Forward We Go Together

"I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they are bad - to change. Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses." ― Catherine Ryan Hyde

Paying it forward is not a new idea and has been written about before. There was a very nice movie some years back with the same name that did marginally well in the box office. The concept itself of "paying it forward" also does marginally well and that is what I'm here to talk about.

It is simple enough to say that our lives are truly impacted by the acts of others. The impact of others and our response or attitude towards them are of our own doing. But the impact remains, small, large or even doing nothing. 

The principle of paying it forward is not a self serving mentality. You perform these acts without expectation of anything in return. The idea is to do one good thing for three other people. All you ask of these people is that they each do the same for three people. 

Think of it as "network marketing" for the good of others.

What you are building up are the lives of more and more other people. You are that pebble dropped in the water, rippling outward to impact other people. Your simple act of kindness being paid forward is spreading for others to enjoy.

So try to do something good for at least one other person today. Don't ask for anything in return but do ask that person to do something good for another. So on and so forth life goes, making it a little better for each one of us.

Stay inspired my friends!

No Matter the Rain

"Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe. It is not enough that a thing be possible for it to be believed." - Voltaire

You are driving down the road on a late summer afternoon.

The days have been filled with hot and humid conditions.

This day you hope that those gathering clouds create a cool rain to break the heat.

A sharp jagged lightening bolt and loud thunder shuddering the peaceful day.

A few droplets of rain and then it happens, a seemingly impenetrable wall of rain.

You drive into it, car wipers swooshing like mad.

And you drive on knowing and having faith the road continues out in front of you. You maintain belief in the road being there and your ability to maneuver through even a heavy down pour of rain.

Our journey in life is like this at times.

We encounter a wall of rain that obscures the view of our path ahead. But we keep moving forward, trusting your instincts; trusting your knowledge that you can get through to the other side.

With trust and faith in your ability, nothing is impossible.

I didn't say easy, but all things are possible with a firm faith in self. So keep moving forward, keep looking through the rain which gets in the way. The rain will end, the clouds will part and a blue sky will appear.

Just keep moving, step by step, faith upon faith.

Stay inspired my friends!

Behind the Street Sweeper

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” - Abraham Lincoln

I am reminded from time to time of the words Dr. Martin Luther King spoke and is quoted in numerous sources. I wanted to find out more about when he first used the words, in what context and how he came about those words.

It appears he first used the words in his speech titled “The Birth of A New Age,” on August 11, 1956. This speech was at the Fiftieth Anniversary of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in Buffalo, NY.

Dr. King used these words in many different speeches but this particular speech was to encourage "African Americans on how they can best prepare for the challenges and responsibilities of the “new order” that is replacing the “old order” of colonialism abroad and segregation at home."

About half way through his speech are the following words,

"As someone said, do it so well that the living, dead, or the unborn could do it no better. If your son grows up to be a street cleaner, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry, sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well”.

Dr. King attributed the words to Morehouse College president Benjamin Mays during a speech to an Atlanta, GA audience (see King, “Facing the Challenge of a New Age,” January 1, 1957, Paul H. Brown Collection).

He went on to paraphrase from a poem written by Douglas Malloch titled “Be the Best of Whatever You Are” (1926).

"If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill be a shrub on the side, but be the best shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can’t be a tree, if you can’t be a highway be a trail, if you can’t be the sun be a star. It isn’t by size that you win or you fail. Be the best of whatever you are and that is the second challenge, that we confront the issues of today and prepare to live in this new age."

It is these words I use to remind you today of the greatness one can achieve regardless of where you are in life.

No matter what you do in life. Even in spite of your current condition in life. With timeless words repeated countless times,

Be the best at whatever it is you do.

Stay inspired my friends!

The Little Things

“You need to let the little things that would ordinarily bore you suddenly thrill you.” ― Andy Warhol

I have written quite often how we should be doing small things that touch other people's lives. You open a door, let another car into the line of traffic or maybe sending a smile their way. All good things are returned to you in ways you will never expect. For me it happened in a way I did not expect.

Good things come in unexpected ways.

I was eating dinner with my son who is in the U.S. Army. We had finished eating at a local restaurant and were getting ready to leave. The waitress had brought our bill and I noticed it was short one meal. I called her back over in order to get it corrected. It turns out that someone in the restaurant had paid for my son's meal.

I asked whom it was so that we could thank them, but it was indicated they wished to remain anonymous. A very nice gesture which touched me in a way I didn't think it could. My son was grateful and I could tell in his quiet way that it had made an impression.

Not looking for headlines, just a person doing something nice for another.

All of us can not fly another to Paris to view the Eiffel Tower, but we can give them a key chain. It is the little things that let another person know we are thinking of them or that we do care. A simple gesture that has a grand effect.

The little things in life do matter.

You can do something for others every day of your life. You can start right now, tonight or in the morning - find one small thing to do. To paraphrase a quote, "The smallest deed is better than the greatest intention." Small things become great in their own simplicity.

Stay inspired my friends.