is not your fear, great, but look at the pattern.  Fear runs in the same pattern.  Fear is the same for us all.  It does take different shapes, different themes...but it follows the same pattern.

Until you face it, and begin to have faith.

I know that some of you will dismiss this immediately as a religious reference, and actually it is for me.  But no matter what you believe in faith dismisses fear.

Do you need faith in yourself?  Face it.....

I always wondered what the heck that meant, face your fears.  Then something happened the other day that was my waterloo moment.  I am weary of the same problem cropping up over and over again.  It became obvious to me I haven't learned how to be fearless in the face of this problem.  Being fearless is a pretty great attribute...but I am afraid to be fearless.  I have an empty cup of faith.

From the amazing Corrie Ten Boom

What happens when you let go and just leap off the cliff?  I have written about this is in the past, but nothing has changed for me.  I am still stuck on the edge.....holding on for dear life.....unable to just jump off.

Fear keeps us from trying so many things.  Fear keeps us safe, like some kind of creepy Stockholm syndrome.  Safe, but the captor is a harsh taskmaster...taking from us our peace.

What are you afraid of?  And is it worth your peace?  Wouldn't you really like a miracle?

From Ann Hansen who wants you to know this might make you mad

I am blessed to know a great many amazing people in this world.  Ann Hansen has always intrigued me and frankly her life is worth noting.  She has always been a fierce supporter of her adopted country, Israel, and although not Jewish she never wavers in her love for the country or the people. 

I know that what I am about to say will probably upset some people, but I am furious about all these "ye suis Charlie" marches, etc. Three attacks were made this week in France, and possibly a fourth. The first was made against the Charlie office, but the other two were made against Jewish targets. The second attack, in which a French policewoman was killed, was also against a Jewish target. The terrorist was in a traffic accident on his way to commit "slaughter" (his words) against a Jewish elementary school. This was the same terrorist who then attacked the Jewish supermarket, in which 4 French Jews were killed by him. He was a friend of the brothers who committed the attack on Charlie, and was in contact with them during their respective sieges.

Of the 17 victims of the French attacks, 5 were Jewish, including one of the Charlie cartoonists. Ironically, his parents had left France in the 1930s to escape anti-Jewish violence.

My anger had two sources. One is that so much of the Western world still refuses to acknowledge a very real threat and therefore take necessary precautions to minimalize it. The world is outraged about an attack on the press, but how many have reported the numerous attacks against Christian schools and churches in Nigeria the past week in which several HUNDRED innocents have been killed? How many reported the suicide bombing the same day in Nigeria which killed more than a hundred? The bomber was a girl aged 10 or 11. This is a new technique employed by Boko Horam - kidnap girls and allow them to choose between rape or suicide bombing.

My greatest anger, though, is that the Western world is so ready to assemble and mourn the attack on a magazine - a symbol of Western values - yet remain absolutely silent about attacks on Jews. Do any of those Suis Charlie signs include any mention of the Jewish victims or Jewish targets? 

Where was world outrage a few months ago when The Jewish Museum in Belgium was attacked a few months ago and 3 Jews were murdered? Where was French or world outrage last year when a Jewish school in France was attacked and Jewish children were killed? Where was world outrage last month when a Jewish baby was killed last month in Jerusalem when a terrorist deliberately ran over her mother, who was standing at a train stop?

It feels good to stand up for what you believe, and joining candle vigils and holding placards helps us to feel like we are doing something constructive, but when "solidarity" turns into a way to put our heads in the sand this attitude is dangerous.

The gatherings I have seen in the news show people holding pens in honor of the victims and theoretically the principles.  Almost a third of those victims were Jewish.  Two of the three targets this week were Jewish.  But did one single person in those gatherings hold a Star of David?

A Cautionary Tale

Three years ago we had the most unsettling Saturday afternoon.  I underscore three years ago because some kind of statute of emotional limitations has run a course.   Although my husband looks like an extra from the Sopranos it was still a surprise to receive a collect phone call from the North Las Vegas City Jail.  Our little family prides itself on being collectively boring and law abiding so this turn of events was a jolt.  When the Italian left to do errands there didn't seem to be a possibility of incarceration....but then who outside of criminals see jail coming?

It was Saturday, that is important because the weekends are a bit more problematic for breaking folks out of jail.  That fact is simply layered on top of this being the same weekend my younger daughter brought her boyfriend home from college to meet the family.

Oh my....

So here is how it went down.....the Italian had finally finished repairing his beloved 20 year old truck.  It had been in the garage for months without registration, insurance or plates, so he was taking it to be smogged and registered. During it's long season of in-operation we had taken it off our insurance and turned in the plates.  As I said we are law abiding folks so I was careful to add it back to our insurance the day before he was going to do everything.  Since the DMV is near Deseret Industries (the goodwill kind of operation we support) he loaded the back of the truck with bags of clothing and other things to donate.  I waved good bye and went to work in the yard.  Our plans were to meet up later in the day with everyone and have dinner so we could sit and stare at the new boyfriend.  Then our plans changed.

After working in the yard for several hours I came back in the house to see several messages (10) on the phone.  Before I could listen to the messages the phone rang.

"Will you accept a collect call from the North Las Vegas Jail?"

There was only one person I knew going to North Las Vegas that day, and his named ended in a vowel.  In certain parts of the world that makes you an instant suspect, like being blond makes you dumb and being an attorney makes you the brunt of every joke. For the record the Italian really is a puppy dog of a person, appearances aside.  After I accepted the call he explained he was pulled over for making a lane change without putting on his blinker.  So not only was he guilty of that egregious error, but the truck wasn't registered, he didn't have the proof of insurance card (which we did have, but hadn't put it in the glove box) and they said he had an outstanding warrant for a ticket he didn't pay.  Just getting one of those things cleared up would have kept him out of jail, but it was Saturday and they couldn't (or wouldn't) get the insurance company on the phone.  The ticket in question had been paid through an attorney friend but no one told him it was paid late, so a warrant had been placed.  Trouble on trouble

He told me there were 3 police cars involved, he was taken out of his beloved 20 year old truck, handcuffed and put in the back of the police car.  No windows were even cracked, and it was hot outside! He explained he would be needing his diabetes medicine soon, but it was their mission to get this criminal to jail.  When we finally spoke he had been there for 2 hours.  The only thing they had told him was for someone to call the jail and follow the prompts on how to get him out.  My first reaction was to go completely cold.  Most of my brain stopped working with only the panic part fully functioning .  For the record the panic part of your brain is not the best part to rely on in a situation like this.  Perhaps if you are being chased by a bear...but not so much when you need to make sense.  I cannot recall who I contacted first but I know it was an attorney....I am friends with roughly 10,000 attorneys.  It is well known you shouldn't leave your home without an attorney, and never was that more true than this day.  Starting with numbers in my phone I just went down the list, deputy district attorney?  Not available.  Another deputy district attorney?  What jail is he in?  North Las Vegas?  I don't know any judges there.  A criminal attorney, a zoning attorney, a personal injury attorney, a bankruptcy attorney even the attorney for a hospital, no one knew what to do or who to contact on a Saturday, especially in North Las Vegas.  With all this bad news, I assumed my friend who is a district court judge couldn't help either.  Besides, I couldn't get her on the phone.....weekends.

The promptings on the phone to the jail said it would be 3 hours before they started processing him.  Three hours?  My oldest son and daughter got in the car with me for the ride to North Las Vegas.
All during this time my younger daughter, the one home from college for the weekend with her new boyfriend, were attending the Rebel basketball game.  She was calling to find out where to meet for dinner.  Exactly what should I tell her?  I couldn't tell her about jail, bail and epic fail, so I just said, "You know we haven't really decided where to eat yet." That would buy an hour...what to do after that was anyone's bet.

After being in line at the jail forever they informed me I needed to give them $1600.00 (yikes) The beloved truck was at an impound lot at a location they wouldn't disclose.  I am not sure why I didn't qualify for that bit of information, but they did tell me it would be $200 a day. Thank goodness a branch of my bank was still open because I couldn't get that much money from the ATM.  And the jail doesn't take anything but cold, hard cash.  For an instance I wished I had been a bank robber.

Jail is a complicated place.

Now we just had to wait in a large room with the rest of the families of the unfortunate incarcerated.  I spoke with the Italian one more time to assure him we were doing everything we could to get him out.  He told me he had been given a sandwich, and they took his belt, shoelaces, watch and ring.

My daughter called again, and I had no idea what to tell her, so my son took the phone and said, "Dad's in jail." I don't know how there conversation went, but Trey said they were handling it and not to worry.   Still it wasn't clear how long this was going to take, and no one was willing to tell me anything.  Everyone with authority was behind locked doors, you had to press buzzers to get anyones attention.  When you did get someones attention they wouldn't tell you anything helpful.  The automated phone calls were just that, automated, nothing interactive.  To say it was the most frustrating experience I had encountered would be an understatement.  I am used to information, problem solving and solutions, and this was a classic example of, "you cannot get there from here."

Finally a wonderful friend of my husband's, an actual Italian criminal attorney, called me back. He told me not to worry, it would work out.  He didn't know any judges in North Las Vegas, but just keep doing what we were doing and eventually he would get out that night.  We made some typical ethnic jokes about this situation and laughing released some tension. Now we had been there for hours, and the Italian had been in jail hours before that, and we were facing hours beyond that. Just when discouragement started to set in again, my friend, the District Court Judge, called back.  She had been to a cheerleading competition (remember it was Saturday?) and couldn't hear her phone.  She let me know that District Court Judges supersede any jurisdiction and it didn't matter the Italian was in North Las Vegas jail. After one phone call from her the folks at the jail informed me the Italian would be released within the hour.  "Just go out to your car and wait."  I think I cried.

We waited about a half hour when he came out to the car, and of course he brought a friend he had made in jail.  My husband has always found himself with those he refers to as, "the least of them."  To my knowledge he has never turned his back on anyone in need.  He worked at a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas for 25 years, always with the least of them, so it didn't surprise me he would bring someone from jail with him.  We loaned him our phone, the Italian gave him some money, a hug and off we went.

Now onto damage control with the new boyfriend and my younger daughter.  Nope...there is no way to fix this one, it will just have to be a story for the ages....

Remember when dad went to jail?

Could Everything Be Rigged In Your Favor???

Imagine my surprise when a blog I wrote over a year ago popped up on my screen. There must be a logical reason for this sudden appearance, but I choose to believe the Universe is conspiring in my favor. There is a personal challenge I am about to start and this little nudge in the form of a blog made me laugh out loud. Usually my words come back to haunt me, today they came back to push me to achieve my goal. This blog was put together with the words and wisdom of others and it was good to read it again. If you are embarking on a new road today, maybe it will be just what you need. xoxo. Here it is....

A wonderful writer, speaker, philosopher and church leader Jeffrey Holland once wrote about the universal problem that hits all of us.  He said doubt, discouragement, and despair blocks our growth, dampens our spirits, diminishes our hope and leaves us vulnerable to other troubles.  His words from March of1980...
"I speak of doubt - especially self-doubt, of discouragement, and of despair.  In doing so I don't wish to suggest that there aren't plenty of things in the world to be troubled by.  In our lives, individually and collectively, there surely are serious threats to our happiness.  I watch an early morning news broadcast while I shave and then read a daily newspaper.  That is enough to ruin anyone's day and by then it is only 6:30 in the morning.  Iran, Afghanistan, inflation, energy, jogging, mass murders, kidnapping, unemployment, floods. With all of this waiting for us we are tempted, as W.C Fields once said, to "smile first thing in the morning and get it over with."

We come back to choice...choice of how we view everything.  

Here is a distinction F.Scott Fitzgerald once made, that "trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement-discouragement has a germ of its own" (The Crack-Up 1945)

As my friend Valerie continues to tell me, "Events are neutral" Hard to believe but so, so true.  We get to choose how we react, we really are the captain of our ships.

From his talk "For times of Trouble" Jeffrey Holland wrote of a story I love.  "Thomas Edison devoted ten years and all of his money to developing the nicks-alkaline storage battery at a time when he was almost penniless.  Through that period of time, his record and film production was supporting the storage battery effort.  Then one night the terrifying cry of fire echoed through the film plant.  Spontaneous combustion had ignited some chemicals.  Within moments all of the packing compounds, celluloid for records, film, and other flammable goods had gone up with a roar.  Fire companies from eight towns arrived, but the fire and heat were so intense and the water pressure so low that the fire hoses had no effect.  Edison was sixty-seven years old-no age to begin anew.  His son Charles was frantic, wondering if he were safe, if his spirits were broken, and how would he handle a crisis such as this at his age.  Charles saw his father running toward him.  He spoke first.

He said, "Where is your mother? Go get her. Tell her to get her friends.  They'll never see another fire like this as long as they live!"  

At 5:30 the next morning, with the fire barely under control, he called his employees together and announced, "We're rebuilding."  One man was told to lease all the machine shops in the area, another to obtain a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad Company.  Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "Oh by the way, anybody know where we can get some money?" (paraphrased from Charles Edison, "my most unforgettable character," Reader's Digest December 1961, pp. 175-77)
Virtually everything you now recognize as a Thomas Edison contribution to your life came after that disaster.  A disaster I think I would have not recovered from.

 


Remember, "Trouble has no necessary connection with discouragement-discouragement has a germ of its own."

Why didn't Thomas Edison quit?  What is it about some people that they never quit?  I believe William Shakespeare said it best (doesn't he always?) Remember, dear Brutus, "The fault....is not in our stars, but in ourselves"


I am reading this today with a new outlook of hope....