A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove ... but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

The Starfish Story
Walking along the beach after a storm, I noticed thousands of starfish washed up on the shore. As I looked to the horizon, I noticed a small figure in the distance. As the figure got closer, I could tell that it was a child hurriedly picking up starfish and throwing them back into the water. When I got even with the child I asked, "What are you doing?" "I'm picking up the starfish and putting them back in the ocean, so they can live." In protest I said, "But how can you think that will matter. There are thousands, maybe millions of starfish just on this beach. And you can only throw in a very few comparatively speaking. You can't possibly think you are really making a difference." The child looked up at me with knowing eyes, picked up a starfish and threw it mightily back into the water and said, "I made a difference to THAT ONE," while stooping to pick up yet another.

For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice - no paper currency, no promises to pay, but the gold of real service.
-- John Burroughs

It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot harder to make a difference.
-- Tom Brokaw

There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good.
-- Ecclesiastes 2:24

A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward.
-- William J. Bennett

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
-- Rumi

You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.
-- Winston Churchill

Our lives will always be full if our hearts are always giving.
-- Anonymous

We are here to help one another along life's journey.
-- William J. Bennett

The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.
-- Benjamin Disraeli

Take time to marvel at the wonders of life.
-- Gary W. Fenchuk

The size of your body is of little account; the size of your brain is of much account; the size of your heart is of the most account of all.
-- B.C. Forbes

Work done in the true spirit of service ... is considered as worship.
-- Baha Allah (founder of the Baha'i faith)

Great opportunities to help others seldom come; but small ones surround us daily.
-- Sally Koch

Do what you love and love what you're doing, and you'll never work another day in your life.
-- Source Unknown

Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you.
-- Henry Ward Beecher

We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
-- Albert Schweitzer

The ability to accept responsibility is the measure of the man.
-- Roy L. Smith

Here is a simple but powerful rule: Always give people more than they expect to get.
-- Nelson Boswell

To Have Succeeded

To laugh often and love much;
To win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children;
To earn the approbation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To give one's self;
To leave the world a little better,
Whether by a healthy child,
A garden patch,
Or a redeemed social condition;
To have played and laughed with enthusiasm
And sung with exultation;
To know even one life has breathed easier
Because you have lived ...
This is to have succeeded.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
-- Aesop

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
-- Phyllis Diller

In the presence of love, miracles happen.
-- Robert Schuller

The time is always right to do what is right.
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

Euthusiasm is the electric current that keeps the engine of life going at top speed ...
-- B.C. Forbes

It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.
-- Thomas Huxley

The only certain measure of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you.
-- Og Mandino

Live to learn and you will learn to live.
-- Portuguese proverb

Never, never, never, never give up.
-- Winston Churchill

If you are not using your smile, you're like a man with a million dollars in the bank and no checkbook.
-- Les Giblin

A person who sows seeds of kindness enjoys a perpetual harvest.
-- Anonymous

What do we live for if not to make the world less difficult for each other.
-- George Eliot

Celebrate what you want to see more of.
-- Tom Peters

Attitude
by Charles Swindoll
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on my life. Attitude to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinces that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes."

Attitude is Everything
by Francie Baltazar-Schwartz
Jerry was the kind of guy you love to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!" He was a unique manager because he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant. The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, 'Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Everytime someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life."

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live life."

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business: he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness, slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that went through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.'

"I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

Keep Your Fork
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things "in order," she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. "There's one more thing," she said excitedly. "What's that?" came the pastor's reply. "This is very important," the woman continued. "I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand." The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. "That surprises you, doesn't it?" the woman asked. "Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the pastor. The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork.' It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance! So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder "What's with the fork?" Then I want you to tell them: "Keep your fork....the best is yet to come". The pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman good-bye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the woman's casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing another favorite Bible and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the pastor heard the question "What's with the fork?" And over and over he smiled. During his message, the pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. The pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either.

He was right.

Judging Others
A preacher died and was standing in line at the Pearly Gates. In front of him was a taxi cab driver from New York. The taxi cab driver wore a leather jacket, had his hair pulled back in a pony tail, and in general did not appear to be the type that would get into heaven. When it was the taxi cab driver's turn, St. Peter asked his name, looked him up in the book and said, "Ah, yes, here you are. Please enter the gate, go to the left and take a gold staff and silk robe. Someone will show you what to do after that." Well, the preacher was really excited. He thought that if this New York taxi driver got a gold staff and silk robe surely he would get better. St. Peter asked the preacher his name, looked him up in the book and said, " Ah, yes, here you are. Please enter the gate, go to the right and take a wooden staff and cotton robe." The preacher was very confused by this and asked, "Excuse me, but how is it that a New York taxi driver got a gold staff and silk robe and I, a preacher for 25 years, only get a wooden staff and cotton robe?" St. Peter replied, "It's very simple. You see the people in the care of the taxi driver were praying, while the people you preached to were sleeping."

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Quoteland

Troop 865 Dallas, Texas [Home]  [Past]  [Present]  [Future] [Site Map]