Links to some of the funniest people and stories on the web:
Bulgarian Idol and her rendition of Mariah’s Without You
Bb Pilipinas answers a question
Ms South Carolina answers a question
AMELIA EARHART- AVIATRIX, FIRST WOMAN TO FLY SOLO ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
Official Amelia Earhart Homepage
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HELEN KELLER - FIRST DEAFBLIND TO GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE (graduated magna cumlaude from Radcliffe University); AUTHOR, ADVOCATE, AND LECTURER
The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
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OPRAH WINFREY- TALK SHOW HOST
"I was raised to believe that excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism. And that’s how I operate my life."- Oprah
"You can have it all. You just can’t have it all at once."- Oprah
Oprah on Wikipedia
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ANGELINA JOLIE - UN AMBASSADOR, PHILANTHROPIST AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST
"Be brave, be bold, be free." -Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie on Wikipedia
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Find more inspiring people at The Time 100
"Two are better than one; because they have a good
reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his
fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not
another to help him up."
- Bible: Ecclesiastes
"Every person is a new door to a different world."
- from movie "Six Degrees of Seperation"
"Two may talk together under the same roof for many
years, yet never really meet; and two others at first speech are old
friends."
- Mary Catherwood
"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like
art… It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that
give value to survival."
- C. S. Lewis
"The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but
to reveal to him, his own."
-Benjamin Disraeli
"What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to
humanity. They are but trifles, to be sure but, scattered along life’s
pathway, the good they do is inconceivable."
"No soul is desolate as long as there is a human being for whom it can feel trust and reverence."
- George Eliot
"Do not save your loving speeches
For your friends till they are dead;
Do not write them on their tombstones,
Speak them rather now instead.
- Anna Cummins
"All our young lives we search for someone to
love, someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change
partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while
wondering if somewhere and somehow there is someone searching for us."
-The Wonder Years
"We laughed
until we had to cry.
We gave love,
right down to our last goodbye.
We were the best
we thought we’d ever be
Just you and me,
for just a moment…
"You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back."
-Barbara DeAngelis
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Filipinos make the best songs about friendship. Here are two examples: Lyrics: POINTS OF VIEWJoey Albert Look, it's happened once again It happens every now and then Feeling the hurt and hating all the menReady to stop it all That's when I need a friendly face To see me through these lonely days Just to put some sunshine in my place Don't take too long I need you REFRAIN: Here I am I haven't gone that far away And since I am That kind of friend you know Would stay with you through all the pain Never to leave you in the rain Ready to listen to what you've been through Your woes and blues and share each other's CHORUS: Points of view We've been there once before And kept our points of view It doesn't really matter if they're never quite the same We have our rules in different ways We play the games of different folks with different strokesAnd keep our points of view See the world seems bright again It only darkens now and then Most of the time there's just no telling whenLook up and see you've got me REFRAIN:Here we are We may have gone our different ways But since we are The kind of friends who'll always stay No matter what the pain Learning to love that cap o rain Ready to say we're here to stay in every wayAlthough we'e got our different... CHORUS: Points of view We've been there once before And kept our points of view It doesn't really matter if they're never quite the same We have our rules in different ways We play the games of different folks with different strokesAnd keep our points of view Points of view We've been there once before And kept our points of view It doesn't really matter if they're never quite the same We have our rules in different ways We play the games of different folks with different strokesAnd keep our points of view------------------------------------------------------------ I'll be there by Carol BanawaThere are times that we are downAnd tired of runnin' off the shoreThere are times that we can't take it at allAnd we let our feelings down CHORUS Remember that I am your friendWho will always be there for youWhenever you're in pain Just call out and hear me say I'll be there.....(I'll be there..I'll be there..) There are times we keep on losin' our wayAnd we go astrayThere are times that we can't make it at allAnd we let our feelings down (repeat chorus)
12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do To Help Our Country
by Alexander Lacson
1. Follow traffic laws. Follow the law.
2. Whenever you buy or pay for anything, always ask for an official receipt.
3. Don’t buy smuggled goods. Buy local. Buy Filipino.
4. When you talk to others, especially foreigners, speak positively about us and our country.
5. Respect your traffic officers, policemen and soldiers.
6. Do not litter, dispose your garbage properly. Segregate. Recycle. Conserve.
7. Support your church.
8. During elections, do your solemn duty.
9. Pay your employees well.
10. Pay your taxes.
11. Adopt a scholar or a poor child.
12. Be a good parent. Teach your kids to follow the law and to love our country.
news:
comedy:
annoying but funny mom phrases
Two seeds lay side by side in the fertile soil.
The first seed said, “I want to grow! I want to send
my roots deep into the soil beneath me, and thrust my sprouts through
the earth’s crust above me … I want to unfurl my tender buds like
banners to announce the arrival of spring … I want to feel the warmth
of the sun on my face and the blessing of the morning dew on my petals!”
And so she grew…
The second seed said, “I am afraid. If I send my
roots into the ground below, I don’t know what I will encounter in the
dark. If I push my way through the hard soil above me I may damage my
delicate sprouts … what if I let my buds open and a snail tries to eat
them? And if I were to open my blossoms, a small child may pull me from
the ground. No, it is much better for me to wait until it is safe.”
And so she waited…
A yard hen scratching around in the early spring ground for food found the waiting seed and promptly ate it.
Moral of the story … Those of us who refuse to risk and grow get swallowed up by life.
Donna’s fourth grade classroom looked like many others I had seen in
the past. The teacher’s desk was in front and faced the students. The
bulletin board featured student work. In most respects it appeared to
be a typically traditional elementary classroom. Yet something seemed
different that day I entered it for the first time.
My job was to make classroom visitations and encourage
implementation of a training program that focused on language arts
ideas that would empower students to feel good about themselves and
take charge of their lives. Donna was one of the volunteer teachers who
participated in this project.
I took an empty seat in the back of the room and watched. All the
students were working on a task, filling a sheet of notebook paper with
thoughts and ideas. The ten-year-old student next to me was filling her
page with "I Can’ts". "I can’t kick the soccer ball past second base."
"I can’t do long division with more than three numerals." "I can’t get
Debbie to like me." Her page was half full and she showed no signs of
letting up. She worked on with determination and persistence. I walked
down the row glancing at student’s papers. Everyone was writing
sentences, describing things they couldn’t do.
By this time the activity engaged my curiosity, so I decided to
check with the teacher to see what was going on but I noticed she too
was busy writing. I felt it best not to interrupt. "I can’t get John’s
mother to come for a teacher conference." "I can’t get my daughter to
put gas in the car." "I can’t get Alan to use words instead of fists."
Thwarted in my efforts to determine why students and teacher were
dwelling on the negative instead of writing the more positive "I Can"
statements, I returned to my seat and continued my observations.
Students wrote for another ten minutes. They were then instructed to
fold the papers in half and bring them to the front. They placed their
"I Can’t" statements into an empty shoe box. Then Donna added hers. She
put the lid on the box, tucked it under her arm and headed out the door
and down the hall.
Students followed the teacher. I followed the students. Halfway down
the hallway Donna entered the custodian’s room, rummaged around and
came out with a shovel. Shovel in one hand, shoe box in the other,
Donna marched the students out to the school to the farthest corner of
the playground. There they began to dig. They were going to bury their
"I Can’ts"!
The digging took over ten minutes because most of the fourth graders
wanted a turn. The box of "I Can’ts" was placed in a position at the
bottom of the hole and then quickly covered with dirt. Thirty-one 10
and 11 year-olds stood around the freshly dug grave site. At this point
Donna announced, "Boys and girls, please join hands and bow your
heads." They quickly formed a circle around the grave, creating a bond
with their hands.
They lowered their heads and waited. Donna delivered the eulogy.
"Friends, we gathered here today to honor the memory of ‘I Can’t.’
While he was with us here on earth, he touched the lives or everyone,
some more than others. We have provided ‘I Can’t’ with a final resting
place and a headstone that contains his epitaph. His is survived by his
brothers and sisters, ‘I Can’, ‘I Will’, and ‘I’m Going to Right Away’.
They are not as well known as their famous relative and are certainly
not as strong and powerful yet. Perhaps some day, with your help, they
will make an even bigger mark on the world. May ‘I Can’t’ rest in peace
and may everyone present pick up their lives and move forward in his
absence. Amen."
As I listened I realized that these students would never forget this
day. Writing "I Can’ts", burying them and hearing the eulogy. That was
a major effort on this part of the teacher. And she wasn’t done yet.
She turned the students around, marched them back into the classroom
and held a wake. They celebrated the passing of "I Can’t" with cookies,
popcorn and fruit juices. As part of the celebration, Donna cut a large
tombstone from butcher paper. She wrote the words "I Can’t" at the top
and put RIP in the middle. The date was added at the bottom. The paper
tombstone hung in Donna’s classroom for the remainder of the year.
On those rare occasions when a student forgot and said, "I Can’t",
Donna simply pointed to the RIP sign. The student then remembered that
"I Can’t" was dead and chose to rephrase the statement. I wasn’t one of
Donna’s students. She was one of mine. Yet that day I learned an
enduring lesson from her as years later, I still envision that fourth
grade class laying to rest, "I Can’t".
-Chick Moorman
by Robert Fulghum
All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW about how to live and what to do
and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not
at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the
sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some
and draw and paint and sing and dance and play
and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic,
hold hands, and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Remember the little seed in the styrofoam cup:
The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody
really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even
the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die.
So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books
and the first word you learned - the biggest
word of all - LOOK.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.
The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation.
Ecology and politics and equality and sane living.
Take any of those items and extrapolate it into
sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your
family life or your work or your government or
your world and it holds true and clear and firm.
Think what a better world it would be if
all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about
three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with
our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments
had a basic policy to always put thing back where
they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you
are - when you go out into the world, it is best
to hold hands and stick together.
© Robert Fulghum, 1990.
Found in Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten, Villard Books: New York, 1990, page 6-7.
Children Learn What They
Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about
them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.
With what are your children living?
Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law
Nolte
Savagery that gave me faith
By Joanna Coles
The London Times
Now in his mid-eighties, Ernest Gordon can remember with exceptional clarity the day in 1942 when he was taken captive by the Japanese.
Singapore had fallen two months earlier and Gordon, with a small band of men, had escaped to sea in an aging sloop, headed, they hoped, for Ceylon (Sri Lanka). After nearly eight weeks under sail, surviving on fish, coconuts and rainwater, and with fewer than 500 miles to go, they spotted the smoke of a ship.
"We hoped it was the British Navy," says Gordon. An hour later the sloop was being fired on as a Japanese warship bore down. The Japanese ship dropped him back in Singapore and Gordon endured three-and-a-half years as a prisoner on the Burma-Thailand railway and the bridge on the River Kwai.
It was a shattering experience, and Gordon says there hasn’t been a day in the subsequent 60 years when he didn’t think about what happened. Not only did he see incomprehensible brutality; he also discovered, to his surprise, that he believed in God.
Gordon wrote a memoir about his experiences, published in 1962. Miracle on the River Kwai went to the top of the bestseller lists, widely acclaimed as a story of triumph, faith, courage and, ultimately, forgiveness. In the years that followed Gordon would accept many invitations to preach forgiveness in Japan.
Gordon’s memory is acute as he recalls the camp. Conditions were so horrific, disease so rampant, that on average 30 men died every day. Though fit when he was captured, starvation rations of one ball of rice a day rapidly reduced his 6ft 3in frame to little more than a rack of ribs. Fighting dysentery and diphtheria, malaria and malnutrition, he wasn’t always certain he would survive.
The turning point came when "a fellow soldier died and willed his Bible to me." Gordon was skeptical about religion. Yet the more horror he saw around him, the more bodies he was forced to unload from barges in sweltering heat, the more men he saw hanged from trees by their thumbs, or shot in the back of the head, or stamped to death, "the more I thought there must be another way. I really began to take God seriously. Christianity makes an awful lot of sense if you take the time to read the New Testament."
He had the time, and within weeks he became the camp’s unofficial chaplain, offering prayers, taking services and, only in his mid-twenties, being sought after for advice by bewildered men even younger than himself.
"There’s not much you can call civilization when you end up with a mess like that. When I wrote the book I found myself weeping for the stupidity and cruel selfishness of war." It was only the Christian faith, he says, that gave him the will to survive. "There was nothing else; we had nothing."
Gordon’s eventual liberation came in September 1945 and was considerably less dramatic than he and his fellow inmates had envisaged. "The guards just disappeared," says Gordon, "so we liberated ourselves and just climbed straight to the top of the nearest hill."
Like many soldiers who came back to a country that had no comprehension of what they had been through, Gordon’s return to the Sutherland Highlanders was not as he might have hoped. When he had the effrontery to suggest to his demobilization officer that the Army pick up the tab for the ongoing treatment of his malaria, he was referred to a psychiatrist for being a troublemaker. Yet eight weeks later he was admitted to hospital suffering not only from malaria but hepatitis, an enlarged heart and ulcerated intestines. It was two years before he was well enough to stop treatment.
The Church of Scotland was not much better. Gordon signed up for two years at theological college in Edinburgh, whereupon several clerics scolded him for taking services in the camps without being officially ordained. "They had no idea what it was like and they didn’t want to know," he says.
Feeling unwelcomed and uninspired by the Church of Scotland, Gordon soon accepted a Presbyterian fellowship at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. A powerful preacher, after only 18 months he was dean of Princeton chapel. It was 1955 and daily service was still compulsory for all students; it was one of the most prestigious positions on the campus. He remained at Princeton’s moral helm until 1981. Retiring with the title of Dean Emeritus, he then set off behind the Iron Curtain where he worked with the Christian Effort for the Emancipation of Dissidents.
The odd thing, he remarks, "is how many of the PoWs have made much more of a success of their lives than those who had an easier time of it. Surveys show that their marriages have been much more lasting. But statistics cannot tell us much of fears overcome, of the seeds of faith, hope and love which lodged in their hearts to flower later in the lives of others."
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Tiananmen Freedom Fighter’s Spiritual Journey
WorldNetDaily
By Dan Wooding
Think back to a moment 10 years ago. Who can forget the scenes in Tiananmen Square June 3 and 4, 1989, when the People’s Liberation Army crushed pro-democracy supporters, killing hundreds, injuring 10,000, and arresting a multitude of students and workers?
One extraordinary story from Tiananmen Square is that of Boli Zhang, one of the leaders of the protest. After the government reclaimed the square, Zhang fled to his native section of northeastern China. It wasn’t long before he was put on the government’s "Most Wanted" list and a huge manhunt was organized for him.
For months Zhang lived in exile, wandering as a sickly fugitive, finally taken in by a peasant family. The woman of the house was a devout Christian who walked many miles each Sunday to worship at her church. She restored Zhang’s health by slaughtering a fresh chicken for him daily–quite a sacrifice for an impoverished family.
One day he said to her, "Biaojie (sister), you are so kind to me. How can I repay you?"
She replied, "I cannot read. Read me a passage from the Bible every day."
She only had a handwritten copy of the Gospel of John, and soon the protester-turned-fugitive was soaking in the New Testament book.
"My view of Christianity before I met this lady was that it was nothing but spiritual opium," said Zhang. "I knew that there was something attractive about Christianity, because so many were willing to give up their lives for that. But I didn’t think I would."
It was December 25, 1989, on a bitterly cold winter night that Boli Zhang walked across the frozen Heilongjiang River, and reached Siberia. Everywhere there was snow, wind, and bitter cold–40 below zero (Celsius).
As he was lost in the deep snow, with not a soul around, and with the howling wind as his only company, he had reached the point of despair. He remembered Biaojie’s parting words: "When you face any kind of difficulty, pray to Jesus Christ. He will save you." Thus, he began to pray, and then fell asleep on a heap of hay, knowing that he would freeze to death in this wilderness. But the next day he was miraculously rescued by local farmers.
The farmers turned the passport-less Zhang over to the Russian army, under whose supervision he served prison time, which he refers to as a "good time." Not only were the soldiers benevolent, they allowed him to worship–even pray for them.
From Russia, Zhang was allowed to return to China, where he lived for three years in seclusion on a mountain, making the most of his hunting, fishing, and farming skills.
By 1995, Zhang escaped to Hong Kong, where he received political asylum, and subsequently arrived in Princeton, New Jersey, where he knew friends. His first night in America, he went to a Chinese church and heard the Gospel being preached in his native tongue. That was, he says, the moment he realized that he had to surrender his life to Christ, even though Christ was to take a temporary back seat to a college education.
Within two years, Zhang became a visiting scholar and researcher at Princeton University. He says he kept sensing a calling from God, which put him at odds with his strong desire to study–and his studies were winning. "I didn’t think it was the time for me to give up everything for Him."
However, it wasn’t long until Zhang faced a setback–liver cancer. He became angry with God, feeling the cancer was some sort of punishment. Chemotherapy sessions replaced churchgoing, and doctors told Zhang and his new wife he didn’t have much time to live.
But just before he left for treatment in Taiwan, Zhang realized he could no longer fight against God. "I prayed on the airplane, ‘God, if You heal me and give me good health, I’ll dedicate myself to You!’"
In Taiwan, the doctors found that all of Zhang’s cancer cells had remarkably disappeared, although he retained some 50 pounds of water, not to mention suffering kidney failure.
"My leg was so huge that I couldn’t put my pants on … I realized that I had to come before God in humbleness … whether I would be healed or not," said Zhang.
Returning to the U.S. and still suffering some health problems, Zhang decided to dedicate himself completely to God. He thought about what Jesus said in Matthew 16:26—“What good will it be if a man gains the whole world and loses his own soul?"–and applied it to his life by ceasing to take his prescribed medication. Doctors warned that he should take the pills for the rest of his life, but Zhang believed God was a better healer than pills.
Four years later, Zhang is now the assistant pastor of a Chinese church in Glendale, Calif., where his evangelistic crusades, seminary courses and theology papers keep him busy around the clock in the service of God. "I usually don’t go to bed before 12 (midnight) and I get up at 6 A.M. to have devotions. Thank God my health is OK."
Instead of deeming it a curse to have been born in China, where God does not exist–at least not according to the communist government there–Zhang feels it was a blessing, and says the homeland for which he still cares deeply needs the love of Jesus.
"The economic situation in China is getting better and better, but people are becoming more lost," said Zhang. "I think the biggest need in China is to turn the hatred into love. The whole society must learn to forgive. Those who persecuted the others also need to confess and repent. I believe that only the love of Jesus Christ can make that happen."
A barefoot boy’s incredible journey
Excerpted from Unstoppable, by Cynthia Kersey
He possessed a five-day supply of food, a Bible and Pilgrim’s Progress, a small ax for protection, and a blanket. With these, Legson Kayira eagerly set out on the journey of his life. He was going to walk from his tribal village in Nyasaland [Malawi], north across the wilderness of East Africa to Cairo, where he would board a ship to America to get a college education.
It was October 1958.
Legson was sixteen or seventeen, his mother wasn’t sure. His parents were illiterate and didn’t know exactly where America was or how far. But they reluctantly gave their blessing to his journey.
Legson wanted to serve mankind, to make a difference in the world. To realize his goal, he needed education. He knew the best place to get it was in America.
Forget that Legson didn’t have a penny to his name or a way to pay for his ship fare.
Forget that he had no idea what college he would attend or if he would even be accepted.
Forget that Cairo was 3,000 miles away, and in between were hundreds of tribes that spoke more than fifty strange languages, none of which Legson knew.
Forget all that. Legson did. He put everything out of his mind except his dream.
He hadn’t always been so determined. Like many of his friends in the village, it was easy for Legson to believe that studying was a waste of time for a poor boy from the town of Karonga in Nyasaland. Then, in books provided by missionaries, he discovered Abraham Lincoln and Booker T. Washington. Their stories inspired him to envision more for his life.
So he conceived the idea for his walk.
After five full days of trekking across the rugged African terrain, Legson had covered only 25 miles. He was already out of food, his water was running out, and he had no money. To travel the distance of 2,975 additional miles seemed impossible. Yet to turn back was to give up, to resign himself to a life of poverty and ignorance. I will not stop until I reach America, he promised himself. Or until I die trying.
Sometimes he walked with strangers. Most of the time he walked alone. He entered each new village cautiously, not knowing whether the natives were hostile or friendly. Sometimes he found work and shelter. Many nights he slept under the stars. He foraged for wild fruits and berries and other edible plants. He became thin and weak. A fever struck him and he fell gravely ill. Kind strangers treated him with herbal medicines and offered him a place to rest and convalesce. Weary and demoralized, Legson considered turning back.
Instead, Legson turned to his two books, reading the familiar words that renewed his faith in himself and in his goal. He continued on.
On January 19, 1960, fifteen months after he began his perilous journey, he had crossed nearly a thousand miles to Kampala, the capital of Uganda. He remained in Kampala for six months, working at odd jobs and spending every spare moment in the library.
In that library he came across an illustrated directory of American colleges. One illustration in particular caught his eye. It was of a stately, yet friendly looking institution, surrounded by majestic mountains that reminded him of the magnificent peaks back home in Nyasaland.
Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington, became the first concrete image in Legson’s seemingly impossible quest. He wrote immediately to the school’s dean explaining his situation and asking for a scholarship. Fearing he might not be accepted at Skagit, Legson decided to write to as many colleges as his meager budget would allow.
It wasn’t necessary. The dean at Skagit was so impressed with Legson’s determination he not only granted him admission but also offered him a scholarship and a job that would pay his room and board.
Another piece of Legson’s dream had fallen into place—yet still more obstacles blocked his path. Legson needed a passport and a visa, but to get a passport, he had to provide the government with a verified birth date. Worse yet, to get a visa he needed round-trip fare to the United States.
Again, he picked up pen and paper and wrote to the missionaries who had taught him since childhood. They helped to push the passport through government channels. However, Legson still lacked the airfare required for a visa.
Undeterred, Legson continued his journey to Cairo believing he would somehow get the money he needed. He was so confident he spent the last of his savings on a pair of shoes so he wouldn’t have to walk through the door of Skagit Valley College barefoot.
Months passed, and word of his courageous journey began to spread.
By the time he reached Khartoum, penniless and exhausted, the story of Legson Kayira had spanned the ocean between the African continent and Mount Vernon, Washington. The students of Skagit Valley College, with the help of local citizens, sent $650 to cover Legson’s fare to America.
In December 1960, more than two years after his journey began, Legson Kayira arrived at Skagit Valley College, carrying his two treasured books.
But Legson Kayira didn’t stop once he graduated. He became a professor of political science at Cambridge University in England and a widely respected author.
He rose above his humble beginnings and forged his own destiny. He made a difference in the world.
"I learned I was not, as most Africans believed, the victim of my circumstances but the master of them."—Legson Kayira
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Learning Self-Discipline
From The Pillars of Christian Character by John MacArthur
For many years, I have had the privilege of knowing the renowned classical guitarist Christopher Parkening. By the time he was thirty, he had become a master of his instrument. But such mastery did not come easily or cheaply.
While other children played, he spent several hours a day practicing the guitar. The result of that self-disciplined commitment is proficiency on his instrument that few can match.
Self-discipline is important in any endeavor of life. It’s best defined as the ability to regulate one’s conduct by principle and sound judgment, rather than by impulse, desire, or social custom.
Biblically, self-discipline may be summarized in one word: obedience. To exercise self-discipline is to avoid evil by staying within the bounds of God’s law.
I’m grateful for my parents, coaches, professors, and the others who helped me develop self-discipline in my own life. People who have the ability to concentrate, focus on their goals, and consistently stay within their priorities tend to succeed.
Since self-discipline is so important, how do you develop it? How can parents help their children develop it? Here are some practical tips that I’ve found helpful:
Start with small things. Clean your room at home or your desk at work. Train yourself to put things where they belong when they are out of place. Make the old adage "A place for everything and everything in its place" your motto. After you’ve cleaned your room or desk, extend that discipline of neatness to the rest of your house and workplace. Learn how to keep your environment clean and clear so you can function without a myriad of distractions. Such neatness will further develop self-discipline by forcing you to make decisions about what is important and what is not.
Learning self-discipline in the little things of life prepares the way for big successes.
On the other hand, those who are undisciplined in small matters will likely be undisciplined in more important issues (Luke 16:10). In the words of Solomon, it is the little foxes that spoil the vines (Song of Sol.2:15). And when it comes to a person’s integrity and credibility, there are no small issues.
A famous rhyme, based on the defeat of King Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, illustrates the importance of small details:
For want of a nail, a shoe was lost,
For want of a shoe, a horse was lost,
For want of a horse, a battle was lost,
For want of a battle, a kingdom was lost,
And all for want of a horseshoe nail.
Get yourself organized. Make a schedule, however detailed or general you are comfortable with, and stick to it. Have a to-do list of things you need to accomplish. Using a daily planning book or a program on your computer would be helpful. But get organized, even if all you do is jot down appointments and to-do items on a piece of scrap paper. If you don’t control your time, everything else will.
Don’t constantly seek to be entertained. When you have free time, do things that are productive instead of merely entertaining. Read a good book, take a walk, or have a conversation with someone. In other words, learn to entertain yourself with things that are challenging, stimulating, and creative. Things that are of no value except to entertain you make a very small contribution to your well-being.
Be on time. If you’re supposed to be somewhere at a specific time, be there on time. The apostle Paul listed the proper use of time as a mark of spiritual wisdom: "See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (Ephesians 5:15–16). Being on time also acknowledges the importance of other people and the value of their time.
Keep your word. "Undertake not what you cannot perform," George Washington exhorted himself, "but be careful to keep your promise." If you say you’re going to do something, do it–when you said you would do it and how you said you would do it. When you make commitments, see them through. That calls for the discipline to properly evaluate whether you have the time and capability to do something. And once you’ve made the commitment, self-discipline will enable you to keep it.
Do the most difficult tasks first. Most people do just the opposite, spending their time doing the easier, low-priority tasks. But when they run out of time (and energy), the difficult, high-priority tasks are left undone.
Finish what you start. Some people’s lives are a sad litany of unfinished projects. In the words of poet John Greenleaf Whittier: For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: "It might have been!"
If you start something, finish it. Therein lies an important key to developing self-discipline.
Accept correction. Correction helps you develop self-discipline by showing you what you need to avoid. Thus, it should not be rejected, but accepted gladly. Solomon wrote, "Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days" (Proverbs 19:20); and, "He who listens to a life-giving rebuke will be at home among the wise. He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding" (Proverbs 15:31–32).
Welcome responsibility. Volunteer to do things that need to be done. That will force you to have your life organized enough to have the time for such projects.
These practical suggestions may not seem to involve any deep spiritual principles. Yet you cannot split your life into the practical and the spiritual. Instead you must live every aspect of your life to the glory of God (1Corinthians 10:31). And self-discipline cultivated in the seemingly mundane things of life will spill over into the spiritual realm.
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COMPROMISE
One of the many words that scare the modern-day,independent, and free-thinking people. What does it really mean to compromise one’s self? Is it a form of sacrifice? Or people do it to gain something? Or both?
A MOM’S LIFE
Take your plate into the kichen,please.
Take it downstairs when you go.
Don’t leave it there, take it upstairs.
Is that yours?
Don’t hit your brother.
I’m talking to you.
Just a minute,please,can’t you see I’m talking?
I said, Don’t interrupt.
Did you brush your teeth?
What are you doing out of bed?
Go back to bed.
You can’t watch in the afternoon.
What do you mean there’s nothing to do?
Go outside.
Read a book.
Turn it down.
Get off the phone.
T
ell your friend you’ll call her back. Right now!
Hello. No. She’s not home.
She’ll call you back when she gets home.
Take a jacket. Take a sweater.
Take one anyway.
Someone left his shoes in front of the tv.
Get the toys out of the hall. Get the toys out of the bathtub.Get the toys off the stairs.
Do you realize that could kill someone?
Hurry up.
Hurry up. Everyone’s waiting.
I’ll count to ten and then we’re going without you.
Did you go to the bathroom?
If you don’t go, you’re not going.
I mean it.
Why didn’t you go before you left?
Can you hold it?
What’s going on back there?
Stop it!
I said, Stop it!
I don’t want to hear about it.
Stop it or I’m taking you home right now.
That’s it we’re going home.
Give me a kiss.
I need a hug.
Make your bed.
Clean up your room.
Set the table.
I need you to set the table!
Don’t tell me it’s not your turn.
Please move your chair into the table.
Sit up.
Just try a little.You don’t have to eat the whole thing.
Stop playing and eat.
Would you watch what you’re doing?
Move your glass. It’s too close to the edge.
Watch it!
More, what?
More, please. That’s better.
Just eat one bite of salad.
You don’t always get what you want.That’s life.
Don’t argue with me. I’m not discussing this anymore.
Go to your room.
No, ten minutes are not up.
One more minute.
How many times have I told you, don’t do that.
Where did the cookies go?
Eat the old fruit before you eat the new fruit.
I’m not giving you mushrooms. I’ve taken all the mushrooms out. See?
Is your homework done?
Stop yelling. If you want to ask me something, come here.
STOP YELLING. IF YOU WANT TO ASK ME SOMETHING COME HERE.
I’ll think about it.
Not now.
Ask your father.
We’ll see.
Don’t sit too close to the television, it’s bad for your eyes.
Calm down.
Is that the truth?
Fasten your seatbelt.
Did everyone fasten their seat belts?
I’m sorry that’s the rule. I’m sorry, that’s the rule. I’m sorry that’s the rule.
-Delia Ephron
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this one’s my version when I’m being a bitchy mom:
QUIET!
I said, Shut up!
PPPPPPPPLEASE!
Come over here!
I said, NOW!
If you don’t come over here this instant, you’re dead!
How many times do I have to tell you don’t do it like that?
You’re not listening to me.
Have you heard what I just said?
You’re still not listening!
STOP THAT!
How many times do I have to tell you to Stop.
I don’t know.
I said, I don’t know!
Give me a rest.
That’s better, go to sleep. NOW!
-shasha
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Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughter’s of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you,
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows might go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He also loves the bow that is stable.
- Kahlil Gibran
