Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 16 – No. 3314 August 16, 2014
Thought for the week: "Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realizing you were the prisoner!" – Max Lucado
"To lead the orchestra, you have to turn your back on the crowd." – Max Lucado
"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes." – Benjamin Disraeli
Kind words do not cost much. ... Yet they accomplish much." – Blaise Pascal
"The great use of life is to spend it on something that outlasts it." – William James
"Eggs cannot be unscrambled" – American Proverb
"When one door closes, another door opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the ones which open for us." – Alexander Graham Bell
When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want?
Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in rereading your financial statement? Of course not. What will matter then will be people. If relationships will matter most then, shouldn't they matter most now?"
Life is an opportunity; benefit from it.
Life is beauty; admire it.
Life is a dream; realize it.
Life is a challenge; meet it.
Life is a duty; complete it.
Life is a game; play it.
Life is a promise; fulfill it.
Life is sorrow; overcome it.
Life is a song; sing it.
Life is a struggle; accept it.
Life is a tragedy; confront it.
Life is an adventure; dare it.
Life is luck; make it.
Life is life; fight for it.
Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, "I know all about Adoption, I was adopted."
"'What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child.
"'It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!"
During a seminar on ethics in the workplace, participants spoke about a wide array of unethical conduct they'd recently witnessed. They talked about high-level employees who lied on internal reports or blatantly took credit for the work of others and the intimidation or abuse of subordinates. These were clear-cut violations of organizational policy. Yet, in most cases the perpetrator escaped any serious sanction.
Executives, who have the responsibility to uphold organizational standards, seem to find an endless array of excuses to look the other way. And so the culture of many private and public institutions reflects a don't-rock-the-boat, avoid-confrontation-at-any-cost philosophy that undermines institutional integrity and morale.
When managers systematically allow employees to get away with forbidden behavior, they make a mockery of organizational policies and ethical rhetoric. What's worse, they cultivate seeds of inefficiency and corruption and demoralize employees who would willingly live up to higher standards of personal conduct. Every time we let a bad guy win, we weaken the resolve of dozens of ordinary folks who need to know that playing by the rules is not just for suckers.
How many organizations are mired in the quicksand of hypocrisy because they are led by executives who are too timid or ambitious to demand honorable behavior? Good organizations need good people, men and women of principle who can resist the seductions of short-term political expediency and overcome fears of litigation or unpopularity.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out."1
As kids, if we were called names, we used to retort in reply: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me." Unfortunatel, this is far from the truth. Name calling can hurt a whole lot more than sticks or stones.
I can still recall as an insecure youth how a girl I was dating at the time told me that while there was nothing wrong with my features, I was ugly. Unfortunately for me, I believed her. True, it was because of my already feeling insecure that I believed her. Nevertheless it took me many years to overcome that painful remark. This is one reason I wrote the following poem a few years ago:
Unsung Songs
How many songs never sung,
poems never written,
pictures never painted,
risks never taken,
bridges never crossed,
romantic words never spoken...
locked inside a lonely heart,
the prison of another's making...
are left unexpressed
because somebody
shamed us, abandoned us,
or perhaps silenced us
with a cruel word,
a thoughtless deed,
and said or just implied
we were not good enough,
and tragically
we believed them?
Let this be the moment
we choose to believe them no more...
and sing, sing, sing.2
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me never to speak a cruel word to anyone, and even when I need to disagree, help me always to speak the truth in love—never in bitterness or hostility. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."
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