Jim Davidson Column

No. 1029

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

LETTERS THAT NEVER GOT SENT!

Have you ever written a letter to someone about a very serious matter, but for some reason you never sent it? While you think about it, I would like to share a few thoughts you may find interesting, and they may even bring back some good memories.
First, I would like to tell you about a letter that did get sent and resulted in a very humorous outcome. It seems just before our nation got involved in World War II there was a young couple here in America whose names were John Atkins and Molly Brown, and they planned to be married. However, before a wedding could be planned and carried out, John got called by the U.S. Army to serve in Europe to help turn back the Germans, who were threatening to take over the whole continent.
Knowing the chances were good that John would not return, the couple decided to put the wedding off until after the war. One day, after a few months, John got a “Dear John” letter from Molly, saying she had found someone else and was sorry to have to end their relationship. She also asked him to return her picture. Quite naturally, John was heartbroken.
When some of his buddies found out about the “Dear John” letter, they decided to take matters into their own hands. The first thing they did was to collect photos of every young woman they could find -- wives, sisters and girlfriends. Then one of the men, who happened to be a gifted writer, composed the following letter. It read, “Dear Miss Brown, it was good to get your form letter. For the life of me, I can’t remember which one you are. Would you please look through the enclosed pictures, take yours out, and return the rest to me? Thanks, PFC John Atkins.”
Has anything come to your mind yet about your own letters that might never have been sent? Please allow me to tell you a true story about a friend of mine who had a very unusual experience, wrote a letter, but never mailed it. Back in 1965, the “Truth or Consequences” television program, which was hosted by Bob Barker, decided to hold a contest to find a beauty queen who would help promote the show. The prizes for the winner were a fur coat, a new car and spending two weeks in Truth or Consequences, N.M., and given the royal treatment.
This friend’s father encouraged her to enter the contest, so she found a good photo, wrote some things about herself, and sent it off. A few days later she got a phone call saying she was one of the finalists, and they would make a decision in the next 24 hours. Rather than staying home by the phone, she went on to an event in Little Rock. This made her father very unhappy because he just knew she would win. It turns out she did not win, but she told me she was better looking than the winner, and she did get a Polaroid camera. To make a long story short, she wrote a letter of thanks to Bob Barker but never mailed it. However, she still has the letter and may still mail it after all these years.
Now, back to my earlier question, have you ever written a letter to someone about a serious matter, but never mailed it? How many people have written a letter of resignation, placed it in a drawer, only to have conditions improve, and they never mailed it? How many times have we been angry with someone, written them a letter to get it off of our chest, but never put a stamp on it and put it in the mail?
I am confident there are many, many other examples where letters have been written, giving us time to mentally and emotionally adjust before we realize the folly of it. The Bible says in Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” To be sure, this is better counsel than anything I could ever give you.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

No. 1031

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

OUR SOCIETY HAS GONE TO POT!

My good friend, the late Bob Murphy, used to tell a story about two men who were talking. One said, “What is this stuff they call marijuana? The other one said, “Well, it is something that grows like weed, they call it ‘pot’ and people smoke it, and they say it sends them on a trip.” This other man said, “That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. We have always had a pot -- we kept it under the bed and it kept us from making a trip.”
This story came to mind some time back while talking with a local minister when I called to invite him to have lunch with me. He said, “This is a bad week for me, as I am preparing to preach two funerals this week, a man and his wife, victims of a double homicide that took place here in our community.” By the time our conversation took place, it had become known that the couple’s 14-year-old grandson was reportedly involved in the murders, along with three other 17-year-old youths, who were suspects and being detained in the county jail. After hearing the comments from my minister friend, I made the statement, “Our society has gone to pot.”
The reason I wanted to share this with you is because my comment was more about the common expression “gone to pot” that has been around since at least the 16th century, and not the use of marijuana that we think of when we hear the word used today. While doing research, I found some information that may be of interest to you. One definition for “gone to pot” is an item that is broken, defective or substandard.
Two explanations have been historically applied. The first is that in olden times when food was scarce, people would leave the bones, fat and undesirable portions behind after eating their meals. These second-rate items would be used for soup the next day, so as such, the poor-quality leftovers would “go to pot”. The second (and more plausible) explanation is that in the days of the industrial revolution and early mass-production, assembly workers would occasionally find a defective or out-of-tolerance part which was not suitable for use. This part would be sent back to the smelting room to be melted down and recast a second time. Since the smelting was done in a giant pot, these defective parts had “gone to pot”.
In either case, the phrase gained popular use by the American homeowner, who would occasionally wear out an item that would fail, often at an inconvenient time. Here is a sentence that vividly illustrates what I am saying: “Joe failed to take his car in for routine maintenance. I was not surprised that his vacation was ruined when his car went to pot last summer.”
To be sure, these examples, as they relate to the negative effect they have on our society, are far less than the devastating effect marijuana or “pot” is having on us today. After the double homicide here in our community, the following week came the news account that a Memphis police officer, Sean Bolton, had been murdered during a routine traffic stop that involved less than two ounces of marijuana. Illegal drug use is also suspected in the double homicide that took place here in our community.
For me, here is the bottom line. When we consider what marijuana and other illegal drugs are doing to the lives of thousands of Americans each year, it is time to stop trying to be politically correct, and just call a spade a spade and let the chips fall where they may. Why should we sacrifice countless human lives because our government, and those who profit from growing, manufacturing and selling drugs (both legal and illegal) want the money and tax revenue? Could there be other ways to raise revenue with far less devastating consequences? At least it is something to think about. People are far more important than money.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

No. 1032

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

SOME OF LIFE’S UNCLAIMED BLESSINGS!

When it comes to being blessed or having great blessings in our lives, there are a couple of verses in the Bible that pretty well say it all. Psalm 1:1-2 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”
If you will take a few moments and reread these verses, I believe you will agree that they not only give solid counsel for living a better and happier life, but also some things we should avoid to keep from inflicting self-punishment on ourselves. It is an age-old story. Most problems we experience through our lifetime are brought about by the person who looks back at us from the mirror.
Now this question please: Who among us does not want to be blessed? According to the dictionary, the word “blessing” or “blessed” means, “That which makes happy or prosperous.” And it also means, “The bestowal of divine favor.” As a Christian, the latter definition is very special to me because it means that God is showering his blessings on the individual who seeks His favor and is grateful to have them.
Whether you agree or not, I am here to tell you that most of us miss far too many blessings because we fail to ask or, when we do ask, we ask with wrong motives. I am sure you have heard the saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Actually, these words are more than just a saying, they are the words of Jesus, as recorded in the book of Acts 20, verse 35, in the event you would like to look them up.
What motivated me to share these words with you is something I heard a while back. There is an older lady in our church who openly says, “I am an old maid.” When another lady friend heard this she responded, “She is not an old maid, she is just an unclaimed blessing.” This led me to realize there are countless unclaimed blessings around us every day, but in most cases, we fail to claim them.
I am going to share some of these with you that came as a result of doing some brainstorming. I hope you will do some thinking and come up with others. Why not share them with me? My address is Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.
Here are just a few unclaimed blessings: CHILDREN who spend all or most of their lives growing up in an orphanage. To be sure, some become our nation’s greatest success stories, for example the late Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s. While many overcome, it is still much better to grow up in a two-parent home where love, structure and security abound. To be sure, we need more people like this who will adopt them.
For many people, especially those who are single: PETS in animal shelters that are desperate to be adopted. I am sure you know what happens to many of them when no one is willing to adopt them. As they say, who is still going to be happy to see you after being locked in the trunk of your car for a while, your wife or your dog?
Another unclaimed blessing that many of us miss: SMILES that we do not share with others. I know this for sure, some of my greatest blessings, and new friendships, have come when I have just looked at people and gave them a happy and cheery smile. It has been said that a smile is the light in your window that tells others you are home.
And here is one of the best: UNSPOKEN DEEDS OF KINDNESS. When you take the time to go out of your way to do something nice for someone else, especially the undeserving, it just says you are a citizen of the world.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

No. 1034

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WEDDING BELLS!

If you have ever been blessed far more than you deserve, you will be able to relate to the following thoughts that I want to share with you. Back in 2013, I lost my wonderful and talented wife, Viola, after a 19-year battle with Parkinson’s. This was indeed a very sad time, and if you have lost a mate or someone very close to you, then you know that there is a tremendous void and adjustment that takes place in your life.
My own family, and especially my church family, helped to fill this void for me, but after several months I began to be lonely. Because of running my company and the ministries that I am involved in, I also needed some help.
While people are different, I don’t believe we should spend our lives alone. As a result, I began to pray that the Lord would send me a help-mate, and just the right woman to share the remainder of my life with me. I only had three things that were very important to me. First, that she would be a Godly Spirit-filled woman, that she would love me, and that she would be excited about helping continue the Bookcase for Every Child project, and the Reach Youth for Christ ministry. The latter is a ministry I helped found, along with four other laymen, to encourage our nation’s youth to stay in church or come back to church, as 70 percent of our nation’s youth who attend church are leaving after high school graduation, never to return.
God is faithful, and after several months He sent me a Godly woman who is beautiful, talented, has great wisdom, and has a heart for children. She is the former Janis Mack, who grew up in the Shady Grove community north of Conway. Janis graduated from the Greenbrier Public Schools, where she was class Valedictorian, and later attended Central Baptist College. In 1958 she married Ralph Mack Jr., had two sons, David and Roy, and later started a real estate company. In 1985, she and Ralph bought Pickles Gap Village, a tourist attraction located on Highway 65, north of Conway. Sadly, Ralph passed away this past year after a battle with cancer.
Janis and I have known each other for several years and held each other in high esteem. Several months after losing Ralph, Janis and I began to see each other. It soon became obvious that we had so much in common and, for me, she was a dream come true. In 1974, I was named the Arkansas Salesman of the Year, but by far the best sale I have ever made was when I convinced this good woman to marry me. Janis was reared by Godly parents, Exel and Esther Howard, who were community leaders. Her mother taught piano lessons and naturally taught Janis to play, and she was the pianist/organist at her church for several years.
As previously stated, in the early days Janis started her own real estate company, had offices in Greenbrier and Conway, but later consolidated her operation to Pickles Gap Village. She was a Million Dollar Producer for 15 consecutive years back in the days when houses were selling for $30,000 to $60,000 each. Owning Pickles Gap Village gave her the opportunity to be involved in the travel industry, and she served as president of the Arkansas Travel Council, 1994-95. She also served on the board of the Conway Chamber of Commerce. Janis is the author of four successful cookbooks and has appeared on a number of cooking segments on local television stations.
Thank you for allowing me to share this with you. As my friends and faithful readers over the years, I felt this information would be of interest. If you are a praying person, we would covet your prayers that we might be faithful to our calling of writing this column and the ministries in which we are involved. Just for the record, my new bride has a lot on the ball. She even has her own official back-seat driver’s license.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

No. 1036

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE POWER OF RECYCLED THOUGHTS!

It has been said that brains are what people who don’t have college degrees are forced to use. I plead guilty to that, not having a college degree. However, I am so grateful that God, in his wisdom, has given each of us the power to think and to use the vast mental potential that lies below the surface of what it takes to keep our lives between the ditches, in a very special area that we call the subconscious mind.
Since I became hooked on reading several years ago, I have been fascinated with the vast mental potential we each possess. Back in the days when I represented the Nightingale-Conant Corp., a leading producer of human resources materials, I recall hearing the results of a study on learning conducted by Princeton University. The researchers found that a message read or heard only one time was 66 percent forgotten within 24 hours, and was practically out of the mind within 30 days. However, a message that was read or heard several times a day for eight days was practically memorized and the memory retained 90 percent of the message 30 days later. Now, that is heady stuff and confirms what I have reported countless times over the years -- repetition is the key to learning.
It is with this backdrop that I would like to share some thoughts with you about the power of recycled thoughts. A good example to confirm this is what has happened over the years to my daily radio program titled “How to Plan Your Life.” This program was started back in 1980, and for the first few years I personally did the narration. However, tragedy struck and I developed a rare vocal condition called Spasmodic Dysphonia. This condition happens quite often to singers and speakers and is evidenced when the vocal chords actually lock up when force is applied to speak or sing. After several months I had surgery to correct the problem, but my voice was never the same. In essence, I was out of business.
Then along came Dave McCree, a friend and professional broadcaster, who did the narration (or talking) for me, like Aaron did for Moses in the Bible. Dave is very good and actually helped my radio program succeed, as we added more and more stations. At one time we had more than 300 stations coast to coast, and it was commercially sponsored. After I started my weekly newspaper column we stopped recording and I stopped marketing the show. At this point we had about 1,000 programs recorded, enough to last five days a week, for about 3 ½ years. When a station ran out of programs, we just started over.
Here is the interesting part. We have some stations recycle the pre-recorded radio shows three or four times, and the sponsors tell me that they get a better response the second, third and fourth time through than the first time it aired. We don’t have many stations and sponsors left, but there are a couple that have been with us for more than 25 years. Yes, there is power in recycled thoughts. The message I hope you will take away is that we all have countless books in our library that have been read only once, but many contain tremendous ideas that would be helpful if we would take them down and read them again.
For me, and hopefully for you as well, the real power we have is the knowledge that we should never stop learning. Life is truly exciting when we are constantly learning new and helpful things. Another reason recycled thoughts is so powerful is that, while the information on the printed or recorded format, remains the same, we change. We are not the same person we were a month ago, a year ago and certainly a decade or more ago. We should be very careful to never get in a rut, as that is just a grave with both ends kicked out.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

No. 1038

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

DID YOU MISS THE BOAT?

Do you ever feel like you missed the boat? While this is just a figure of speech, many people feel like life, and real success, has passed them by and they simply missed the boat. Where they are now is nowhere near where they thought they would be when they were younger.
If this is your case, take heart, for I have some exciting news for you. During my prayer time this morning I got to thinking about our church services. At the end, an “invitation” is always extended to those in the congregation who wish to make a decision. The decision could be to accept Christ, move their membership, request prayer for themselves, or express other needs or concerns. Quite often we have those who come to rededicate themselves to the Lord.
In the case of those who wish to rededicate themselves, it simply means they have experienced a time in their lives when they strayed from the path, have fallen out of fellowship or into sin, and the Holy Spirit has been dealing with them. The good news is that we serve a living and loving God who is quick to forgive and restore us to a full and happy relationship with Him. All we have to do is repent and sincerely ask him to forgive us. Isn’t that great news? It means that we do not ever again have to be burdened down with the past. The sad news is that millions of people who don’t know the Lord live this way, day after day, and they feel like the weight of the world is riding on their shoulders.
I am convinced this is one reason so many people commit suicide. When the burden of living a life without purpose becomes too great, they lose hope. Life, for them, does not seem worth living. Believe it or not, when I started to write this column these thoughts were not on my mind. I wanted to talk about those people who are full of regrets because they feel like they did not get enough education, were not blessed with good looks, grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, or saw many other reasons why they are not successful. In other words, they feel like they have missed the boat.
Here is the good news, and news that is laced with hope. First, when we have the right relationship with the Lord and know where we stand, it frees us up to develop and use all our God-given potential to achieve most anything we really want to achieve. Of course, there are limiting factors like age, physical health, economic conditions, destructive habits, and sometimes a negative, defeatist attitude. The thought I want to plant deeply and firmly in your mind is that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” It is my prayer for you, if you feel like you have missed the boat, that never again will you use these things as an excuse for not developing and using the God-given potential with which you were born.
I hope you will just see things realistically for what they really are. If you are an American, you live in the most successful and prosperous nation in the history of the world. There are more opportunities here than anywhere on earth. If you lack education, make plans to get it. If you need a job, resolve that you are going to get one. Just understand that it is no disgrace to start at the bottom and work your way up. Just make some solid plans to achieve whatever you wish to accomplish and stay with it until you do. What I am talking about is a change of heart, mind and attitude to see yourself as the very special person you are.
If this sounds like Pollyanna to you, it is not. There are millions of people in our country who have felt as you do, but have overcome all odds to achieve the kind of life they wish to live, and now have all the rewards they desire. The only vote that really counts is the one looking back at you from the mirror.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

The next Password is -- Lettuce

No. 1040

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WE EAT WITH OUR EYES!

The Canadian-born journalist and politician, Sir Arthur Beverley Baxter, once said of food, “It is part of the spiritual expression of the French, and I do not believe that they ever heard of calories.”
If you like to eat, and who among us doesn’t, today you are in for a real treat. It might be well to state something here in the beginning about calories, because they can both be friend and enemy. There is some information I learned several years ago about calories that has been very helpful for me. The truth is, if we consume more calories than we burn, we are going to gain weight. One of the keys to maintaining a healthy lifestyle is to be very aware of the kind of calories we are consuming.
Over the past two to three years I have lost about 30 pounds. I now feel better, look better and am healthier than any time during my life. I exercise on a regular basis, watch my sugar intake like a hawk, as well as watch out for foods that are high in fat and cholesterol. It is simply a change in lifestyle and well worth giving up anything that is not healthy for us. Sometime back I told you that my new bride is a great cook and has written four cookbooks. While it is not anything dramatic, a while back she made a statement that I had never heard or thought about before. She said, “We eat with our eyes.” This is so true. When we go down the line in a cafeteria, we usually pick out the foods to eat that look the best.
Because of her years of experience, she has that knack of placing foods on a plate to make them very attractive, and as a result more appetizing. A good example is a sugar-free pineapple pie that a friend gave me the recipe for a few years ago. I have been fixing this pie and taking it to various functions over the past few months, and have even had several requests to bring it when we have potlucks. Well, enter the pie-decorating guru. A few weeks ago we had a potluck for our Sunday school class and it fell my lot to bring the sugar-free pineapple pie. Actually, it has a little sugar, but not much. I will give you the recipe in a minute.
After the pie was made, Janis decorated the top, which consists entirely of sugar-free Cool Whip topping. She took some crushed pecans, one whole strawberry for the center, cut some slices for strategic placement, and added some blueberries and pineapple chunks. When she got through with it, it was a thing of beauty. She even took pictures and put it on Facebook, which has resulted in lots of Likes.
Now, here is the recipe. It is so simple, I hope you will try it. The ingredients consist of: one 9-inch crust from the dairy section of the grocery store; a large box of sugar-free, fat-free vanilla pudding; one 16 oz. light sour cream (undrained); one tub of sugar-free Cool Whip; one 20 oz. can crushed pineapple (light juice). That’s all it takes, plus whatever toppings you wish to add.
Here is how to put it together: Bake the pie crust in a 9-inch glass pie plate (follow directions on the box for baking). Mix the pineapple, sour cream and vanilla pudding in a Tupperware bowl or other suitable container. After the crust has cooled, scoop the ingredients into the crust and smooth out the center and out to the edges. Then add the Cool Whip and let it stand in the refrigerator to be ready to serve. Toppings can be added at any time, but just before serving is best as they will be the freshest.
If you will think about it, there are many benefits in this column. Not the least is taking time to arrange food items on a plate, serving tray or other container to make them as attractive as possible. We do eat with our eyes.
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: THE DEAL OF THE CENTURY – Begin your day on a positive note – 365 days for $12. This will benefit the Bookcase for Every Child project. Go to www.apositivemomentwithjim.com to subscribe.)

The next password is -- Lettuce

No. 25
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

SHAKE OFF NEGATIVE COMMENTS

You may be familiar with the saying, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." This is one of the biggest untruths I have ever heard. We should never underestimate the power of words, because if we let them, words can literally destroy our lives. As the English critic and essayist William Hazlitt once said, "words are the only things that last forever."

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard is to 'live our lives so we wouldn't mind selling the family parrot to the town gossip.' I'm sure you can see the wisdom of this thought. While there is no way to control the negative things other people may say about us, we should live our lives in such a way that no one would believe them. While I never like to hear negative comments about me, those I love or the things I believe in, they do come along from time-to-time. When they do however, I can either shake them off and go on pursuing the goals that are important to me, or I can let them defeat me. You see, the choice is mine.

Do you have trouble shaking off negative comments or negative things that happen
to you? If you do, I believe this story I'd like to tell you will help you shake off negative comments in the future.

A farmer had a faithful old mule that had served him for years, but now it was be-coming apparent with the passing of time, the old mule had just about reached the end of his days. As the farmer saw his old mule beginning to suffer, he realized he had to find a way to put him out of his misery. Being a kind, soft-hearted man, he couldn't stand the thought of just taking him out and shooting him, so instead, he devised what he thought was a good plan.

Since he was going to have to bury the mule anyway, he decided to lower him into
an old, abandoned well and cover him with dirt. He thought this would "kill two birds with one stone", as the old well was a hazard and needed to be filled in anyway. At this point, the farmer rigged up a tripod with a pulley and a hoist and lowered the mule into the well. While it was a very sad day, he thought it was the best way, so he got a shovel and a wheel-barrow and went to work.

As he poured load after load of dirt into the old abandoned well, a strange thing began to happen. As the dirt fell on the old mule's back, he shook it off and trampled it down. This process went on for several hours, with each load of dirt being treated the same way. The old mule would just shake it off and trample it down. Finally, the old well was completely filled in and the mule was standing on level grand. Then, he just walked away free from the prison that was to be his grave.

Obviously, this is not a true story, but it does make a wonderful point. The dirt thrown on the old mule's back could be compared to the negative comments and the neg-ative experiences we all have from time-to-time. When they do occur, we can either shake them off or let them bury us. The choice is ours.

Earlier, I mentioned we should live our lives in such a way we wouldn't mind selling the family parrot to the town gossip. This is, perhaps, the best way on earth to keep from having too many negative comments said about us. The next time this happens to you, and it will happen, I hope you will remember the story about the farmer and the old mule...JUST SHAKE IT OFF. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, Arkansas 72034.)

No. 1

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

OUR ATTITUDES CONTROL OUR LIVES

William James of Harvard University, the father of American psychology, oncesaid, "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind." This profound statement made many years ago, contains tremendous potential to help us become happier and more successful human beings. After all, isn't this what most of us want our lives to be?

My wife has a sweat shirt with the words, "I have an attitude" printed across the front. To symbolize the word "attitude", there is also a picture of a duck with the most awful facial configuration you can imagine. The dictionary defines "attitude" as: a state of mind or feeling.

Unlike computers, which can only store facts, statistics and other data, the human mind also has the capability of storing feelings and emotions. The marvelous human mind, with its many and diverse powers is what produces thoughts, and these thoughts become the basis for our actions. Our actions, therefore, are the result of not only what we think, but also how we feel. As it relates to our personal success, it's important to realize that actions trigger feelings, and feelings trigger actions. Your thoughts and feelings produce "attitudes." As Dr. James points out, "human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."

There have been a number of people and organizations who have conducted studies to determine the basis for personal success and they all pretty much conclude the same thing. Mental attitude accounts for about 85% of our overall success in life, while skills and knowledge make up the balance.

I would like to share a true, life experience that can help us see how important our mental attitude really is and why it controls our lives. In the 1958 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Braves, during the late innings of a very crucial game, Elston Howard, power hitting Yankee catcher, was up to bat. With the count three balls and two strikes, the Braves' manager went out to the mound to talk with Warren Spahn, his great left handed pitcher. The manager said, "Don't give him a high outside pitch, because he will hit it out of the park!", and returned to the dugout.

It was too late! Warren's computer-like mind registered the thought "high outside pitch", which is exactly where the ball went! The manager was right: Elston Howard hit it out of the park. As Elston circled the bases, Warren Spahn threw his glove down in the dirt and made what has become a classic statement. He said, "WHY would anyone motivate themselves or others with the reverse of an idea?"

You see, because of the way the human mind is constituted, we always move in the direction of our currently dominant thought. The chances that Warren Spahn would have been successful in pitching to Elston Howard would have been greatly increased if the manager had simply said, "Keep the ball low and inside."

The reason attitudes control our lives is simple. We always move in the direction of our currently dominant thought. When we are thinking good and true things and have worthy goals to strive for, a positive attitude will definately give us the advantage. As I've said many times during speaking engagements around the country, "It's your attitude and not your aptitude that will determine your altitude" (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 3

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WRITTEN WITH PREJUDICE

The English critic and essayist, William Hazlitt (1778-1830), once said, "Prejudice

is the child of ignorance." Without question prejudice has no place in a civilized society, because it leads to attitudes and actions based on conclusions that are preconceived, rather than information that is factual. Prejudice is usually associated with bigotry and hatred, but prejudice in itself is not necessarily bad. It can be good, if we are prejudiced toward the right things and in the right way. The real danger is that we often let our emotions get in the way.

Some time ago, Mr. Robert C. Howe, principal of the North Kansas City High School, was in Little Rock to address a conference of school administrators and I had the privilege of being in the audience. During his speech he shared something he called "Written With Prejudice", and I enjoyed it so much I asked him for a copy. If you have youngsters of your own, or grandchildren, I believe you will appreciate it, as well.

First, a mother is speaking: "Dear Teacher, Please find attached to this note one six year old boy, much cleaner and quieter than usual and with new hair cut and blue jeans. With him go the prayers of his mother and father. He's good at creating airplanes and chaos, very adept at tying knots and attracting stray dogs; he especially likes peanut butter, horses, the westerns, empty boxes and his shirt tail out. He is allergic to baths, bedtime, taking out trash, and coming the first time he's called. He needs to be taught and spanked, loved and spanked, and reminded to blow his nose and come straight home after school. After having him in your class and on your nerves, you may not be the same, but I believe you will be glad to know him, because while he strews books, toys and clothes, he has a special way of scattering happiness. Written, I'm afraid, with prejudice." Signed, his Mother.

Here's the principal's response: "Dear Mother, Please find attached to this diploma one 18 year old boy, much more mature, with loftier ideals and goals than he had when you sent him to us some 12 years ago. With him go the prayers of his teachers and friends. He's good at different things now. He has more understanding of the world about him. He is able to do mathematical computations, knows something of the scientific approach to problem solving. He can read and write in at least the English language, an has probably developed some skills in typing, woodworking, art and driving an automobile. He is still allergic to baths, bedtime, taking out the trash and coming the first time he's called. He still needs to be taught and loved, but perhaps not spanked. He needs to be reminded of the adult responsibilities of adult membership in the American society, to uphold the ideals of good citizenship, integrity, honesty, justice, humility and priority of life. He needs to realize that the completely successful life involves a partnership with his family, his community and his God. He should be told that education is a never ending process and only begins at the schoolhouse door. After having him in our classes and on our nerves, we are not the same! We're better people, enriched by his presence, broader in our understanding of humanity for having known him. We think we have provided him with an unbounded opportunity to learn in an atmosphere that has as its principle purpose the development of well informed citizens who carry on the great traditions of America. We love him, too. Written also with prejudice." Signed, his principal.

To amplify my own sentiments with respect to this excellent article, every freedom loving American needs to take a positive attitude towards the schools in this nation and do what we can to make them better in the years to come. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 5

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

COURTESY NEVER COSTS -- IT PAYS

=Are you a courteous person? Those truly courteous in their dealings with others will find many doors opening for them, and it's also a sign of good breeding. However, genuine courtesy goes far beyond the obvious. It's much more than permitting others to break in line at the cafeteria, the supermarket checkout stand, or even saying, "Here, let me get that for you."

The other evening the phone rang at our house and a very pleasant sounding young woman was on the line attempting to enlist subscribers for a new magazine. After she introduced herself and the product she was selling, she went into her sales pitch. I listened very attentively and when she finished, I told her I had read a previous issue of her magazine and liked it, but due to some commitments in other areas, I didn't want to subscribe at this time. She thanked me very politely and hung up the phone.

Now you may say, "What's so unusual about this conversation with a telephone solicitor?" Well, you be the judge, but in light of what I've been hearing the past few years, apparently a lot of people are very rude to telephone solicitors when they call. In many cases, they yell at them, swear at them, or just slam the receiver down in their ear. I'm convinced that some people are rude by nature and extend this form of discourtesy to everyone they are around. Others feel they are being harassed and they develop a "mind set" to telephone solicitors and just turn them off. On the other hand, many people have been unduly influenced by negative comments made by their family or friends about telephone solicitors.

If you are in the habit of doing this, I want to share some thoughts with you that may cause you to change your thinking. The reasons will become obvious as you read on. In the end, I hope you will see that courtesy never costs -- it pays, and here are some reasons why this is true: A lot of people who are rude never stop to realize the American free enterprise system is based on sales, and this includes sales made over the telephone. Without sales our whole economic system slows down and in time, this puts many people out of work. But you say, "If I want to buy something I will call them or go to a store." While this is true, just stop for a moment and think about where the money you have in the bank came from. In part, it also came from sales and some of those sales were made over the telephone.

When the young woman I mentioned makes a sale, think about the chain reaction that takes place. She gets a paycheck, as do others in her company. They can take their earnings and pay house payments, car payments and utility bills. They can buy groceries, eat out once in a while, and go to a movie. God only knows what all that money will be spent for. As I say, sales keep our economic system moving and either directly or indirectly, we all benefit.

I hope the next time someone calls trying to sell you something, if you're not by nature a courteous person, you will remember what I've said and be thoughtful and considerate of the salesperson's feelings. You don't have to yell, swear, or hang up; just very calmly and politely say, "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in what you are selling, but I appreciate your calling." You will be amazed at what this will do for you and for the caller. My friend, it's true; it doesn't cost a penny to be courteous and it will pay you a tremendous dividend for your time and energy. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 7

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A FEW DOLLARS AND A DREAM

When our forefathers were establishing this nation, they never intended we should all be equal. Rather, their goal was for every individual to have equal opportunity. This simple philosophy or concept has produced more "rags to riches" success stories than any other economic system in the history of the world. If we don't see opportunity all around us, in most cases it's not because it is not there; it's because we cannot see it. Do you have any idea what it takes to get ahead financially in this country? Well, I can answer this question in just six words: a few dollars and a dream.

There is a story behind these six words that has given them a very special meaning and I believe it will also give you something worthwhile to think about. When the United States of America was celebrating the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty, many true life stories came to light about people who had come to this country with little more than the shirts on their backs, but over the years they had become highly successful.

The story I mentioned is about Casey Rowe. Casey Rowe came to America from South Korea some time after the great depression. At the time, all he had was a wife, seven children and $700. As he said, all he had was "a few dollars and a dream." He had no job, no friends, and except for a few personal items, he had nothing else. Casey's first job was as an axe grinder. At night he would come home so tired he would literally cry himself to sleep, only to get up and do it all over again the next day.

But Casey Rowe did not give up and he worked and worked, and saved a small portion of what he earned. His close family relationships gave him great emotional strength and courage and before many years had passed, he had saved enough money to go into business for himself. Today, if you go to the Terminal Building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, you will find Casey Rowe and his family hard at work in the produce business -- at 4 a.m., and the whole family works. They do over a millions dollars worth of business each year!

I'm sure many people who do business at their produce market have no idea of the tremendous struggle and the years of hard work it took for their business to prosper as it is doing today. It's easy for the casual observer to say, "Oh, these people are hard workers" or "They had money to begin with" or "They inherited the business." For people who have never achieved financial success, they either don't want it or haven't been willing to pay the price for it. The saddest part of all is that there are millions of people who have opportunity all around them, but have never been able to see it or develop a sufficient belief in themselves to go after it.

The fact that Casey Rowe came from another country may have been an asset, because life where he came from may have been harder than it is here. On the other hand, we know of thousands of people who came from other countries who don't achieve financial success. Many of these people have returned home broke and discouraged, while others stay but have to struggle to survive.

The message of Casey Rowe's story is simple. If you want to achieve greater financial success, all you need is a few dollars and a dream, and then be willing to work hard for the next ten to twenty years to make your dream come true. As Elbert Hubbard once said, ôSuccess is the realization of the estimate which you place upon yourselfö. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 9
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
NO $12.00 SEWING MACHINE

We know from personal experience, as well as observing the lives of other people, that if we are to achieve true and lasting success our lives and our careers must be built on a solid foundation of truth and integrity.
For example, how many times do you have to catch another person in an outright lie before you would begin to doubt everything else they say? The answer to that question is once, because from that point on there will always be an unmistakable breach in his or her credibility. Some time ago I heard a humorous story I believe really illustrates the importance of credibility. This is supposedly a true story and I heard it at my deer camp, in Drew County, Arkansas.
In the early 1930s during the great depression, a woman from a rural southeast Arkansas community was married to a man who was from near Trenton, Tennessee. Times were really tough for this couple over in Tennessee and some of this woman's relatives in Arkansas learned of their condition.
As a result of the news, Uncle Babe, one of her uncles, took it upon himself to get in touch with this the couple and he painted a very optimistic picture. He said, "Luther", we want you and Aire Mae to load up and come to Arkansas. We can raise a cotton crop together and there are plenty of wild hogs in the woods here, so we can have lots of fresh meat. In fact, prices in town are very reasonable. You can even get a new sewing machine for $12.00 and prices on other things are reasonable, too."
When Luther heard the good news, he thought he had died and gone to heaven! In fact, he couldn't wait to get loaded up and headed out. They traveled the better part of two days in an old Model A Ford and got to her uncle's house late at night. Naturally, they had to wake everybody. When they all got up and were sitting around talking, Luther said, "Uncle Babe, the first thing in the mornin' can we go out and get one of them wild hogs? Me and Aire Mae ain't had any fresh meat in months, and as soon as we get settled, I'll be ready to start that cotton crop."
Uncle Babe was on the spot, so he said, "Sure, Luther, we'll go out first thing in the mornin'." After breakfast Uncle Babe got out his twenty-two pistol and they headed out through the woods in the back of the house. Before long they came upon some hogs and Uncle Babe picked out a good one and took aim and fired. He was a crack shot and the hog fell almost in its tracks. At this point, he turned to Luther and said, "Here, hold this gun!", and he grabbed the hog, slung it over his shoulder and started running.
Luther said, "how come you're in such a hurry, Uncle Babe, we got us a wild hog, ain't we?" Uncle Babe said, "Yeah, but I don't think the folks who own this hog will understand." You see, Uncle Babe had shot someone else's hog! As they were running through the woods, Luther said to himself, "Humph! I bet there ain't no $12.00 sewing machine, either."
This is a clear case of where Uncle Babe had told a lie and as a result he lost his credibility with Luther. The moral of this true story is simple: if we want to have credibility with another person, unless it would bring unmerited harm to ourselves or others, we must always tell the truth. If we don't tell the truth, in every area of our lives, we are building the foundation for our future on sand and when the storms of adversity come along, it will not stand the test of time. What goes around comes around. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 11
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BUT ... THE BUMBLE BEE CAN'T FLY!!

One day in this small community, a patrolman stopped a woman who was speeding. He asked to see her driver's license and said, "Lady, you were going fifty miles an hour in a thirty-five mile an hour zone." As she handed him her license, she said, "Before you begin writing that ticket, I think we should get our priorities straight. Are you supposed to advise me of my constitutional rights first, or am I supposed to tell you that my son is the head of the state highway patrol?"

As you read this humorous story, did you understand exactly what this lady had in mind? If you did, then you have some insights into the process of communication. While she did not say so, it's obvious that she was trying to use her son's influence to avoid paying a speeding ticket. The ability to communicate is a wonderful gift and those in our society who develop and use it well, have a tremendous advantage over those who do not.

As we think about the importance of communication in your own life, I would like to tell you another story involving communication that could have a tremendous bearing on your future. It's the story of the bumble bee. According to the theory of aerodynamics, the bumble bee is not supposed to be able to fly, because the size, weight and shape of his body in relation to his wing span, makes flying impossible. But you see, here's the problem: somebody forgot to tell the bumble bee about this theory and he goes ahead and flies and makes a little honey every day!

This story or example, has been around for a long time and while most people have heard it, I'm not sure they see the correlation between the bumble bee and themselves. The reason this is true is because we have the ability to communicate, while the bumble bee does not, and if someone who is an authority tells us that it's impossible to do something, we just accept it at face value. Instead of going ahead an trying something new or difficult and giving it our best shot, we jut pass it off by saying, "Well, you just can't do that." Let me make a quick distinction here. While some people attempt life threatening or potentially dangerous feats, I'm talking about normal, every day activities that could make us happier and more successful human beings.

About 25 years ago, when I first went into the sales profession, it didn't take me long to realize I had to steer clear of the older salesmen who had been around for years. Most of them were just plodding along and marking time. They were quick to tell me why a particular person or company would not buy from us. Of course, many new salesmen listen to this kind of talk and they never go out and make the effort, or if they do, they take the first rejection as proof the older, more experienced salesmen were right.

All through life, we meet people who have tried things and failed, and they will be quick to tell us why we can't do it, either. Here's the principle the story about the bumble bee should teach us: if what you want to do has potential and merit and will help you achieve what you want to achieve, how are you going to know whether you can succeed or not, if you don't try it for yourself? When you make the effort destiny comes into play. As William Jennings Bryan once said, "Destiny is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." As you go forth today, REMEMBER: the bumble bee is not supposed to be able to fly, but he DID! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 13
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THAT ONE LITTLE THING CALLED A T-O-N-G-U-E

My good friend, the late Doyle Burke from Newport, Arkansas, always had several funny stories to share with me each time I saw him, but some time back I saw him when he was almost speechless. It was at the Convention Center in Little Rock on the day he received a plaque to mark his retirement from the education profession. He was asked to say a few words before 600 of his peers. He simply stated, "it's better to remain silent and have people assume you are a fool than to speak and no longer have them assume it."

The ability to speak is a wonderful gift that God has given us and for those who can develop it to a high degree of proficiency, it can bring all sorts of rewards. If I were to ask you to state in one word the most powerful part of the human body as it relates to speaking and communication, what would be your answer? If you said the little six letter word, called a T-O-N-G-U-E, you would be right.

The reason I believe this is true is because I've seen the tongue lift the spirits and motivate a 260 pound man to action, and I've also seen the tongue slash another person to shreds. Yes, the tongue is a very powerful thing and learning to control it is a goal worthy for any person. The tongue is like a two-edged sword: one side is good and the other side is bad. It's how we choose to use it that makes the difference. It's only when we learn to control our tongue and use it for good that we can rightfully expect good things to happen in our lives. In my own experience I have found many people have Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personalities in respect to their tongues.

When they're in public or "on stage", so to speak, they use their tongues one way, but when they are "off stage" you would never know they were the same people. The Bible says in Matthew 15:18, "But those things that proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man." So there you have it -- it's really the heart of a man or woman that determines the kind of speech that comes out of his or her mouth. The tongue, on the other hand, is just a protrusile, freely moving organ that in human beings serves as an organ of taste and speech. I believe if you will give this some serious thought, you will see that it is not the smart or intelligent people or even those who are gifted with unusual skills, that learn to control their tongues wisely. It's the people whose hearts are right who exercise self-control and learn to speak only those things which serve to build lasting relationships.
If you have a problem controlling your tongue and you want to do something about it, a good place to start is to examine your heart. When you get your heart right with God and with others, it will be easier to control your tongue. I always admire the soft spoken, gentle person who speaks the truth and is always positive when talking about others. There just seems to be an inner strength that says it's not necessary to tear others down to build themselves up.

Until next time, when it comes to our tongue and the words it produces, here is something to keep in mind; automobiles run and airplanes fly, but human beings literally talk themselves forward. A medicore idea well expressed is often more effective than a better idea poorly expressed. Words are the most powerful success tools available to human beings. As I said in the beginning, it's all a matter of how we use that thing we call a T-O-N-G-U-E. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 15

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

HOW TO STAY OUT OF A RUT

Did you hear about John Jones? He died some time ago and they inscribed these words on his tombstone: "Here lies John Jones. Died at age twenty-one; buried at age sixty-one." You see, John Jones had been in a rut for forty years of his life. Here I'm reminded of the way it used to be in our country before we had paved highways. After a big rain, the first few cars or wagons made big ruts which led to the sign "Choose your ruts carefully because you will be in them for the next twenty miles."

I know this for sure, one of the greatest challenges I face each day in my own life is
to stay out of the old proverbial rut. Now, just in case the word "rut" isn't in your working vocabulary, what I'm talking about here is the mental state that most of us fall into when we have performed routine, humdrum activities for so long that we have lost our zest for living. For the person who is in a rut, life is no longer exciting and rewarding, and because it happens so slowly and over an extended period of time, most of us fall into a rut without realizing we are in one.

During seminars and speaking engagements, I've conducted surveys that relate to this, and most adults will admit falling into a mental rut at one time or another in different areas of their lives. This topic is very important because medical studies have shown boredom, a side effect of being in a rut, is a disease more crippling to the human species than most of us realize. The problems of boredom are manifold in our work force, schools, marriages, churches and anywhere else our thinking settles down into a well worn groove.

If you are aware of the problems associated with boredom, have you ever asked yourself why people become bored? While the problem itself may not be easy to solve, the answer is relatively simple. Whenever you find boredom (people in a rut), you will find the absence of a worthy goal or a great motivating idea.

In my work over the past thirty years, with our nation's public schools I believe
I have found at least a part of the reason why people let themselves fall into a rut. The reasons are different for different people, but for the most part, it goes back to our basoc education and our habitual way of thinking. While working with students in the area of communication skills, I have made a very important discovery. When you ask students the question: "What is produced when you link words together?", they will say sentences. When you take it one step further and ask what is produced when you link sentences together, they will say paragraphs. On the surface this may appear too simple to even mention, but the reason many people fall into a mental rut is because the world and every successful enterprise or individual person runs on great ideas. While it may sound trite, the world does not run on paragraphs. You see, the paragraph only separates the ideas, but it's the good ideas that are contained in the paragraph that makes the difference.

Unfortunately, most schools do not teach students to set goals or look for the ideas in a paragraph that will help serve other people. They only way we can succeed over the long haul, is to find a need and fill it, and this requires each of us to constantly search for new and better ideas.

Going back to my earlier statement, when a person is bored it is simply the absence of a worthy goal or a great motivating idea. Unless we are taught to think along these lines, it's easy to become bored and fall into a rut. The truth is, we don't make exciting plans while we are in a rut, and if we aren't careful the things that are most important will just pass us by. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 17
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

HOW TO RAISE A CROOK

While it should go without saying, most of us parents love our children and we want the very best futures for them and want them to become productive, responsible, law abiding citizens.

However, apparently a lot of parents do not realize that their own attitudes and behavior contribute to the real possibility of one or more of their children winding up in prison.
Along these lines I want to share something titled HOW TO RAISE A CROOK, printed some time ago in The Presbyterian Journal. I hope if you are a parent or someone who is in a position to influence the values, morals and character of young people, you may benefit from it. If you'll think about it, much of what we learn comes from the experience of others and it can be for bad or for good.

HOW TO RAISE A CROOK

1. Begin from infancy to give the child everything he wants; this way he will grow up to believe the world owes him a living.

2. When he picks up bad words, laugh at him -- it will encourage him to pick up "cuter" phrases that will blow the top of your head off later.

3. Never give him any spiritual training. Wait until he is twenty-one and then let him decide for himself.

4. Avoid the use of the word "wrong." He may develop a guilt complex. This will condition him to believe later, when he is arrested for stealing a car, that society is against him and that he is being persecuted.

5. Pick up anything he leaves lying around: books, shoes, clothing. Do everything for him so he will be experienced in throwing the responsibility onto others.

6. Let him read any printed matter he can get his hands on. Be careful that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but let his mind feed on garbage.

7. Quarrel frequently in the presence of children, then they won't be too shocked when the home is broken up.

8. Give the child all the spending money he wants. Never let him earn his own. Why should he have things as tough as you have had them?

9. Satisfy his every need for food, drink and comfort. Denial may lead to harmful frustrations.

10. Take his part against the neighbors, teachers and policemen. They are all prejudiced against your child.

11. When he gets into real trouble, apologize for yourself by saying, "I never could do anything with him."

Certainly this is a personal thing, but let's hope this article will help us see ourselves in a true light, and it will make a positive difference in our attitudes toward raising our children and grandchildren. Someone once said that "prison" is a school to which criminals are sent to figure out what went wrong." It's no real mystery. When parents are not good role models and fail to teach character values to their children, the results are usually predictable. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 19
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A HARD LESSON TO LEARN

Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, "Any government, like any family, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know the continuance of that habit means the poorhouse." How many people do you know in today's society who spend more than they earn? Our nation's collective massive credit card debt, amassed by individuals, shoud give you a hint.
From my observation, I think one of the hardest lessons for many people to learn in today's times is how to do without. It's not easy to do without, especially when we see so many people around us who seem to get everything they want. However, this uniquely American penchant, which is often referred to as "keeping up with the Joneses" has pushed many people so far into debt that bankruptcy and financial collapse is a real possibility. The real problem with trying to keep up with the Joneses is about the time we think we get there, they refinance!
I'm fairly conservative. I don't believe in people over-extending themselves, buying things they cannot afford and putting themselves and their family at risk for the future. On the other hand, if people have the means or the where-with-all, as we say, to have all the things they want and do all things they want to do, I think it's wonderful, because that's the American dream. So long as their incomes are derived from legal means, I wish them continued success.
But we see thousands of people, perhaps millions, who want to live this kind of lifestyle, but they simply cannot afford it because they don't have any money. As a result, many of these people suffer from tension, stress, high blood pressure and finally, a stroke or heart attack or some other calamity. I'm not talking about the person who takes a calculated risk when it comes to getting ahead financially, because that's what financial success is all about. I'm simply talking about those people who have formed the habit of spending more than they earn month after month, and there's a big difference.
There are many reasons why we see people in our society who want to live "high on the hog" without having the income to support it. It really comes down to the fact that they have never learned the habit of doing without. If you or someone you love happens to fit in this category, here are a few thoughts that may help:
Fret not at small beginnings; the oak began as an acorn; the beautiful rainbow had its beginning in a drop of rain and a ray of light; the muscular athlete had trouble crawling; the university graduate started in first grade; the massive international oil industry began with a small shallow well.
In our country, it's still possible for most of us to have the things we want, but it may require a change in our thinking and our attitudes. Instead of buy now, pay later, we must save and invest now and then buy later. Most people who have gotten ahead financially don't ever have to touch the principal of their assets, because they meet their monthly obligations from the income derived from investments.
What this kind of thinking and the resulting actions really does is move our possessions from one side of the ledger to the other. It moves them from the things we can't afford to the things we can afford. Doing without is a difficult lesson to learn, but when we do, our financial future will be much brighter. P.S. Is the money you have burning a hole in your pocket? (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)
There are many reasons why we see people in our society who want to live "high on the hog"+-C${uoio{i (+-EG%h/

No. 21

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

DO YOU ACT OR REACT?

It's been said, if we want to know a lot about a person's character, just watch how he or she acts. But I'm here to tell you, if we really want to know about their character, watch how they react, because this it the real test. In these days of shades and pastels, it's the best way on earth for us to see a person's true colors.

Sometime ago, I ran across a terrific article that was printed in the Readers Digest way back in 1960 titled "Do You Act or React?" and I want to share it with you. As you read it, think about how you would act or react in a similar situation.

"I walked with my friend, a Quaker, to the newsstand the other night and he bought a paper, thanking the newsie politely. The newsie didn't even acknowledge it. 'A sullen fellow, isn't he?', I commented. "Oh, he's that way every night', shrugged my friend. 'Then why do you continue to be so polite to him?', I asked. 'Why not', said my friend, 'Why should I let him decide how I am going to act?'

As I thought about this incident later, it occurred to me the most important word was act. My friend acts toward people; most of us react toward them. He has a sense of inner balance which is lacking in most of us. He knows who he is, what he stands for and how he should behave. He refuses to return incivility for incivility, because then he would no longer be in command of his own conduct.

When we are enjoined in the Bible to return good for evil, we look upon this as a moral injunction, which it is, but it is also a psychological prescription for emotional health. Nobody is unhappier than the perpetual reactor. His center of emotional gravity is not rooted within himself where it belongs, but in the world outside himself. His spiritual temperature is always being raised or lowered by the social climate around him and he is a mere creature at the mercy of these elements. Praise gives him a feeling of euphoria, which is false, because it does not last and it does not come from self-approval. Criticism depresses him more than it should, because it confirms his own secretly shaky opinion of himself. Snubs hurt him and the merest suspicion of unpopularity in any quarter rouses him to bitterness.

A serenity of spirit cannot be achieved until we become the masters of our own actions and attitudes. To let another person determine whether we should be rude or gracious, elated or depressed, is to relinquish control over our personalities, which is ultimately all we possess. The only true possession is self-possession."

As I thought about this article, I realized just how much this affects us every day of our lives. It's not too difficult for most of us to act nice, especially if we had the proper training when we were growing up. But it's just human nature to react to others in a negative way when they are rude, thoughtless or ungrateful toward us.

The Apostle Paul gave us the answer to this problem in Romans 12:2, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."

The key to improving our human relations is to renew our thinking each day with good, honest and positive thoughts until it becomes a habit. Then when someone is rude or thoughtless, we will act toward them in a manner that is in theirs, as well as in our own best interests. As George Bernard Shaw once said, "Action is the only road to knowledge." (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 23

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

DO YOU HAVE CLASS?

Some time ago, my wife and I attended a graduation exercise for a class of nurses at one of our fine hospitals in nearby Little Rock. Near the end of the program, the head instructor read something titled, "What is class?", that was so good that I went to her afterwards and asked for a copy of it.

In today's times, we often hear it said of someone that they have "class", but have you ever thought about what the word 'class' really means when it's used in this way? Well, in layman's terms, the person who has class is just someone who has good manners in all situations, especially when they are hurt or wronged in some way. As you read this article about 'class' it might be well to think about it as it relates to your life.

CLASS

"Class never runs scared. It is sure-footed and confident that you can meet life head-on and handle whatever comes along.

Class never makes excuses, It takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes.

Class is considerate of others. It knows that good manners are nothing more than a series of petty sacrifices.

Class bespeaks an aristocracy that has nothing to do with ancestors or money. The most affluent blue blood can be totally without class, while the descendant of a Welsh miner may ooze class from every pore.

Class never tries to build itself up by tearing others down. Class is already up and need not strive to look better by making others look worse.

Class can walk with kings and keep its virtue and talk with crowds and keep the common touch. Everyone is comfortable with the person who has class, because he is comfortable with himself.

If you don't have it no matter what else you have, it doesn't make much difference."

To me, the contents of this article has a way of penetrating to the depths of my very soul. I especially like the thought "class never makes excuses, it takes its lumps and learns from past mistakes." Wouldn't we all be better off if we could learn to do that?

I know many times when I have failed to do something, I usually try to find a way to justify my actions. Then I say, "I did it because ..." In some cases, I've said to myself, "I wouldn't have done that if it hadn't been for so-and-so." All I was doing was trying to transfer the blame for my own failure to someone else. We should never be too hard on ourselves, because if we do that on a regular basis, all we are doing is putting ourselves down and the result will surely be low self-esteem. We do, however, need high standards because it's the only way to improve.

When it comes to personal accountability and establishing a standard for personal behavior, I don't believe you can improve on the qualities mentioned in the article on class. Ask yourself, "do I have class?" If you don't, would you like to have it? Of course it takes much more than just saying it to make it so, but the first step is to start acting like a person who has class. Who knows? It may be the beginning of a whole new way of living and a source of encouragement to those around us. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 775

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

PEOPLE WILL LET YOU DOWN!

The famous cowboy humorist Will Rogers once said, “It’s just as important to be reminded as it is to be educated.” What I am going to share today is a subject that most of us already know, but one where we could all stand a little reminding.
Over the past several months, we have had a good number of high-profile sports celebrities fall from grace, because of sexual sins. While we certainly should not, we have come to expect that from politicians, but when it happens to a much revered sports figure the American people literally idolize, it hurts and is very disappointing. It hurts because millions of our children look up to these people.
When I mentioned writing this column to a friend he said, “Are you going to call names?” I said “No” for two reasons – first, most people who care and are affected already know who they are, and second, out of respect for their families. To me, the families are the real victims. In most cases, the wife and children of the male sports celebrity who falls from grace had nothing whatsoever to do with their demise. Now, I know that is painting with a pretty broad brush, but that is really not the point I want to get across here. Millions of us put these people up on a pedestal because of their great talent and athletic skills and not because of their personal character and integrity.
We need to hold those in the limelight to a higher standard because they are role models, whether they like it or not. However, we the American people need to keep things in perspective. These people are human, too, just like the rest of us and we need to be reminded that “Ppeople will let you down.”
While not in the sports realm, I am reminded of the story of the minister who requested that his elders be his pallbearers. When asked why, he said, “Because I want them to let me down one more time.” Again, a simple heartfelt reminder that when any person that you love, admire, respect and even idolize lets you down, just remember that they are human, too, and frail, emotionally and spiritually needy human beings will often let us down.
There is only one person in this world that has never let me down, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. I have let Him down many times, but He has never let me down. The Bible says that “All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God.” Note that it does not say “some” have sinned, but “all” have sinned and fallen short of His Glory. When it comes to sports celebrities and winning, many people do not care about character and integrity, because they just want to win, or see their hero win, especially if they are a gambler. Again, what kind of message does this send to our young people? It’s a question only you can answer.
While this is personal, I can tell you that for most of my life I was just a church member and not really a born-again Christian, and Satan sifted me like wheat. However, when I accepted the Lord in 1984, I started a practice of reading the entire Bible through once a year. Just recently I finished my 25th time all the way through, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, and what a journey this has been. During my early morning devotionals and all these years of praying and reading the Bible, I came to understand the real meaning of a special verse in Psalms 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
Not everyone will accept and believe what I have said here and that is not really my purpose. I just want to remind you that often the people you love the most, will let you down.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 777

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WATCH OUT FOR CHICKS

So long as we have people around like an old farmer I heard about recently, creativity and ingenuity are alive and well in America. It seems that Farmer John lived on a quiet rural highway west of town. When he moved to his place, scarcely anyone lived in the area and he and his wife had few neighbors. But like many areas of the country, urban sprawl began to slowly make its way to his farm and, before long, that quiet rural highway became a busy thoroughfare. Traffic was zooming by his place in a steady stream of cars, trucks and buses.
A real problem developed, because as the traffic built up and became so heavy and so fast, his chickens were being run over at a rate of three to six a day.
So one day Farmer John called the local police station and said, “You’ve got to do something about all of these people driving so fast and killing my chickens.” “What do you want us to do?” asked the policeman. “I don’t care. Just do something about those crazy drivers!” So the next day the policeman had the Main Roads workers go out and erect a sign that said: “SLOW: SCHOOL CROSSING.” Three days later Farmer John called the policeman and said, “You’ve got to do something about these drivers. The ‘school crossing’ sign seems to make them go even faster!” So again, the policeman sends out the Main Roads workers and they put up a new sign: “SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY.”
True to form, that really sped them up. So Farmer John called and called and called every day for three weeks. Finally, he asked the policeman, “Your signs are doing no good at all ... can I put up my own sign?” The policeman said, “Sure, go ahead.” He was willing to do anything in order to get him to stop calling to complain.
The policeman got no more calls from Farmer John. Three weeks later, curiosity got the best of the policeman and he decided to give Farmer John a call. “How’s the problem with those drivers. Did you put up your sign?” “Oh, I sure did,” was his response. “And not one chicken has been killed since then. I’ve got to go. I’m busy.”
The policeman was really curious, and he thought to himself, “I had better go out there and take a look at that sign. It might be something we could use to slow down those drivers.” So he drove out to Farmer John’s house, and his jaw dropped the moment he saw the sign. It was spray painted on a full sheet of plywood. It said, “NUDIST COLONY…Go Slow and Watch for Chicks.” If nothing else, Farmer John deserves an honorary degree in psychology.
This story, which is obviously not true, points up the need to understand human nature. The first two signs “SLOW: SCHOOL CROSSING” and “SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY” were not effective for a couple of reasons. First, we see those signs so often they just become a part of the landscape, and second, there is just enough of the kid still left in us, even though we are old enough to drive, that when someone tells us not to do something we want to do exactly the opposite, right? Here in our community, the police department has found the solution. We do slow down when we see a police car with a live-in-the-flesh officer sitting there at the crossing. Obviously, the police department couldn’t afford that for Farmer John’s chickens.
When it comes to the NUDIST COLONY sign, in all my years I have never heard of a blind nudist, or a blind driver, have you? There is just an intrinsic or inherent quality in each of us that wants to see things we are not supposed to see, especially if no one else is looking.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

The next password is bean

No. 779

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

If you take a vacation where you stay in a hotel or motel, or if you are part of the traveling public, you will be interested in what I want to share with you today. Of course there is always the possibility that you may already have this information and, if so, that’s good because we all need to know it.
Some time back a friend sent me some information that was news to me, and this is a case of where what you don’t know, can hurt you. It has to do with the information that is on that little card that hotel and motel people give you to open the door.
If you have never thought about the information that is on hotel key cards, here is what some may contain: A. Customer’s name. B. Customer’s partial home address. C. Hotel room number. D. Check-in date and out dates. E. Customer’s credit card number and expiration date! After receiving this information I checked it out on Snopes.com and they say this is a myth and is false. However, don’t be so sure. Snopes.com is not always accurate, as evidenced by another article reported in Consumeraffairs.com. Snopes.com later conceded that the report about hotels encoding key cards with personalized information was confused with another, much more legitimate story – that of identity thieves stealing key cards and turning them into “clone” credit cards and using personal data that had been taken from other sources. This was just saving face.
Here is a story that has some creditability. In Nevada, Deputy Attorney General Tracey Brierly saw some evidence with her own eyes. Brierly attended a High Technology Crime Investigation Association conference in South Lake Tahoe. The speaker asked for volunteers to provide their credit card-style room keys, the ones with the magnetic stripe. Five or six people provided their keys and the speaker swiped them through a credit card reader. “Two of the keys brought up a name and partial address, and another one brought up a name, address and credit card number,” Brierly said. “I had no idea this was even a possibility.” Of course, the hotel industry denies there is anything treacherous about the keys.
The bottom line is simply this: why take a chance? Keep the cards, take them home with you, or destroy them. Never leave them behind or in the room or waste basket, and never turn them into the front desk when you check out of a room. They will not charge you for the card (it’s illegal) and you’ll be sure you are not leaving a lot of valuable information on that card that could easily be lifted off with any simple card reader. For the same reason, if you arrive at the airport and discover you still have the card key in your pocket, do not toss it in the airport trash basket. Take it home and destroy it by cutting it up, especially through the electronic information strip.
Here is a simple solution, and it only requires a little advanced thinking and planning. When you travel, always carry a small magnet with you and pass it across the magnetic strip several times when you are ready to leave the room for the last time. Then try it in the door. It will not work, as the magnet erases everything on the card.
As I thought about this, here is what came to mind. You need more than a magnetic personality, you need a real magnet. To be sure, there is more here than meets the eye. I am always reluctant to share this kind of information, but there are people out there who are just plain thieves, and all too willing to take from others to meet their own selfish ends.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

The next password is bean

No. 755

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

AMERICA’S BEST EDUCATIONAL VALUE!

With the help and support of the good people in my community, we have developed what I believe to be the best educational value in our country. This statement is true for several valid and very important reasons. To begin, every city, town and community in our nation has low-income families, with most of these being below the poverty level. As a general rule, most of these families do not have many, if any, books for their children to read, and education is not a top priority. These children, through no fault of their own, are at the greatest risk of dropping out of school, missing great opportunities for personal success. Many of them later get into trouble with the law, which often means costly incarceration.
This is the backdrop for a terrific literacy project that we started in 2005 called the Conway Bookcase Project, which is directed by a chairman and a 14-member committee of volunteers. Our project uses no tax money or grants of any kind. We build 50 quality personalized oak bookcases each year and present them to young children, free of charge, in the local Head Start program and the Conway Housing Authority. These bookcases, along with a starter set of books, in many cases, are the nicest piece of furniture in their homes.
It is important to understand that this is not a civic club project, not a church project, not a government project, not a school project – it’s a community project, where we seek to get the whole community involved. The support has been tremendous, as we have had students from three area schools involved, civic clubs, churches, local and state officials, the business community and leaders from our three institutions of higher education. Since we started in 2005, we have had between 2,000 and 3,000 people involved in one way or another.
The funds to build the bookcases is raised by holding a “Bookcase Literacy Banquet” each fall and is held at a local middle school cafeteria. Each person who attends buys a ticket for $15.95 and this covers a fantastic meal served family style, some great local entertainment and a complimentary copy of the founder’s book, “Learning, Earning & Giving Back.” Many banks, public officials and individuals purchase a table of eight tickets and a crowd of 300 to 400 people will provide all the money needed to build the bookcases and have money left over to provide ‘seed’ money to help other communities start their own bookcase project.
A group of volunteer craftsmen build the bookcases in early spring, and an awards ceremony follows at the end of April, where they are presented to the children and their parents. Again, the whole community is invited, thanks to our local newspaper and cable television station, and we hold the ceremony at our local library. To this date we have built and presented 300 of these bookcases, and the children and their parents are delighted to receive them. At the ceremony we have an invocation, presentation of the colors by the high school JROTC unit, a welcome by a local or state official, a keynote address, the presentation of the bookcases, special thanks to donors from the project chairman and the closing benediction.
When a child starts to school ready to learn, they have a much better chance to succeed, and is why our no-cost project is the best educational value in our country. Every community needs a bookcase project and you can help to bring it about. Go to www.google.com and type in Bookcase Literacy Banquet and you will learn why this is so important. We care.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 757

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE COACH GARRISON CHALLENGE!

In case you have not noticed, in America today we have a sports culture. At least to me, it seems like our whole national calendar revolves around one major sporting event or another. Even the people on the Weather Channel tell you what kind of weather to expect the day of the big game, big race, big golf tournament or ___ (and here you fill in the blank).
In school, who do you think has the most influence on a student’s life? If the student is involved in sports, you can rest assured the answer is the coach, even more so than parents, in many cases.
Here is my reason for sharing this with you. Almost from the time we started the “Bookcase for Every Child” project here in Conway back in 2005, I have had a very serious concern. Our goal is to provide children in low-income families with a bookcase and some quality books in an attempt to help them develop a passion for reading, as this is the foundation for long-lasting success. My concern is that we can help a child learn to read, but there is another trait or element that we must help him develop if he is to be successful as a person. This is to help him develop good character. Many people in prison can read.
This is where I believe coaches all across America can be a tremendous help, and I also believe that most coaches have no idea how much influence they have on the attitudes, values and morals of their players. It is really important to reach young players in the summer leagues, junior high and senior high levels. For those who make it to the next level we can’t wait until they get to college, because in most cases it’s too late. It’s hard to change ingrained habits, attitudes and morals of those who need help the most, as it relates to good character.
To be sure, I don’t have much influence when it comes to athletics or coaches, but I have a good friend here in Conway who is a sports icon, and he shares my philosophy. I have asked him to get involved in this effort. This man’s name is Cliff Garrison, well known in our community and state. Together we have developed The Coach Garrison Challenge. In case you don’t personally know Cliff, his name is synonymous with athletics at Hendrix College. The competition court in the new $20 million Wellness & Athletic Center bears his name.
He served as Hendrix men’s basketball coach and athletic director for 31 of his 41 total years in coaching. He is a member of the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, Lifetime member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame and a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches for 34 years, with other titles, honors, records, awards and leadership positions too numerous to mention. Cliff and I both know and believe in the power of reading great books and the impact the content can make on a person’s life.
Over time, with coaches all across America getting involved, The Coach Garrison Challenge will make a tremendous difference in the lives of many young players. Cliff’s challenge is for coaches to read two fantastic books and then ask their players to read them as well.
These two books are “Gifted Hands” by Dr. Ben Carson (ISBN 9780310214694) and “A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring” by the late Coach John Wooden (ISBN 10-1596917016). These books are available at most bookstores or www.Overstock.com and www.Amazon.com.
Almost daily we see the devastation and impact of poor character in the lives of many sports celebrities, and this hurts the individual player, their family, friends and the image of sports.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 759

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WE WILL MISS YOU, BILL!

Most every die-hard basketball fan and player in America knows whom you are talking about when you mention “The Big Red Head.” This moniker belongs to Bill Walton, four-year starter for the 10-time national champion UCLA Bruins and 14 years as a professional player in the National Basketball Association.
When Bill Walton was in high school in Southern California he had a bad stuttering problem, but he overcame it and went on to become a television broadcaster. Today, Bill gives much of the credit for his success to the late Coach John Wooden, who won 665 games during his coaching years. However, history will probably record that his greatest contribution has and will come from his mentoring and being the author of nine books that talks about success in life, even more important than success in basketball.
His latest book, written when he was 98 ½ years of age, is titled “A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring.” It is without a doubt his best work and will no doubt be the standard for motivational and inspirational books for decades to come. It is one of the two books that Coach Cliff Garrison is recommending for coaches, all across the nation to read, along with “Gifted Hands” by Dr. Ben Carson. These books can make a difference in any person’s life, and they will be read by countless coaches who never see or read “The Coach Garrison Challenge” but Cliff’s personal endorsement, and his purpose in doing it, will cause thousands more to get involved in mentoring young players.
Coach Wooden lists and talks about seven mentors in his own life, including his father Joshua Wooden; his grade school principal and coach Earl Warriner; his high school coach, Glenn Curtis, at Martinsville, Ind.; his coach at Purdue University, Piggy Lambert; and then Mother Teresa, Abraham Lincoln and Nellie, his beloved wife of 53 years who died in 1985. All of these played a great role in his life, but Nellie, his soul mate, was his greatest inspiration – she was the only girl he ever dated and ever kissed and was faithful to for all those years.
The second half of the book was written, for the most part, by just a few of those Coach Wooden had mentored, the most notable being Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton, Roy Williams (coach at North Carolina) and Dale Brown, who coached for many years at Louisiana State University. Each gave a tremendous testimony of what Coach Wooden had meant to them and the success they later enjoyed in life. There is a famous story about Bill Walton that has been printed many times that will give you some insights into this “Wizard of Westwood,” the coach who sat silently on the bench during the games with a rolled-up program.
Bill Walton came to UCLA as a freshman in 1970, and while a tremendous “big man” basketball player, he was also a free spirit. Our nation had just gone through the Vietnam War era and Bill had strong personal convictions. As a result, he and Coach Wooden had many disagreements, but the coach always had the last word. Bill was named MVP in the last two championship games, and during his senior year he decided to challenge the coach on his policy of no long hair and beards worn by any of his players. When Bill told him he felt his rules were outdated, the look the coach gave him was more sympathetic than stern. The coach said, “Bill, I acknowledge you have a right to disagree with my rules, but I am the coach here and we will miss you.”
Here’s a final question from me. Could we use more of that today? Read the book.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 761

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

CAN HUMANS BE DOMESTICATED?

Here is a question that I would like for you to ponder with me for a few minutes. Can humans be domesticated? The obvious answer to this question is yes, even though many people never get the word and still act like animals.
With regards to humans, there is a contingency to my previous question, and this is what I want to present for your thought and consideration. Some time back a friend was telling me about a fantastic book titled “Wild Child” written by T.C. Boyle, an English professor at the University of Southern California and a fantastic writer. I then checked this book out of our local library and have read it.
The setting for this book is the village of Lacaune in the Languedoc Region of France. The year is 1797. The story begins with a group of weary, rain-soaked hunters returning from an unproductive hunting trip, when one of them spots what looks like a small child in the glade a few hundred yards away. He is cracking and eating acorns, but has not spotted them yet. When he does, he quickly vanishes into the brush. The child was naked and walked on all fours, and a visible large scar was clearly seen on his neck.
It was later revealed that he was a rebellious 13th child of a peasant family, pre-lingual, around age 5, when his father’s second wife took him into the forest with full intentions of killing him with a butcher knife. Deep into the forest, she twisted his head around and slashed his throat, and while blood gushed freely, she disappeared back into the brush and was gone. But the child didn’t die. At this point he was all alone with nothing but survival instincts and the will to live. He would spend the next several years without human contact, in the forest, constantly looking for something to eat. When his clothes were gone, there was nothing to replace them, so his skin adjusted.
This child was around 8 or 9 years of age when spotted by the hunters and was not seen again for several weeks. Then one day he was seen again, and this time captured by Messier, the village smith, and put on display for everyone in the village to see. Here was a child that was really an animal in human form, with no language, no ideas, no way of knowing he was alive, or in what place. He did not know why he was alive and that his life was no different than any of the other creatures in the forest. From this point forward, an unbelievable story unfolds of an escape, unknowingly making his way across a mountain range, to near Paris, France, where a second capture takes place.
He is first taken to an orphanage, and later to a school for deaf-mutes where two noted professors wanted to study him. Here, they began the process of trying to restore him to lead a civilized life. One professor, Jean Marc Gaspard, was having great success with deaf-mutes, but this wild child never responded to any stimulus, never spoke a word, never showed any signs of reentering society. This professor refused to give up on him, with no progress whatsoever, until the child was around 15 years of age and normal sexual instincts begin to take over. When he exposed himself to his teachers and all the female students, this was the last straw.
He was banished to live out his life with one of his caregivers, but he never spoke a word, made no progress of any kind, and finally died when he was 40 years of age. Can humans be domesticated? This true story suggests that only if we start soon enough.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 763

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHAT MAKES YOU MAD?

Several weeks ago a newspaper reporter came to my office to conduct an interview for a feature article about our “Bookcase for Every Child” project. During the interview, one of the questions she asked was, “What makes you mad?” Without a moment’s hesitation I said, “People who are unkind.”
While I am usually pretty good at keeping my emotions in check, I get angry when I see other people deliberately being unkind to others they come across, whether it’s a member of their family, an employee, a co-worker, a competitor or maybe someone they don’t even know. To my way of thinking, we have far too much incivility in our country.
Of course there are many other things that make me mad, like cheating or taking unfair advantage of others, but here again, I try to keep things in perspective and try to give others the benefit of a doubt.
Now this question please, “What makes YOU mad?” Have you ever thought about this? We should not go through life being mad or angry, because that is unhealthy. However, if we do get mad from time to time, let’s get mad about the right things.
This is something I thought about when I received an e-mail from a friend the other day. It was titled “2010 College Football Scouting Report.”
It begins, “Well folks, it has arrived…the 2010 football scouting report! The following report is making the rounds of Division I college football coaches: Texas recruit- Wayfron P. Jackson, 6’ 6”, 215 lbs. Wide receiver. Hottest prospect from Texas in the last 10 years. Loves rap music. Will demand a mini cassette in his helmet. Currently holds world record for most “you knows” during an interview (62 in one minute). Wayfron can print his complete name.
Florida State recruit – Cletis Quinticious Jenkins: 6’ 3”, 220 lbs. Running back. Set state scoring record out of Triton High School, Dunn, N.C. Also, led the state in burglaries, but had only nine convictions. He has been clocked at 4.2 seconds in the 40 dash with a 19” TV under each arm.
Ohio State recruit – Roosevelt “Dude” Dansell: 6’ 1”, 195 lbs. Running back from Tyler, Texas. Has processed hair and imitates Billy Dee Williams very well. Before he signed his letter of intent, he wanted the school to change colors to chartreuse and pink. Listed his church preference as “red brick.”
Southern Cal recruit – Tyrone “Python” Peoples: 6’ 10” 228 lbs. Wide receiver. Has a pending paternity suit and two rape trials, but hopes none of his other nine victims will file charges. Tyrone has already signed letters of intent with six other colleges, but was also willing to sign with us. Thinks Taco Bell is the Mexican Telephone Company.”
There is more, but you get the idea. When I read this it made me mad, not because it did not have merit but because of the people who had failed these “fictional” but, all too often, real individuals during their childhood. This scouting report was obviously a put-down of super star African-American high school football players. During the interviews after a big college game, I think most people listen to see if the star players, especially African-Americans, are articulate and well spoken and many are, but unfortunately many are not.
When you think about the earlier examples, just think about the people who failed them, starting with their parents, their teachers, and a school system or college that used them for the sake of a winning record or money from ticket sales. We must do better.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 765

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BETTER … THAN THE ORIGINAL!

Over the years many companies that have used the slogan, “Better … Than the Original.” One of the copy machine companies, I have forgotten which one, used this slogan to impress customers and would be customers that when an original went in their machine, the resulting copy would be sharper and clearer than the original that was used to make the copy. To be sure, this company’s machines did a good job, but it will take some doing to convince me that when you use a copy to make a copy and then take this copy and make another copy, and continue the pattern, the end result will be just as good as the original or the first one. With each succeeding generation you lose a little quality.
In a very real sense, this is what has been happening in our nation over the past several generations. While technology is great and has helped us in so many ways, we may have reached the point of overkill, especially in the area of electronics. Sometimes what we think is progress is really not progress at all, but just another way for companies to make a profit on customers who are hooked on having the latest things or gadgets. However, kids in today’s culture who are growing up with all these “advantages” may be missing an education in the most important quality of all -- the development of personal integrity and character.
In relation to integrity and character, it may be necessary to go back to the original to see where we went wrong. Most Americans are familiar with the term, “The Greatest Generation,” but many of today’s youth may not know what it means. This is a term coined by journalist Tom Brokaw to describe the generation who grew up in the United States during the deprivation of the Great Depression, and then went on to fight in World War II, as well as those whose productivity within the war’s home front made a decisive material contribution to the war effort. In 1998 Tom Brokaw wrote the book “The Greatest Generation” that will provide the basis for the kind of character that built our nation into the greatest superpower on earth.
I came along near the end of World War II and grew up when the vast majority of our citizens had character -- back in the days when no one locked their doors, a man’s word was his bond and adults felt safe in correcting the children of others. Then something happened when the Vietnam War era came along. This war was so unpopular that a new generation grew up who had disdain for authority and a total lack of respect for many of the institutions in our society. Now, this is where the slogan “Better…Than the Original” comes into play. When you take “The Greatest Generation,” the parents of “Baby Boomers” and they have children, and they have children, and they have children, and each succeeding generation is a little further removed from the original, you have only to read, listen and watch the news to see the results.
In spite of our recent history, we have many fine young people today who are the leaders of tomorrow. The slogan of our “Bookcase for Every Child” project is “Building a New Generation of Readers.” In today’s times, if children are to succeed, they must learn to read and keep reading to become lifelong readers. It’s not just learning to read that will enable our children to succeed, but they must also develop outstanding character. To be sure, we are each copies of a copy, but if we latch on to a good original and allow them to mentor us, we will help to preserve our way of life and insure future generations the same great opportunities we have had.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 767

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE TOWN LIBRARY

This past year our local public school district honored our Conway Bookcase Project with special recognition and a plaque. As the chairman, I was invited to attend the annual graduation and to say a few brief words. I am not used to holding my comments to one or two minutes, but with almost 600 graduates and parents who came to see their child walk across the stage to get their diploma, I would have been shot if I had gone any longer. For the sake of brevity I told those in attendance about two other graduates. Following the ceremony one said to the other, “Thank God it’s over. I will never open another book as long as I live.” The sad thing about this statement is that he probably didn’t, but he was the loser.
In more than 40 years of trying to help people succeed, the one constant for those who make it over the long haul is that they are readers. Reading good books makes all the difference in the world. We are blessed here in our community to have a fantastic library, and Ruth Voss, our county librarian, has invited our bookcase project committee to hold our annual Bookcase Awards Ceremony at our library, which will accommodate up to 1,000 people. Most every community has a library of some kind. Many are small, but nevertheless are a valuable asset in the lives of many of its citizens.
I did not get turned on to books until later in life, and I regret that, because I am the loser. When you open your mind and read, it makes you think, and according to the late Henry Ford, thinking is the hardest work there is. This is probably the reason so few do it. If you are a thinker and have visited your local library in the past few weeks, I believe you will enjoy a series of library quotations someone sent me a while back. To get the most from these quotations you will have to think and may even have to go back and read them again.
“I must say I find television very educational. The minute somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book.” -- Groucho Marx. “I had plenty of pimples as a kid. One day I fell asleep in the library. When I woke up, a blind man was reading my face.” -- Rodney Dangerfield. “Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic, as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.” -- Lady Bird Johnson.
“A good book is the best of friends.” -- English Proverb. “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” -- Mark Twain. “The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of past centuries.” -- Descartes.
“Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container.” -- Unknown.
“Never judge a book by its movie.” -- J W Eagan. “An original idea, that can’t be too hard. The library must be full of them.” Unknown. “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” -- Francis Bacon. “To those with ears to hear, libraries are really very noisy places. On their shelves we hear the captured voices of the centuries-old conversation that makes up our civilization.” -- Timothy Healy.
“Reading is thinking with someone else’s head instead of one’s own.” -- Unknown. “Library: a place where people lower their voices and raise their minds.” -- Richard Armour. “Nobody graduated from a library. Nobody graduated without one.” -- Debbi Healy.
Here is a final thought from me. Fill your mind with only the best and the results will be obvious.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 769

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

SEE IT IN YOUR MIND’S EYE

The human mind is the greatest agency ever to appear on the face of the earth. From this small mass of gray matter has hatched every thought, idea, invention and advancement that has moved the human race forward right up to the present time. A great miracle takes place when a child is born, created in the image of God, because he has the intrinsic potential to learn, grow and make a contribution to his fellow human beings. This child is the product of a genetic pool that goes back thousands and thousands of years. The child’s parents determine, to a large degree, his success or failure and his role in society. There is an old Chinese Proverb that says, “If you are planning for one year, sow rice. If you are planning for a decade, plant trees, but if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.”
Now, in view of what I have just shared, this question please: What are you doing with your mind? Are you using it to anywhere near its potential? It is in this context that I would like to share a very simple analogy that could make all the difference in the world in your life, especially if you are not using that marvelous mind that God has given you, to do and have the things you really desire. It can be truthfully stated that none of us use our minds to anywhere near its real potential. It has been reported that Albert Einstein used only 10 percent of his mental capacity, so you can see mother lode where I am staking out a claim.
The analogy that I referred to took place several weeks ago while I was building a trellis to support a “trumpet” vine that I had planted in the yard. A friend had given me several four-inch by four-inch treated posts that were about seven feet long. I had previously built a compost bin, using five feet high wire, to hold leaves, and had wrapped it around several pine trees to fashion a pen. When this project was finished, I had a four foot piece of fence wire left over. Rather, than throw it away, I just tossed it aside.
Well, it came in handy. I took this wire and some staples and tacked the wire to a couple of these treated posts. These posts were long enough to have about two feet in the ground and still have five feet sticking up above ground to support the trellis. Now, here is where my mind took over. I had been using some one-in by four-inch treated boards on another project and I saw a way to cover the wire edges, cut the boards to length for both the cross boards and those that would be straight up and down and use screws to hold them in place. It worked like a charm and the “trumpet” vine or cross vine, as it’s called, looks great and is now beginning to cover the trellis.
The concept or principle that I have just shared may sound too simple, but believe me, when properly understood, it is powerful. Our marvelous mind has the power to help us achieve or have most anything we desire. The key is to see the goal or object in our mind – to not only see it, but also experience the feeling we will have when we achieve it. Should you want a new home, see that home in vivid and complete detail, and also how you will feel living in it. The same is true for any other tangible object or thing you desire, but once you see it clearly, and it’s within the realm of possibility, then we must follow through and make it come true.
The French Philosopher Blaise Paschal had this to say about the mind, “Our mind holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.” Whatever we want, we must first see it, in our mind’s eye.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 771

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHO WILL SPEAK FOR YOU?

As we consider the future of our nation and the direction we seem to be heading, will there come a time when you need to speak out? This is a question that came to mind after I received a nice letter and an article from a lady reader who lives in Kansas.
This reader, Ann Heckenlively, reads my column in the Dodge City Daily Globe. What she sent was an article reprint titled, “Anti-apathy essay courtesy of Hitler foe,” printed by Mike Rudden in his Wacky Questions column. While it goes back quite a ways, this was an article about the way Jews were treated in Germany before World War II. The basic premise was that when the Germans closed the Jewish stores, most of the German people just ignored it because it did not affect them. Basically, it was about apathy and how you have to get involved if you see something wrong.
The following essay, written by the Rev. Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant minister and one of Hitler’s leading Christian opponents, tells a very compelling story. Here is one of several versions.
“First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Communist; then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out -- because I was not a Socialists; then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist; then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew; then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.”
If you keep up with the news, then you already know what is happening in our country since President Obama took office and gave us change we could believe in. I am sure you know that I am not an activist, but rather just an American who loves his country and cherishes his freedom. History has a way of repeating itself, so let me give you another true example of why all of us need to speak out.
I have a friend, Juan Alonso, who lives in Lincoln, Neb., who is originally from Cuba, but fled this island nation in the wake of Fidel Castro’s takeover. Today Juan, who truly loves this country, is doing everything he can to warn the American people of the same fate that awaits us, if we do not change course. Juan blames the Cuban press for the Communist takeover, because they were corrupt and did absolutely nothing to warn the Cuban people of what was going to happen to the country if nothing was done. The press failed to take action and allowed the Marxist/Communist people to take over the Cuban government and install a brutal, despotic, socialist economic and cultural way of life.
The press could have met with the then-head of government (President Batista) and his high ranking military members and work out a free presidential election, free of any intervention from Batista’s government. The press did not do that, and instead they sided with the July 26 revolutionary movement, headed by Fidel Castro. The lack of “cojones” by the Cuban members of the press for not doing their duties (jobs) resulted in 50-plus years of brutal oppression in which hundreds of Cubans died by assassination, torture, and drowning on the Caribbean waters as they tried to escape from such horrible conditions.
Juan concludes by saying, “I witnessed all the above until they came for me. I had to escape, like millions of others, from Castro’s Free Cuba. I held the majority of the Cuban press responsible for not acting in behalf of the Cuban people when they had their opportunities to save Cuba from Marxist/Communist dictatorship.”
My question: Who will speak for you and me?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 773

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

HOW THE WORLD EATS EACH WEEK!

One of the greatest blessings of my life is to be married to a woman who is an excellent cook. In my case, I have never taken the time to figure it out, but most of us spend a good deal of our time each day, week, month and year eating, or as we say, feeding our face. We have excellent, well balanced and nutritious meals here at our home. Viola, who has had Parkinson’s for 13 years, still does a great job in the kitchen, and even goes to the store and purchases our food a good deal of the time. Neither of us is grossly overweight because we exercise some, and that part about our meals being well balanced and nutritious is one of the key reasons. The last report I heard is that 25 percent of the American people are obese. Now, that’s really sad when you think about it.
Even with the downturn in our nation’s economy and several million people being out of work, we are still a very prosperous people. However, I am not sure how long our nation’s credit card will be honored, which is really something to think about. There are pockets of poverty right here in our country where people still go to bed hungry each night, especially children. This is the backdrop for some ideas I want to share with you regarding a most interesting article a friend sent me the other day. The article consisted of some excerpts from a book titled, “Hungry Planet: What the world eats.”
In this book, the authors had researched 30 different families from 24 countries and came up with some most interesting parallels and contrasts, showing a photograph of each family and the amount of food they consumed each week. It was most interesting to see the Melander Family from Germany, with four members, standing before what looked to be a mountain of food that represented $500.07 in American dollars. Of course you understand the food in one nation is much different than the food in another. Ever go to a Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Japanese or Polish restaurant in your community?
While I can’t show you the photographs here, visualize each family and the number of family members, with a stack or pile of food they have to eat for the whole week, as given in American dollars, which helps to have perspective.
After Germany, that I gave earlier, we have the Revis Family, four members, from North Carolina. They were spending on the average $341.98, with this footnote: Sure hope most American families eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk food than this family. Next is the Manzo family of Sicily with five family members, who spend an average of $260.11 each week. A sidebar: these photos do not tell the whole story, since there is no way to know the calories and nutritional value of each item.
Next is the Casales family from Mexico, with five family members and they spend, on average, $189.09 each week. This family is followed by the Sobczynscy family from Poland, with five family members who spend $151.21. Then there is the Ahmed family from Egypt, with 10 family members who spend $68.53 per week. Next is the Ayme family from Ecuador, with nine family members who spend $31.55, then we have the Namgay family from Bhutan, with 12 family members who spend $5.03 and lastly, the Aboubakar family from Chad, with five family members, who spend $1.23.
Hopefully, this has been of interest. It was to me as it shows how really blessed we are, but it’s vital that we reduce obesity.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 783

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

For many years there was a wonderful gentleman on PBS by the name of Fred Rogers, and the name of his program was “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” He entertained several generations of children with wholesome values that many of us miss today. His trademark was that he always wore a cardigan sweater. While he has been dead for several years now, you or some of your children or grandchildren may have been fans of his. He was a wonderful role model for America’s children.

Here is a little background information on Fred Rogers, because it is most interesting. He was born and grew up in Latrobe, Pa., but the media market where he became famous was nearby Pittsburg. As a side note, there is another famous American who was also born and reared in Latrobe. Do you know who it was? If you said golfing legend Arnold Palmer, you would be right.

But, back to Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, and the legacy he has left us. I guess, quite naturally, because of his target audience, and PBS is not one of our most watched networks, his popularity has waned. As Tom Dvorak, director of broadcasting for WMVS-TV, a public television station in Milwaukee has said, “Kids today just don’t know him.” However, he will never be forgotten in the Pittsburg area. In October 2010, a 10-foot $3 million statue of Mr. Rogers tying his sneakers was unveiled along the city’s riverfront with great fanfare.

The reason I am sharing this information with you is because I got an e-mail sometime back about Fred Rogers that contained some very untrue things about him. The e-mail stated that he was a U.S. Navy Seal, combat-proven veteran of the Vietnam War and had 25 confirmed kills to his name. He was a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat.

The myth continues that after the war Mr. Rogers became an ordained Presbyterian minister, and therefore a pacifist. Vowing to never harm another human being he also dedicated the rest of his life to trying to help lead children on the right path in life. This e-mail also stated the reason he always wore a cardigan sweater was to cover up the many tattoos on his forearms and biceps from his past life. He did not wish to set a poor example for the millions of children who watched his program for more than three decades.

It’s right here that I would like to set the record straight. After the original column ran in our local paper, which included the myth, I got an e-mail from a lady associated with PBS and she told me that Fred Rogers was never in the military service and did not have tattoos on any part of his body. My question was, “Why would anyone distort the legacy, of a fine human being, by making up things that are just not true.” Well, there you have it. In memory of Fred Rogers, I have done my best to set the record straight.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 785

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BUILDING LEADERS FOR TOMORROW!

While it is not original with me, there is a saying that goes, “Show me the homes of a nation and I will show you what kind of nation you have.” It is in the home that love is fostered, character is taught and the direction for young lives is given.
I found a beautiful example of this in the lives of a couple by the name of Don and Anne Dierks, who live in Hot Springs Village, Ark. Anne is the author of a fantastic book titled “Granny Camp: How to Bond With Your Grandchildren.” Sometime back she sent me a copy in the mail. I was really impressed with her book. It has dozens of full-color photographs and the graphics and design just makes it truly a work of art, and that is just for starters. The content really makes it special.
The large color photo on the front cover says it all. This photo has seven of Don and Anne’s grandchildren, all girls, facing a large American flag with hands over their hearts saying the “Pledge of Allegiance.” This photo sets the tone, but this book is all about a Granny Camp that they hold each year for their 14 grandchildren, and have done so for more than a decade. While Don helps with the camp each year, the real genius of this truly unique camp is Anne, mother of four, and as previously noted, 14 grandchildren -- four boys and 10 girls.
While Anne has had no formal training as a teacher, nurse, art instructor, song director, coach or cook, she does them all because she has a heart’s desire to find a way to know her grandchildren through good clean fun and old-fashioned activities. She believes LOVE is the key to the success of this endeavor, and she wants other grandparents to pass their love to their grandchildren with the best adventure of their lives. This book is complete down to the last detail, including “How to Read This Book,” “What Is Granny Camp And Why Have It?”, “Who Can Come to Granny Camp?”, “What Are the Rules at Granny Camp?”, “What Do Campers Eat at Granny Camp?”, and “What Are Granny’s Helpful Hints?”
In the book you will find planning tips such as setting the date, distance and travel time, planning crafts, planning activities, making Granny Camp T-shirts, meal planning, and field trips, along with items to bring for the week of camp. She also talks about parents, telephone calls, clothes rules, sleeping rules, bathroom rules and computer rules, and then the Granny Story: Four Square Rule. And that is just for starters. In more than ten years of holding “Granny Camp” she has seen, been confronted with, or done it all, and she is willing to share it.
Of course, there is no way I can tell you everything that is in this fantastic book, but I will sum it up by saying that Anne and Don are using this quality time as a way to get to know and bond with their grandchildren, and to make a difference in the lives and their futures. As I said earlier, the key to success here is love.
There are a number of articles and columns that have already been written about Granny Camp, and they are all good, but I have a little different perspective. I see her Granny Camp, and hopefully others it will inspire, as a way to build leaders for tomorrow. If we want our children and grandchildren to have Godly values, character, integrity, and become great people, we have to teach them. To me, that is what Don and Anne are really doing.
You may order a copy of Granny Camp at www.grannycamp.com. The cost is $19.95 plus S&H, and worth it many times over.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 787

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE LEGACY OF RAUNCHOUS RED!

If you grew up or ever spent any time on a farm, and have been around chickens and livestock, you will appreciate an earthy story I heard some time back.
One day this country woman was on her way to the henhouse to get some eggs and, about half way across the barnyard, she looked down and saw an orphan egg laying on the ground out there by itself. She reached down, picked up this orphan egg, put it in her apron pocket and went on in the henhouse to get the eggs. As she worked her way down the row of nest boxes, she got to thinking about this orphan egg, and decided she would place it under a setting hen, let her hatch it to see what she had there. Well, none of her hens would take it. Every time she would put it under a setting hen, they would kick it out.
Then she remembered a woman across the road who had an old blind hen, so she got in her pickup and went over there. They took this egg and placed it under this old blind hen. This old blind hen set it, and hatched it, and out came the prettiest little yellow rooster you ever did see. Over time this little rooster grew, prospered and did well -- and grew up to be the meanest, most hateful and fighting red rooster you ever saw. This rooster whipped everything on the farm. It whipped the dog, the cat, a coon, a possum, an armadillo, and anything else that came along. If it walked on all fours, this red rooster would take to, whatever it was, and whip it.
Even the farm bull came in to the barnyard with the milk cow one day, and red attacked this bull and put him back in the pasture. He was a fighting rooster. Because of his nature and penchant for fighting they nicknamed him – Raunchous Red. One day Red was parading around the barnyard in the bright sunlight, and a hawk began to circle in the sky. People who are raised on a farm know what a hawk will do to a chicken. This hawk made a dive, as only a hawk can do, and Red was not expecting any air attack. This hawk came down, hit Red in the center of his back and knocked him unconscious. Shortly, this hawk flew back down, picked Red up with those big talon feet and flew across a field and a little stream of water, and lit to eat him.
Well, a man was standing on his back porch nearby and saw what happened. He said he was not sure if it was the fresh air or the altitude, or what it was, but Red came to in flight. He went on to say that what followed was the longest, bloodiest and worst bird fight this county had ever seen. Red and this hawk fought for more than 35 minutes in this open field, and when they finished there was not a bush, a rock, a blade of grass or a stick in a radius of 35 feet that was not covered with blood, feathers and corruption. He said Red whipped this hawk worse than any living thing has ever been whipped. He went on to say that Red not only whipped this hawk, but he made this hawk fly him back over there to the barnyard. In the coming years local people talked about Red so much he would become a legend in this part of the country.
I hope you at least cracked a smile, because this was another one of those stories, told by the late Bob Murphy. The reason I have shared it is because we all need a break from time to time when we can regain our perspective and recharge our batteries. What is important here is that we should always take what we do seriously, but not take ourselves too seriously.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 789

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

MAKING THE CASE FOR SOLAR ENERGY

Sometime back I got an e-mail from Tom Rooney, president and CEO of SPG Solar of Novato, Calif., one of the largest solar energy firms in the country. He was making a strong case for solar energy and, after reading what he had to say, I believe he has something that every American at least needs to know about, since energy is such a large part of every families’ budget.
This should certainly be of interest if you live in area of the country that has abundant sunshine 12 months of the year, as we do here in Arkansas. While this is not a topic that I know much about, I am happy to pass along anything that may serve to lessen our personal and collective dependence on foreign oil.
Tom begins his correspondence by saying, “Everybody talks about carbon footprints. Turns out the water footprint from energy is just as important, if not more so. Here’s why: It takes an enormous amount of water to generate electricity. And it takes an enormous amount of electricity to move water. (This is especially true for areas where you don’t have a free-flowing stream where you can build a power plant). Here is an example: One 60-watt light bulb burning 12 hours a day will consume at the power plant 3, 000 to 6,000 gallons in a year. A laptop computer uses 200 gallons in a year.
“We all know that in the Western part of our country, water is at a premium. In Arizona, multiply those numbers by 7. If you get your electricity from hydropower, multiply by 18. That’s a lot of water for not much light. That is how water and energy is connected, but no one is talking about it. We are wasting a lot of water and power because we ignore this connection. Another example: In the California and Nevada desert, several large solar thermal power plants are being built. These plants require a great deal of water. But, in the desert? Here is the bottom line: There are only two types of power that do not require massive amounts of water: Wind and photovoltaic solar – the kind found on rooftops at homes, schools, wineries, army bases, etc.”
Tom goes on to tell me about a great solar project in the Irvine Unified School District, where the district has partnered with Sun Edison and SPG Solar to install solar energy at each of its 21 campuses. Purported to be the largest solar development for a public school system in California, and possibly the United States, the project will reduce Irvine’s school power bill by 20 percent – a savings of $17 million over 20 years. Sun Edison will own, operate and maintain the solar photovoltaic systems, with the district purchasing energy at a discounted rate. The solar companies will act as utilities, building and financing the system with no money from the district. This is a good example where a public school and private companies can work together and save taxpayers some money.
Again, our nation’s energy supply is not a topic that I am qualified to delve into but I belong to the school of thought that we need all forms of energy to help us reduce our dependency on foreign oil. We have had technology for many years that will help do this, if we can throttle the major oil companies and their lobbyists to open markets where everyone has a level playing field. When you get ready to build a home, business or other structure, why not consider solar. It could save you some money.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 791

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

OUR KIDS ARE IN A WAR!

It may have started out as a minor skirmish, but today the Kids of America are in a real war. They are in a war between the forces of good and evil, and millions of them are losing their lives, and their souls, to an enemy more cunning and deceptive than they have ever faced before.
Thousands of our children and young people lose their lives each year to illegal drugs, suicide, crime, accidents caused by drunk drivers, and many other reasons due to poor choices. In many cases these choices were made because these children grew up in homes where they did not receive any spiritual or moral training. Their second-best line of defense was lost when the judges and the courts took God out of our schools and because of hypocrisy the church has lost a great deal of her influence. Today, millions of America’s youth do not attend church at all.
Of course, the best line of defense is for children to have Godly parents who teach by precept and example and prepare their children to live and compete in a world filled with unhealthy choices on every hand. Sometime back I received an opportunity to preview a book by Reba Bowman titled, “Battle Ready Moms Raising Battle Ready Kids.” Looking back I am so glad that I took advantage of the offer because, in the area of child rearing, it is the best book I have ever read. This book was written for mothers who have decided they are not going to sit back and hope it all works out. It’s for mothers who have the courage to strap on their boots and enter the battle. It’s for mothers who take their God-given responsibility as a parent seriously and refuse to relinquish their duty as watchman on the wall.
Reba Bowman is uniquely qualified to write this award-winning book. She grew up in a home with Godly parents and later became a coach, a professor and a college dean of women. She has dedicated her life to helping teenagers and young adults. She says, “As a coach, I have ridden thousands of miles with them, pushed them, fussed at them, encouraged them, and laughed with them. As a professor, I have challenged them, instructed them, and rejoiced with them. As a dean, I have prayed with them, cried with them, disciplined them, and eaten lots of pizza with them. It seemed as if time stood still for many years, because I was spending more time with young people than I did adults.”
One thing I really admired and appreciated about Reba’s writing is that because today’s kids, as the title suggests, are in a war, she uses a military analogy to make her points. The titles of the four parts of the book are Part One: My Mama Wears Combat Boots. Part Two: My Mama Ain’t Playing Games. Part Three: My Mama’s Standing Guard. Part Four: My Mama Is the Real Deal. After I finished reading this book I was convinced that every mother and grandmother in America would do well to read it, as it contains “live” ammunition that will strike a fatal blow to the enemy.
To return to my opening thought, our kids today are in a battle with the forces of evil on every hand. If you have children and grandchildren and are concerned about their future and the challenges they will face in the weeks, months and years to come, I encourage you to read this book. You will be glad you did. Again the title is “Battle Ready Moms Raising Battle Ready Kids.” ISBN 9781615796717.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 794

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A SHINING MOMENT FOR AMERICA

On Oct. 12, 2010, “a shining moment for America” happened, but most of the world, including millions in our own country, never heard about it. This was the day the first of 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 days, 2,100 feet below the earth’s surface, were pulled to the surface in a capsule as the world watched on live TV.
Over the course of the following day, all 33 miners were pulled to safety, one at a time, as this horrible ordeal came to a successful conclusion. However, during all of the non-stop coverage of the preparation and execution of the rescue, one critical fact was largely overlooked by the mainstream media. If it were not for the courageous Americans who came forward to offer their sweat and ingenuity, the world would not have witnessed a happy ending so many had prayed for.
Among the unsung heroes were two American drillers, Jeff Hart and Matt Staffel, who had been drilling water wells in Afghanistan to support U.S. troops stationed there. They joined other experienced drillers dispatched by the Layne Christensen Co. of Mission Woods, Kan., which had answered the call from Chile looking for drillers after it was confirmed the trapped miners were still alive. For his part, Jeff Hart from Colorado drilled for 33 straight days and was the first to reach the trapped miners. Hart said: “This is the most important thing I have ever done in my work, and probably the most important thing I will ever do.”
American ingenuity also provided the technology that made the rescue possible, again under-reported or not reported by the mainstream media. Clinton Cragg, a NASA engineer, was part of a four-man team NASA dispatched to Chile in late August after the Chilean government asked the space agency for assistance. They needed help in designing a device capable of bringing the trapped miners safely to the surface. Cragg provided the list of design elements to Chile. Most of them were incorporated into the final rescue capsule design. The rest is history. Had you heard about this? I sure hadn’t, until I read an article written by Joseph Klein.
Here is something else that was certainly not reported. When the miners were rescued – when they came up one-at-a-time in that rescue capsule – many were wearing a special yellow T-shirt. These had been created by the Chilean branch of the Campus Crusade for Christ. Emblazoned boldly across the front of the T-shirts were the words, in Spanish, “Thank you, Lord.” The miners themselves had requested these words. The shirts were made and sent down to them while they waited for rescue. But that is not all. A quotation on the back of the shirts was actually a scripture and began “porque en su mano estan.” It was Psalm 95:4 -- “In His hands are the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountains are His also.” Now, that is pretty neat when you consider the circumstances.
Campus Crusade had also provided MP3 players with the audio version of the “Jesus” film to the trapped miners while they were still deep underground. They also received the Bible in audio format. Rev. Aldredo Cooper, the chaplain to the President of Chile, said of the rescued miners, “They’re all wanting to testify to the Lord Jesus Christ. All 33 of them are saying they found God in the mine.”
When you consider the probability of getting those 33 miners out alive, and the role our great nation played, it was certainly a shining moment for America.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 796

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

HOW CAN WE REACH THEM?

The late Grayson Kirk (1903-1997), former president of Columbia University, once said, “Education is to develop the personality of the individual and the significance of his life to himself and to others.” In light of this quote by Grayson Kirk, my question to you is simple this: What happens when a person does not get an education?
I have a real burden to share with you today, and while it may or may not touch your life, the ramifications of my burden are far reaching. A while back I read a true story that happened in a public school in the eastern part of our state. A young man was sitting in a cafeteria having lunch when two other young men approached him, one from either side. They attacked him, resulting in injuries so severe that he had to be taken to the hospital.
The attackers later reported that they had words with the young man outside of school, and the only way they could get to him was at school. The victim later stated that the boys had been picking on him and his younger brother for a while and they claimed to be members of a gang. To make a long story short, the boys who carried out the attack were suspended from school and arrested on battery charges. Now, the article did not say if this school has an “alternative” school or not -- I can only hope they do because students kicked out of school prior to graduation have little hope of achieving any measure of personal success. While “alternative” schools are expensive, in the long run the costs to society are much greater.
The true story I have just described is just the tip of the iceberg of what takes place in schools all across our nation every day. In many cases, the consequences are fatal, because many students are killing each other. The question that keeps coming to my mind over and over again is, how can we reach them?
Kicking a student out of school in most cases solves the school’s problem. at least in the short term, but the long-term costs for society are often much greater. We know the problem and, in most cases, we know what causes it. All we have to do is study the student’s home environment for it to become readily apparent why aggressive and violent students act as they do.
I am well aware there are professional people in schools all across our country, as well as in our criminal justice system, who work on this problem every day and know a lot more than I do. My attitude is certainly not to try to upstage any of them, but as I thought more about this situation, I just wondered if it would be helpful if school officials could interview willing inmates in prison about their life. They could ask the inmates if they would change anything in life, given the chance to do it over. I just believe there are many inmates who would be happy to do this if they thought they could keep some of these kids in school and from being in prison where they are. These interviews could be filmed and shown to students who get in serious trouble to help them see where their actions are taking them, if not redirected.
In far too many cases, students never think about the consequences of their actions, especially if they are not taught when they are younger. I would encourage every person who reads this column to think about this question as it relates to our society and people you know who are heading in the wrong direction: How can we reach them?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 798

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHAT HAS AMERICA BECOME?

Former Secretary of the Treasury, the late William Simon, left us with a most sobering and insightful book titled, “A Time for Truth” (copyright 1978) in which he outlines America’s impending social and economic meltdown. His words, and the central theme of his book, could probably be best summed up with the dedication to his wife and children.
He states, “I dedicate this book to my wife Carol, who stands by my side throughout all my battles — and to my children, so they can never say, at some future time, “Why weren’t we told?”
As an eternal optimist I always try to paint the most positive and optimistic picture I can, but also realize there is indeed a time for stating the truth, because this is the only way we can ever be on solid footing to deal with our problems, both personal and as a nation.
We live in a day and time when the pen is mightier than the sword, and I can only hope that some of my thoughts will reach the eyes, hearts, and minds of those in positions of leadership and authority, who can make corrections in the course we are traveling.
A few weeks ago I received an article from a reader that should be read and pondered by every responsible citizen in our nation. It is titled, “What Has America Become?” I wrote the author, Ken Huber, and was given permission to share the story. It begins, “Has America become the land of the special interest and home of the double standard? Let’s see: if we lie to the Congress, it’s a felony, and if the Congress lies to us, it’s just politics; if we dislike a black person, we’re racists and if a black dislikes whites, it’s their First Amendment right.
“The government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you had better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it’s wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don’t burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we get rid of the communists and socialists by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; you can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you had better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for research, but it’s wrong to use an animal.
“We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don’t want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help. And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who’s at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes, tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.”
Ouch! This article kind of reminds me of a piece of meat I get once in a while that is tough. The longer I chew on it, the bigger it gets. It all comes down to this simple fact: We are either a part of the problem or a part of the solution.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 800

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

FOR THE CAUSE OF LITERACY!

Wise old Ben Franklin once said, “If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.” An investment in knowledge always pays the best dividends.
In today’s technological society, a person must be able to read and write in order to gain life-sustaining knowledge. Sadly, 42 million adults in America can’t read at all and they are, for all practical purposes, fighting a battle with one hand tied behind their backs. If you have read, enjoyed and benefitted from my column over the years, I have a special request to make of you that will help a lot of deserving children learn to read. I am making this request for the cause of literacy, and it will not financially benefit me in any way.
Back in 2003, a state press director suggested that I publish a book of my columns, sell them, and give all the proceeds to help improve literacy in our country. In case you don’t know, the United States now ranks 18th out of 23 industrialized nations in reading, science and math test scores. With the help of another state press director friend, we secured a panel of award-winning journalists to read my columns and select the ones they liked best to be included in this book that was titled, “Learning, Earning & Giving Back.” As a result, thousands were sold for $15.95 to support a number of literacy projects. This was done prior to raising our funds with a Bookcase Literacy Banquet with each person receiving a complimentary copy of the book.
A few of the many topics include, “Our Attitudes Control Our Lives,” “Do You Have Class?,” “The Goose Story,” “Ten Causes Of Burnout,” “The Greatest Profession Of Them All,” “Shake Off Negative Comments,” “Making Wise Decisions,” “The $25,000 Idea,” “Do You Have A Loser’s Limp?,” “Nobody Owes You A Living,” “It Can’t Be My Boy,” “The Scars On The Door,” “The Least Important Word,” “A Letter From Prison,” “Society’s ‘Throw Away’ Kids,” “Have You ‘Hugged’ Your Child Today?”, “A Stranger Moved in With Us,” “Why The American Flag is Folded 13 Times” and countless others.
I am in the process now of completely rewriting the book to be a “New Revised Edition” that will be more in keeping with the theme and purpose of the “Bookcase for Every Child” project. At this point, I still have a limited supply of the original version on hand and need to sell them and apply the proceeds toward the printing cost of the new edition, plus free up some storage space to have when the new edition arrives from the printer.
For the cause of literacy I am making these available to my readers for $5.00 each, plus $3.00 S&H, while they last, and as I have said, I don’t personally earn a penny, as our project is all about giving back. As I have stated several times before, my vision is to have “Bookcase for Every Child” projects and Bookcase Literacy Banquets taking place in communities all across America in the years to come.
As we look to the future, this book could even become a collector’s item. It would also be a great way to support literacy by some companies giving a copy with the sale of large ticket items such as automobiles, appliances, homes and so forth. Just $5.00, plus $3.00 S&H, while they last. Make checks payable to “Bookcase for Every Child” and send to 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. Children in low-income families need our help.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 802

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

AN INSIGHTFUL AND SOBERING COMPARISON

The late Charles Ponzi (1882-1949) was an Italian swindler who is considered one of the greatest swindlers in American history. He could appropriately be called the “Father of the Ponzi Scheme.”
The term “Ponzi Scheme” was coined after Charles Ponzi’s scam, and today it is the description of any scam that pays early investors returns from the investments of later investors. Charles Ponzi promised clients a 50 percent profit within 45 days, or 100 percent profit within 90 days, by buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United States as a form of arbitrage -- meaning the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets. Ponzi was probably inspired by the scheme of William Miller, a Brooklyn bookkeeper who used the same scheme to take in $1 million.
The name that most modern-day Americans will remember and relate to readily is Bernie Madoff, who sits in prison as I write these words. In this regard, a thoughtful reader sent me something that, because of the way it was presented, was very insightful and sobering. It was a side-by-side comparison of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme and our own Social Security system. While I already knew most of the give-and-take factors (mostly take) of our Social Security system, this comparison put the cookies on the bottom shelf and really brought it home to me. Permit me to share it with you and I believe it will give you some new insights as well.
There are five different points in a comparison of each, Bernie Madoff and Social Security.
“BERNIE MADOFF – Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later. SOCIAL SECURITY – Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a ‘Trust Fund’ and made available later. BERNIE MADOFF – Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons and yachts. SOCIAL SECURITY – Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund the politicians use it for general spending and vote buying. BERNIE MADOFF – When the time comes to pay the investors back Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors. SOCIAL SECURITY – When benefits for older investors become due, the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners to pay the geezers.
“BERNIE MADOFF – When Madoff’s scheme is discovered, all hell breaks loose. New investors won’t give him any more cash. SOCIAL SECURITY – When Social Security runs out of money, they simply force the taxpayers to send them some more. BERNIE MADOFF – Bernie Madoff is in jail. SOCIAL SECURITY – Politicians remain in Washington.”
This last bit of information reminds me of a quotation by Milton Friedman, a prominent economist: “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.”
It has taken me a while, but I have finally figured out why we can’t reduce the deficit without increasing taxes. Nobody wants the government to cut their program. We can’t do it without it being painful, but the right thing to do is make cuts across the board where everyone knows, up front, that it’s fair.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 804

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PLANT

A while back I read a story about a very creative CEO, who was ready to retire and wanted to choose his successor. He came up with a very unique plan. He assembled all of his young executives and made the following announcement. He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO of our company. I am going to give each one of you a seed today, one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”
One man named Jim was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed, and very excitedly told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and planted the seed. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim did not say anything to his colleagues. However, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil — he so wanted his seed to grow. A year finally went by and the young executives of the company brought their plants for the CEO’s inspection.
Jim told his wife that he was not going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what had happened. It was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew she was right. He took an empty pot into the board room. When he arrived he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. He put his empty pot on the floor -- many of his colleagues laughed and a few felt sorry for him.
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide in the back of the room. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the financial director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, “The CEO knows that I am a failure. Maybe he will have me fired.” When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed — Jim told him the story. He tried, but just could not get this seed to grow. The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “Behold your next chief executive officer. His name is Jim!” “He couldn’t grow his seed, how could he be the new CEO?” the others asked.
Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all BOILED seeds. They were dead and not possible for them to grow. All of you except Jim have brought me trees, plants and flowers. You substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore he will be the one who will be the new CEO."
The moral here is simple. Be careful what kind of seeds you plant, they may come up.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 806
The next password is corn

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

IS YOUR CHILD’S COACH A BULLY?

There is no place in all of society where a bully should be tolerated. This is especially true in athletics where, in most cases, a dominant adult is coaching young people and children.
Recently, a friend sent me an article written by Dr. John Schinnerer that began: “My 10-year-old son was bullied recently. He was told that he was an ‘embarrassment’. He was told to ‘shut up’.
“He was yelled at and scolded with a tone of voice tinged with disgust and disdain. He was told that he would be punished for mistakes he or his peers made in the future. Surprisingly, this did not happen at school. The bully wasn’t even a peer of his. The bully was his swim coach, a young lady of perhaps 26 years of age. She was desperately trying to motivate her swimmers to swim fast in the big meet the next day. And this was her attempt at motivation.
“Later, in speaking with the lady in charge of the coaches on this swim team, it quickly became apparent that this type of ‘incentive’ was not only OK with her, it was actually encouraged. She said that 9- and 10-year-old boys were ‘squirrelly’ and ‘needed to be taken down a notch.’ She was in full support of her coaches yelling at, embarrassing and insulting young children to motivate them to swim faster. ‘That’s just the way swimming is,’ she said. This parent went on to say, ‘If I had not spent 12 years of my childhood swimming competitively, I may have believed her. We parted company’.”
Now, I will stop here because you have the picture. Apparently, according to Dr. Schinnerer, this type of bullying or abuse takes place far too often in various sports all across the nation, and it should not be tolerated.
Again, the question, “Is your child’s coach a bully?” To answer this question, you must first know what bullying behavior looks and feels like. Here is the definition: “Bullying is aggressive behavior that occurs repeatedly over time in a relationship where there is an imbalance of power or strength.” Bullying can take many forms, including physical violence, verbal abuse, social manipulation and attacks on property. Physical violence is not usually a component of a coaching relationship. Should this happen, and a coach is violent with an athlete, it vital to call the authorities.
As I thought about this, I remember getting an e-mail from the “Master Motivator”, former Louisiana State University basketball coach Dale Brown, who is second only to the late Adolph Rupp in wins in the Southeast Conference. The e-mail contained a letter to his former player Shaquille O’Neal after his first year in the NBA. Here is some of what he said to “Shaq,” and please contrast his approach with the 26-year-old swim coach I talked about earlier.
“Be a good listener. One of the most consistent qualities of those who are labeled as extraordinary athletes is they have been coachable. There have been few exceptions. Make your dignity as tall as your body. Never, ever drop it or sell it or become complimented out of it. Respect others, even the most humble, and remember that above all else, you are a member of a group called mankind.
“So, be your brother’s keeper. Lift him up when he has fallen; bandage him up when he is wounded. Well, that’s my advice to you, Shaquille. You really don’t need it. You are what you are: a good man. Love you, Coach Brown.”
From my perspective, that is the way to motivate players and we should never tolerate bullying.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

The next column password is: Corn

No. 782

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

AMERICA’S BIGGEST LOOPHOLE

Are you familiar with the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere? On April 18, 1775, silversmith Paul Revere set out on horseback on a journey from his small wooden home in Boston’s North End that would make him a legend in American history. On this fateful night he set out to warn his fellow Patriots that the British were coming. Most Americans know the rest of the story.
What followed was the Revolutionary War, where we won our independence, another word for freedom, from England, our mother country. This was to be followed by two World Wars to preserve our freedom and other conflicts for various reasons, including the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Today, the land that has come to be known as the United States of America is at a crossroads yet again. We face an enemy far greater, because of the sheer numbers, than the British ever were and because of an ideology that is committed to ruling the world.
Of course I am talking about the Islamic extremists, who have already attacked us physically, here at home and abroad. We are spending a great deal of our nation’s resources to try to prevent them from doing it again – just book an airplane flight if you want to see evidence of this.
We hear on the news all the time that the vast majority of Muslims are peace loving, and I would like to believe that. However, based on what is happening in many other countries where Muslims have immigrated in large numbers, these peace-loving Muslims will also be victims of the extremists or terrorists, to call them what they are.
Because of the fertility rate factor, in time, the Muslims can take over our country, and the rest of the world, without ever having to fire a shot. Research has proven that in a 25-year cycle, the fertility rate must be at least 2.11 to sustain the culture. For example, if two sets of parents have one child each and these children become parents and have one child, if that trend continues the population rate slowly decreases to a point there is no growth in the population.
Here is the fertility rate for some countries in the European Union: France 1.8, England 1.6, Germany 1.3 and Spain 1.1. In England, where the fertility rate is 1.6, the population rate is not declining. Why? Because of immigration, and the vast majority of immigrants who come to England are Muslim. All you have to do is follow the news if you want to know what is happening in our mother country. The same thing is seen in France and other countries where Muslims are making even greater strides in achieving their ultimate goal to someday rule the world.
They not only want to rule the world and have Islam as the only religion, but also to have everyone live under Shiria Law. Today the population of the United States is 0.6 percent Muslim, but they have a fertility rate of over twice that of Western countries, so you can see what will happen in 30 to 40 years.
What is so ironic about this scenario is that the first thing Muslims holler when they immigrate to the United States is “Religious Freedom.” They had no religious freedom in any of the countries where they came from.
In my view this is America’s biggest loophole. A loophole is something we use to get around the rules or the law. We are a nation of immigrants but, up until now, they have all come to the United States and assimilated into our culture and were proud to be called Americans. Where is Paul Revere when we really need him?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 29
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE WORST GUILT OF ALL

There is a little five letter word called "guilt" that most people suffer from at one time or another, and if it's not dealt with and handled properly, the consequences can be devastating. The primary reason guilt is so difficult to deal with is because complete freedom or release from guilt often involves some deep soul searching, a confession or at least admitting our shortcomings. To confess or admit we are wrong goes against basic human nature and this is especially true for the person who has poor self-esteem. The British statesman and author Edmund Burke (1729-1797) had this to say about it, “Guilt is never a rational thing; it distorts all the faculties of the human mind, it perverts them. It leaves a man no longer in the free use of his reason, it puts him into confusion.” I might also mention in passing that Edmund Burke was highly esteemed and one of the foremost thinkers of his day. I believe you will agree that guilt is a load too heavy to carry.
Here it might be appropriate to ask you a couple of very pertinent questions. What's inside a person who feels guilty that causes him to feel this way? Are we born with a mechanism that makes us feel guilty, or is it an instinct or attribute we have to develop? Personally, I think it's both. We are each born with a conscience, which has been defined as "the faculty by which distinctions are made between moral right and wrong, especially in regard to ones' own conduct." In other words, because we are each born with a conscience, we therefore have the inherent or built-in capacity to know whether what we do is right or wrong. It's how we use this built-in faculty that has a lot to do with whether or not we feel guilty. I believe this little allegory will help you see what I'm saying.
Our conscience, figuratively speaking, can be compared to a triangle inside our hearts. When we do something that we instinctively know is wrong, the triangle turns and the corners prick our heart and it hurts. When we continue to commit acts we know are wrong, the triangle keeps turning and before long the edges are rounded off and worn smooth and it no longer hurts. At this point, it is often said, "he has no conscience." This isn't true; this person still has a conscience, but it's become so dull from misuse that it no longer makes him feel guilty or has any bearing on his actions.
If we are to live happy, successful and well-adjusted lives, we should feel guilty when we lie, steal, cheat or commit crimes against an individual or society. Otherwise, we will be totally insensitive to the needs of the people around us. The power of guilt is evident when we see people who have committed serious crimes and they feel such guilt for what they have done, they actually want to be punished. It's very important for us to deal with the day-to-day problems and decisions that are the source of much of our guilt; however there is a deeper and much more serious root problem that brings about the worst guilt of all. This is the awareness, deep in the innermost part of our beings, that God has given us tremendous talents and abilities He wants us to develop and use to serve Him and our fellow human beings. When we don't develop and use what He has given us, it creates a void. As a result, we experience a form of deep-seated guilt that gnaws at us regardless of where we go or what we do. There is only one solution to this problem and that's to put our heart and soul into those activities that we deem worthy of our time. It's even better if we can find some real purpose in life. It's only when we do our best with what God has given us that we feel good about ourselves. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 31
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
STRAIGHT TALK THAT PAID OFF

The Golden Rule is to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", but there is another golden rule that also affects the lives of many people. This could be called the Economic Golden Rule, and it can be summed up with these words: "He who has the gold makes the rule." Because we live in a materialistic society, it's important to also understand this other golden rule, otherwise life can be very frustrating.
One of the greatest blessings I have in traveling and making speeches is that I get to meet and know so many fine people. This personal contact with people in all areas of society is where I get most of the ideas and concepts for this newspaper column. However I realize a good idea in itself is of little value to you unless I can show you how to use it and how to turn it into a benefit for your own life. Some time ago, I was visiting with a businessman in south Mississippi and he told me a true story involving one of his employees that contains a very important principle.
It seems the mother of one of his employees had died recently and the employee was fast becoming an alcoholic. Word was beginning to spread that he was talking 'smart' to some of the other employees. Well, the problem reached the point that it became necessary for my new friend to call him into his office. When he did, he closed the door behind him. After they chatted a moment, my friend looked him straight in the eye and called his name. He said, "You know your mother would not be proud of you and the way you are acting. You have a choice. You can either make your mother proud of you or you can become a drunk. But you are not going to be a drunk and work for me."
My friend went on to say, "I don't want your answer now. I want to give you a few days to think about it, but come Monday, you come in sober and be ready to work, or be ready to leave." Well, that was almost ten years ago and the man is still there and has become an excellent employee. He later told his boss, "Mr. Moore, I ain't never had anyone talk to me like that."
You see, with my friend, it was not just an employee with a problem, it was a human being that he really cared about. One of the deepest psychological needs we have is to know that other people care about us and that we are needed and appreciated. As an aside to this true story, the lack of personal concern and caring is why many management people fail when it comes to dealing with employees who have problems. In many cases they treat them impersonally, yet wonder why their turnover rate is so high.
Another amusing part of the story about my friend's wayward employee is when still another employee was having a problem and this man told him, "You better straighten up. You don't want to go into the boss's office and have him close the door behind you." There is not doubt about it, my friend had made a believer out of him!
As I bring this story to a close, there are several obvious things some of us can learn from this experience. In many cases, it's hard to find another person who cares enough about us to look us straight in the eye and tell us the truth. The truth may hurt, but it's better to hear it and do something about it than go on living with the problem. Of course, the primary reason the employee's problem was solved was because the 'Economic Golden Rule' came into play. "He who has the gold makes the rule." Sometimes all it takes is the thought of losing our job to change our attitude and our behavior. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 33
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
YOU CAN'T SINK HALF A SHIP

The legendary football coach Vince Lombardi once said, "No one ever fails in life until he blames someone else." Unfortunately, many people in our prosperous nation were never taught that accepting responsibility for themselves and their actions is the most visible sign of maturity. This is a personal quality that will contribute greatly to individual success and it's also a vital need, if we are to preserve our freedom in the perilous and ever changing times in which we live.
As it relates to our personal and collective freedom, I would like to ask you to create this scene in your mind: just before the break of dawn one cold winter morning, a family is standing out in the street in their pajamas, watching their home burn to the ground. As they huddle together and hear the distant sound of the fire truck on its way to the fire, they begin to think about the loss of their most cherished possessions, many of which can never be replaced. But at this moment, they are thankful just to be alive.
Now, as we all know, this scene actually takes place thousands of times each year in America and many families are not as fortunate as those I've just described, as their lives are lost in the tragedy of a home fire. There are also many of our nation's firemen who perish in the line of duty. However, for those who are fortunate enough to escape with their lives, they can start over and rebuild. In a few years, in most cases, their lives can be back to 'normal.'
The example I've just shared with you is meant to graphically illustrate that everything is relative. We don't appreciate fair weather until we have suffered through several weeks of rain or snow. Most of us don't appreciate good health until we have had an accident or a prolonged illness of some kind. Most won't appreciate freedom until we come face-to-face with the distinct possibility of losing it.
One time I heard the late Dr. Ken McFarland, noted speaker, author and guest lecturer for General Motors, tell the story about the first mate of a ship who rushed up to the captain and said, "Sir, the ship is sinking!" to which the captain calmly replied, "Let 'er go, she ain't ours." Dr. McFarland then went on to make a very important point, as he said, "If we are on a ship, it is ours, regardless of who owns it." You see, when a ship goes down, every person who is on it goes down with it. In other words, "you can't sink half a ship."
The reasons are many, but the United States of America is sailing through some tough social and economic seas just now, as we struggle to pay off our national debt and we have many social problems begging for a solution. If we are to maintain our precious freedom, as American citizens we all need to accept responsibility for ourselves and our actions and we must believe it's possible. This principle also applies to our homes, our jobs and careers, and especially how we treat those around us. To show love, kindness and concern for others is a sign of maturity.
In the wake of the tragic shootings in our country we should all get on our knees and pray to God that He will heal the wounds of our society. I’m deeply concerned, as I’m sure you are, for the citizens of our country, especially for our young people because they are our hope for the future. Just remember this thought, you can't sink half a ship. The whole ship stays up or the whole ship goes down, and it is yours, if you are on it. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 35
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE SCARS ON THE DOOR

One time I heard a story about a little boy who crawled under a big tent, thinking he was getting into the circus free, but when he got inside it turned out to be a revival meeting. Life is filled with surprises and disappointments of various kinds, but this is one facet of life which makes it so interesting. When you think about it, I believe you will agree that much of the drama of life would be destroyed if this were not the case.
From my perspective, it would be wonderful if there was always something good, exciting and worthwhile waiting just around the next bend in the road or in the next days' mail or the next phone call, but we know this is not reality. Life is made up of good days and bad days, happiness and sorrow, and success and failure. Life is just this way.
We can, however, make personal choices to insure that the law of averages will work to our advantage to have more good days than bad days, more happiness than sorrow, and more success than failure. In other words, it's not what life does to us, it's what we do to life that counts. The reason this is true is because of the natural law that controls everything in the universe, called "cause and effect." If we take care of the causes, in most cases the effects will take care of themselves.
We read in the Bible in Galatians 6:7, "Be ye not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Most of us believe this and know it's true, but unfortunately we do not always base our actions on this great truth. Rather, we permit other factors to influence our decisions and for the time being, forget that sooner or later we will reap the consequences of our actions.
Since most of our important values and habits are established when we are young, I felt the following story might be worth thinking about. It seems a farmer had a rebellious son. This youngster was forever getting into trouble. Not serious trouble, just things that were out of character for the way he was raised. Finally, one day the father suggested to his son: "Son, every time you do something that you know is not right, I want you to take a hammer and drive a nail in the front door of our barn.
Every so often during the next few weeks, the father would hear the tat-tat-tat of the hammer, as the son was driving nails in the barn door. This went on for several months, until the barn door was almost completely covered with nails. At this time, the farmer made another suggestion. He said, "Son, now every time you do something that you know is right, I want you to pull a nail back out of the door."
At this point, the son took his father's suggestion and little by little, the nails began to come back out of the door. However, they didn't come back out nearly as fast as they went in. Finally, one day when the nails were all out, the son said to his father, "Father, I see what you mean. I thought I would be happy when I got all the nails out, but I didn't realize all the scars that would be left on the door."
I hope you can see the point of this story, because while outside influences can help us change our values, attitudes and habits, in most cases the consequences of our actions will still be there. Everything we do in life has a consequence and there's always a price that must be paid. If you really want to do something that will make a difference in the lives of some young people, why not sit down and explain this principle to them. It could make a world of difference down the road. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034)

No. 37
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THEY WANT TO BE "IN"

Former President Hoover once said, "Children are our most valuable resource." I've said the same thing many times and because of my extensive work with the public schools, I have been able to see and understand some things from first hand experience. If I had to decide on one single thing in today's times that impacts a youngster's future more than anything else, I believe it would be along these lines. Because of the tremendous changes in our society over the past two or three decades, not only from the standpoint of technology, but also the breakdown of traditional moral values, our young people today are subjected to more "peer pressure" than at any time in the history of public education.
Because "peer pressure" is so strong, kids want to be "in" and they will do almost anything in order to be in. As a friend told me recently, they want to be in even if it kills them. Unfortunately in thousands of cases each year, it does kill them, whether it's from drugs, alcohol, suicide or any number of other things that are peer pressure related. Fear for their safety is another concern but that’s another story.
Here in Conway, Arkansas, where I live, we have a great community. We have one of the very best school systems in the state, a strong economy and some of the most compassionate civic minded people in the world. At Christmas time last year I volunteered to ring the bells for the Salvation Army and learned that Conway is one of only two communities in the United States where the entire fund raising effort of ringing the bells is made up entirely of volunteers.
Of course, Conway, like most communities in our country, also has problems. Some time back the vice principal of the high school came to speak to the Lion's Club where I am a member. He told us about the gang activity in our community and our schools, as no less than 16 gangs are operating at one level or another. Our school people, along with local law enforcement are on top of it and doing a good job, but there is always the possibility that it will get out of hand, as it has already done in many communities across the country.
The thing I remember most about his presentation is when he said, "Don't stick your head in the sand and pretend it doesn't exist, because it does." Unfortunately many good kids are pulled into gang activity because they want to be "in" and also because gangs use fear as a way to recruit new members. They tell many unsuspecting, naive kids, "You become a member of our gang and we will protect you."
I believe you will agree that when a young person gets involved in a gang they are headed down the wrong road and in time this can have devastating consequences. The reason I have shared this with you is because while law enforcement and school officials already know this, many parents do have their heads in the sand and don't think it could happen to them.
Now, let's go back to that quote by President Hoover: "Children are our most valuable resource." It's my belief that the best way to help a youngster to stay out of a gang is to constantly tell and show them that you love them, communicate with them and tell them over and over again that they have value, worth and potential. In short, give your youngsters a reason to have hope and help them realize that they have a wonderful future in store for them. It's fine to be "in" if they are in the right things. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 39
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
O-P-P-O-R-T-U-N-I-T-Y

It's my sincere hope that what I have to share in this column will be a source of inspiration to you and a good number of other people, as well. One of the greatest blessings we have in this country which so many people take for granted is opportunity. Because of the basic freedoms we enjoy and an economic system that permits the free flow of goods and services to all parts of the world, opportunity abounds for each of us. Unfortunately, because there are millions of our citizens who broke the law and have committed crimes against society or one or more individuals, they wound up in prison and have forfeited their opportunity.
However, the greatest prison of all is not made with human hands, but rather it is the prison of the mind - people who are bound up in their thinking and just can't see all the opportunity that is around them. For example, think of the millions of people in America who are working at jobs they don't like or jobs where they feel they have no opportunity for advancement. Before I go on, could I be talking about you or someone you care about? Here is a statement that you may or may not agree with: the problem I have just described in 99% of the cases is not the job, it's the thinking of the person who holds the job.
This story will illustrate what I am saying: Some years ago there were three negative women who lived on a bayou in south Louisiana, and day-after-day they complained about their circumstances. Each day they would moan and say, "There is no opportunity for us here." Sound familiar? Then one day a positive thinking woman came along and heard them complaining and she said, "Look, so you live on a bayou. Well, the bayou runs into the river and the river runs into the gulf, and the gulf opens up into the sea. You have a boat. You can go anywhere from where you are."
I don't know how you feel about it, but to me this is really some exciting news! If you or someone you care about is in a job you don't like or one that seems to have no possibilities for the future, in most cases the problem is not the job -- it's in your thinking about the job. Like the three negative women on the bayou, you can go anywhere from where you are.
Here is what Walter Malone had to say about opportunity: "They do me wrong who say I come no more. When once I knock and fail to find you in, for everyday I stand outside your door and bid you wake and rise to fight and win. Wail not for precious chances passed away. Weep not for golden ages on the wane. Each night I burn the records for the day. At sunrise every soul is born again. Laugh like a boy at splendors that have sped, to vanished joys be blind and deaf and dumb. My judgments seal the dead past with its dead, but never bind a moment yet to come. Tho' deep in mire, wring not your hands and weep. I lend my arm to all who say, "I can." No shame faced outcast ever sank so deep, but yet might rise and be a man again. Art thou a mourner? Rouse thee from thy spell. Art thou a sinner? Sins may be forgiven. Each morning gives thee wings to flee from hell. Each night a star to guide they feet to heaven."
Until our next visit here is something worth thinking about. The American editor and craftsman Elbert Hubbard once said, “Opportunity is health and a job.” That’s it. If we have good health and a job we can use our time, talents and other resources as a springboard to achieve any success we desire. Don’t procrastinate!!!. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 41
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
AMAZING COINCIDENCES

Sometime back, a lady in another state called me on the telephone regarding something about President Abraham Lincoln and in the course of our conversation she asked this question: "Have you ever heard of the amazing coincidences between Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy?" When I confessed that I had not, she offered to send it to me by mail. When it arrived a few days later and I read it, I was literally amazed, which I'm sure is the reason it's called "The Amazing Coincidences." I was most impressed with this article and since it was not copyrighted, I decided to include it in my book, You Can Be The Best, which is a collection of the best stories and ideas I've run across in the past 25 years. Sometime back I even thought about sharing this with you in this column, but had decided that most people had already seen it and had pretty well written it off. However, Mr. Herman Brown, editor of the Okmulgee Daily Times in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, has changed my mind. He said, "I know most people have not seen this article and I'm sure they would like to." Well, Herman, for what it's worth, here are the "Amazing Coincidences" between former presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy.
Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy was elected in 1960, exactly one hundred years apart. There are seven letters in each name. Both presidents were slain on Friday; both men were slain in the presence of their wives. Both presidents wives lost children through death while in the White House. Both were directly concerned with civil rights. Both presidents had legality of elections contested. Kennedy's secretary's name was Lincoln, who warned him not to go to Dallas; Lincoln's secretary's name was Kennedy, who warned him not to go to the theater. Both of their successor's names were Johnson: Andrew Johnson and Lyndon Johnson. Each name contains thirteen letters; both men served in the U.S. Senate; both were southern democrats. Andrew Johnson was born in 1808, Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908. Booth and Oswald were both Southerners favoring unpopular ideas. Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and hid in a theater; Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and hid in a warehouse. Both presidents were shot from behind and in the head. Booth and Oswald were both assassinated before going on trial. They were both born 100 years apart and each name, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth, has 15 letters.
Well, that's the end of it, but even more importantly, what do you think about it? I'll confess that I don't know what to make of it. For me, it's highly unusual and even a little spooky. Here, I'm reminded of the words of Satchel Paige, who pitched baseball in the major leagues until he was over 50 years of age. He said, "Don't look back, something may be gaining on you." Personally, I'm grateful that we live in a world of order and the odds or chances that something like this would ever occur again have to be very remote.
As I bring my thoughts to a close in this column, I would like to say that I hope you are enjoying the various topics, ideas and concepts that I've been sharing with you. While today's column has been the exception, as a general rule, I try to be conscious of what I'm saying and present my ideas from a positive point of view. This is not to say that I'm not aware of the serious problems we have in our nation today.
In fact, the first five stories on our local television newscast the other evening had to do with murder. While tragic as this is, we can thank God for the fact that murder is still news. If it ever becomes so commonplace that it is not reported, we as a nation, will be worse off than we are. What we should never forget is that there are still millions of good people and that we have tremendous opportunities in this country. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 43
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
A CONSTANT BATTLE

It is often said that an honest confession is good for the soul. I certainly hope this is true, because here at the beginning of my column today, I want to confess that I have a battle going on inside of me. The battle I'm referring to is the battle between my two natures. On the one hand, I have a "Divine" nature that tells me I should always seek to do good and seek after righteousness, and on the other hand I have a "sinful" nature that tells me it's okay to be involved in various activities that are evil or bad. In view of the crime problems we have in America, the tragic shootings in our nation’s schools, the alcohol and substance abuse, gambling addiction and the apparent lack of love and compassion that many people have for others, this may be something worth thinking about.
Before I continue, it might be helpful to define or discuss the terms "Divine" and "sinful" nature to make sure we are speaking the same language. The word "Divine" means supremely good, as in Godly, and the word "sinful" means to commit a sinful act or to do wrong. In other words, when someone commits a "sin" they have a broken relationship with God.
At one time or another, you have probably heard this expression: "It was almost 'second nature' for some person to do this or that." The reason this statement is true is because this person has performed the action so long and so often they no longer have to consciously stop and think about it. In other words, the action has become a habit and is an ingrained part of their nature.
If you have ever wondered why the habitual way of thinking for one person has developed a 'second nature' of doing what is right, while anther has developed a 'second nature' of doing what is wrong, I believe this illustration will shed some light on this process. The constant battle that is going on inside of every person could be compared to two dogs fighting. For the sake of example, let's say one dog represents good and the other dog represents evil. If you would like to know which dog is winning, it's the dog we feed the most. You'll never see a dog win a fight (except in self-defense), that has its ribs sticking out and is "poor" as a rail, because it hasn't had anything to eat in a long, long time.
As human beings, we need to understand that in the battle of our two natures, we are the ones doing the feeding. Just as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, we will have a "Divine" nature or a "sinful" nature depending on the kind of food that we permit to enter our minds and hearts. Regardless of what some people would have us believe, it does make a difference in what kind of television programs we watch, the movies we see and the books and other literature we read. In simple layman's terms, when we permit filthy, crude and evil thoughts to enter our mind on a regular basis, we are feeding the wrong dog.
Again, whether we realize it or not, our nature has a tremendous impact on our daily lives. As the English philosopher John Stuart Mill once said, “Our nature is the sum of all phenomena, together with the causes which produce them: including not only all that happens, but all that is capable of happening.” Just as another human being, if you have never thought about this, I want to encourage you to be very selective in which dog you are feeding. In terms of our society and our culture, we need to get back to respect for others and honesty and decency in everything we do. We will all feel better about ourselves. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 45
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
TWO KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE

From the earliest writings of man on cave walls (which came to be known as hieroglyphics), and in the past 6,000 years of recorded history, mankind has had a thirst for knowledge. This insatiable thirst for knowledge has been responsible for most of the technological advancements and other achievements that has moved our civilization forward to present time. It is not my intent today to delve into the past so much, but rather to share some practical thoughts and ideas that may be of value to you. The Bible says in Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." As a Christian and one who has a deep love for God, I certainly believe this and try to keep this perspective in everything I do.
As we function day-by-day in our own personal lives, there's another consideration of knowledge that should be brought to our conscious mind from time-to-time. Namely, there are two kinds of knowledge: one kind we call "intellectual" knowledge that comes as a result of our intellect and we acquire this knowledge through study and observation. The other kind of knowledge is "experiential" or knowledge that comes from our experience. Obviously to be successful in today's times we need both kinds of knowledge, but there is a stereotype in our society that may be keeping some people from becoming as successful as they could be.
In recent years, our society has almost come to deify the attainment of a college degree, and in many cases has looked upon the person who doesn't have one as being somewhat inferior. From my experience, I can tell you that a college degree does open many doors and it's a step in the right direction, but it does not guarantee success. There have been hundreds of times when I have been a paid featured or keynote speaker and I was the only one there who didn't have a college degree. They were paying me for my experience and for my proficiency in developing a skill. What I'm saying is this: don't ever suffer from low self-esteem just because you may not have a college degree. It's great if you can get it and I certainly recommend that, but if you don't, you can bridge the gap by your experience.
However, we should never be like the fella who didn't have 20 year's experience; he had one year's experience repeated 20 times. He never went on vacation because he was afraid he wouldn’t be missed. Another example is when I was in high school and our class went on a field trip to The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. One of the speakers told about a company that had a large generator that stopped working, and as a result the whole operation was shut down. Well, everyone in the company tried to get it started again, but with no success. Finally, they called in an "expert" and when he arrived and surveyed the problem, he took a little ballpeen hammer and went to a certain spot and tapped on it three times. It started immediately and the company was back in business.
In a few days, this "expert" sent the company a bill for $5,000. Since it only took about 10 minutes of his time, the company felt this was a little high, so they asked him to itemize his bill. The expert's new invoice contained these words: "Pecking on generator $10.00. Knowing where to peck, $4990.00." Granted, this expert probably had a college degree, but his experience was also very important. We are never bored when we are learning something useful and worthwhile. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 47
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
ARE YOU PLAYING TO WIN?

As the famous golfer, Lee Trevino, a poor Mexican who became a rich Spaniard, has said, "There is one thing that never gets old and that's winning!" I'm sure you know that it's just human nature to want to win, but unfortunately in the larger game of life there are millions of people who aren't playing to win. These people are playing not to loose, and there is a big difference. To illustrate the concept of playing not to loose, please allow me to use an athletic example. If you are like I am, you spend at least some of your time watching sporting events in person or on television. While watching countless basketball games, I've seen one team play hard for about three-fourths of the game and get ahead by a considerable margin. Then for some reason their strategy changed and instead of playing to win, they started playing not to loose. In short, they started playing the clock instead of the other team. In some cases this strategy worked out, but more often than not, the team that was behind kept playing to win -- and they did.
Now I'd like to go back to what I was saying earlier about the millions of people who are playing not to loose in the only game that really counts: the game of life. Instead of developing a long range plan and setting some clearly defined goals that would enable them to take charge of their lives, they're simply marking time and hoping that nothing bad will happen to them. Each day these people live in fear that they will not loose their jobs, get sick or have an accident, that one or more of their kids will not get in trouble and they also fear that they won't be able to pay enough on their credit card balances to be able to keep them.
While I have no way of knowing about you or your circumstances, if you happen to be one of these people or know someone who is, I have some good news to share with you. We can lose more athletic contests than we win, but still be a real winner in the game of life. If I recall, when I was playing high school football, we only won about three games out of twenty in the two years I was on the team. What we need to keep in mind is that we all have our "ups" and "downs", our good days and bad days, our victories and our defeats, because that's what life is all about. The most important thing here is our attitude, our desire and our will to win.
The legendary Green Bay Packer football coach, Vince Lombardi once said, "Winning is not the main thing, it's the only thing!" Obviously his team didn't win every game, but when they went on the field, he had every one of his players mentally prepared to win. It should also be noted here that a true winner always plays by the rules. As this applies to you and me, we can't get ahead financially or any other way if we cheat or give less than our best at whatever we are doing. We see people who try this all the time and they may get away with it for a while, but sooner or later the scales will balance.
You know, the human mind is a wonderful tool and it will take us anywhere we want to go, but the key to our success is how we use it. Here's something I ran across by an unknown author that will bring this thought into clear focus: "Great minds have noble objectives, high purposes and daring dreams; average minds engage themselves in wishful thinking and petty dabblings in little ventures; small minds are content to complain why life has passed them by." To close out with a baseball example, just remember, a bloop single looks like a line drive in the box score the next day. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 49
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE LAW OF ABUNDANCE

If you are living in America, have you ever wondered why our nation has become the greatest economic success story in the history of the world? In the event you don't know, there are two basic reasons why this is true. The first being that our system of government allows private citizens to own property and production facilities and to produce products and services and sell them to consumers for a profit. To say it very simply, we have the incentive and the freedom to achieve personal success. While just as important, the second reason is that our nation was blessed with tremendous natural resources. We have an abundance of clean water, fertile soil, timber, petroleum and minerals that are needed to produce these products in vast quantities.
While the age of technology has changed the way we do things, the key element in our success is that we produce far more than we need for our own use and this "surplus" is what drives the engine of trade and commerce. To continue this line of thinking, I want to talk about the "LAW OF ABUNDANCE" and how this law can help you in many different ways. The LAW OF ABUNDANCE is a natural law and we know a "natural" law is a series of events in nature that has been observed to occur with unvarying uniformity. The key word is "unvarying." In other words, if the conditions and circumstances are exactly the same, then the result or the outcome of our actions will also be the same.
As the LAW OF ABUNDANCE relates to each of us, when we know about this law and understand it, we can then use it to our advantage. In this sense, a natural law then becomes a success law. While I'm not talking about just "making" money, who among us doesn't want to achieve financial success? What many of us fail to realize is that we live in a prosperous nation, but unfortunately there are millions of our citizens who don't share in this prosperity. While it may be too obvious to even mention, the reason this is true is because of their low self-esteem and their negative thinking.
Now if I happen to be talking about you or someone you love, quit thinking that there's not enough to go around. Everything we could possibly wish for has been placed within our easy reach. It was certainly intended that everyone who wished for abundance and worked toward it can have abundance. Just think about this: there is sufficient electricity in the water of a creek to furnish the power of a million slaves. There is enough atomic energy in the substance we could hold in one hand to run the world. If every person produced to his utmost and we did away with strikes, monopolies, crime and waste, everyone could have his needs supplied many times over.
On a more personal basis, think about the fact that a handful of seed sown in fertile soil, watered and cared for, can produce millions of times more than the original planting. A whole forest can spring from a single acorn. This is the LAW OF ABUNDANCE at work and it operates in the mental, social, financial and spiritual areas of our lives, as well. The essence of this law is that you must believe in abundance. You must think abundance. You must raise your sights for greater accomplishments and let no thought of failure or limitation enter your mind.
One of the great concerns I have is that the economic gap between the rich and the poor is widening in this country. If every American understood the “LAW OF ABUNDANCE”, and how to apply it to their own lives, we would all be better off in the future. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No, 51
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

CHILDREN AND FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE

At one time or another, can you remember hearing some parent say, "My kids think that money grows on trees?" If you have never heard this, loosely translated it means that some children think there is an unending supply of money and for whatever they think they need or want, their parents should have enough to buy it for them. When I was growing up, my parents were good, honest people, but we didn't have a lot of money. We certainly were not destitute and had plenty to eat, a warm place to live and decent clothes to wear, but beyond this, at times things were pretty "lean." To be honest, I guess the thing that has motivated me more than anything else is that I saw so many of the other kids in our small town who had so much more than I did.
One year during the summer, when I had just finished the seventh grade, I remember
chopping cotton for four ten-hour days, for $4.00 per day. When I got paid 16 crisp one-dollar bills, I thought I was rich! Of course, in some circles today that $16.00 won't even buy a good steak. This experience helped to shape my values and I truly believe the only way to appreciate the value of money is to earn it. When a young person earns their money by the sweat of their brow they not only know its value, the chances are much better that they will spend it wisely and may even save part of it.
What I'm saying that may be of interest to you, especially if you have children or grandchildren you are rearing, is that most of our financial habits are learned while we are young. Trying to teach a 16 year old youngster financial responsibility is a little late. It's not impossible, but it's much easier when they are younger. To my way of thinking, one of the greatest problems we have in America today is parents who give their children too much money and material things without them having to earn it. Just think of all the divorces that come about because one or both of the marriage partners never learned the value of money or how to manage it.
Please consider this true story and how you might be able to use it to help someone you love. It seems a father had an eleven year old son who always wanted to borrow money, in addition to what he was being paid for doing assigned chores and odd jobs. So the father said, "What will you give me as collateral on a $35.00 loan?" At this point the father explained what the word "collateral" meant and the son said he had a skateboard and a stereo set that he would give him to keep until the loan was repaid. Over the coming weeks a few payments were made on time, then one day he missed a payment, so the father sold his skateboard. Later when the son missed another payment, the father sold his stereo set. Quite naturally this made the son very unhappy, but the father reported that this son never asked to borrow money again. You may think this was cruel, but just try to keep in mind that quite often the best lessons in life are learned the hard way. I say this because here is the rest of the story. Ten years later this same son said, "Dad, there is just no way you will ever know how much I appreciate what you have done for me in regards to managing my finances."
When we have lots of money, it's the easiest thing on earth to give, because there are few who will refuse it. From my heart to yours, if you really want to do something special for your children and grandchildren that has lasting value, teach them to work, save and invest a percentage of their money. Few are they that learn this, but it’s a great lesson. (EDITORS NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 27
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
ATTITUDE AND THE SELF-IMAGE

Have you ever wondered why some people have a negative, pessimistic attitude about most things while others are generally positive and up-beat? Based on many years of work in the field of human resources, it's my personal belief that the answer to this dilemma, while very simple, is not understood by the majority of people. Since these individuals don't really understand it, they don't know how to go about changing a negative attitude to a positive attitude, and in the process, living a happier, more productive and successful life.
=The reason one person is positive and up-beat while another is negative and pessimistic, is because our overall attitude and our outlook on life is a reflection of our self-image. In other words, what's "taking place" on the inside shows up on the outside. Because this discovery was made in the past 50 years, many people did not learn about it in school or later in life, as they moved out into the world.
Almost by chance, a plastic surgeon, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, discovered the concept of self-image and later wrote about it in his book, titled Psychocybernetics, which has sold in excess of fifteen million copies. As Dr. Maltz worked with his patients to change their physical appearances with the aid of plastic surgery, he began to notice a definite, marked change in their attitude and their willingness to tackle jobs and assume risks that would have been considered impossible before.
Further research revealed that an outward physical change was also accompanied by an inner emotional change. Thus the conclusion was reached: the self-image is the mental picture we hold of ourselves and this mental picture relates to both the "outer" and "inner" person and it literally controls our lives. In fact the discovery of the self-image has been called the most important psychological discovery of the twentieth century. When an individual holds a positive picture of himself, he performs better than when he holds a negative picture. In a very real sense, a ‘winner’ feeds on his or her success.
The real meat of the coconut can be found in this statement: The human nervous system cannot distinguish between actual true life experiences from those imagined in vivid detail in the mind. In other words, we must see ourselves as successful and begin to act this way before it will ever come to pass. There is however, a real pitfall that we must take steps to avoid. In recent years many schools have developed courses to help students develop a healthy self-image. While the intent is great, many times the methods have been found wanting. It takes more than telling a student or any human being that he or she is a good person with real value because a healthy self-image is not based merely on words but on solid achievement. Our subconscious mind can tell the difference between praise and performance. To say it another way, nothing truly worthwhile is ever easy.
Since our rewards in life are determined by the quality and quantity of service we provide to others, it's important to understand that our value to society is determined by what we make of ourselves. We can change our life for the better by changing our self-image, which is simply the way we see ourselves, both physically and emotionally, that is to say, from both the outside and the inside. It also becomes easier to help other people when we understand the reasons behind their negative attitudes. It’s a wonderful thing to help a person change his or her self-image and begin to see the winner God created them to be. In reality, the more we help others, the more we help ourselves. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

The next column password is: Caleb

No. 57

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE HAPPY LOSER

One day a few weeks ago I came from a Lion's Club meeting and got the shock of my life. My wife informed me that she had just returned from a trip to the liquor store. There were two primary reasons why I was so shocked. First, we live in a dry county and the nearest liquor store is in Palarm, about 15 miles away on the Faulkner-Pulaski County line. Next, I teach a couples Sunday School class and needless to say, for my wife to be seen going in or coming out of a liquor store would raise a few eyebrows and not be a good witness for the Lord.

However, I will give her credit. She took great precaution and planned it out very carefully. She didn't have much pocket money so she went to the bank to get cash so she wouldn't have to give the liquor store a check. She also took the back way in the hopes that no one would see her van, that has a paint job that sticks out like a sore thumb and everyone we know can spot a mile away.

At this point she told me the rest of the story. Because of some problems that she has been having with her arm, medical diagnosis has revealed that she might have a slight case of arthritis. One of her friends told her that Paul Harvey had been touting a concoction of gin and white raisins as something that could help to relieve the pain. Not to leave you hanging, you mix a pint of gin with a box of white raisins and then stir it once a day for 9 days. When this process is complete, you eat 10 raisins each day until they are all gone.

Because of the conversation we were both laughing and it reminded me of the fellow who had a race horse. At least he thought it was a race horse. However, when he got his horse out and ran him around the track, he would just barely get out of a slow lope. He did so want his horse to run in a race but he knew he could not win. Then he remembered reading somewhere that you could dope up a race horse and he would run one last dying race. He would really move out. At this point he got to thinking about what kind of dope to use. He finally decided to use a little "white lighting", which is to say a little moonshine whiskey. It really took some doing but he finally poured about half a gallon down his horse's throat.

About a week later he was telling a friend about the race. He said, "I wish you could have been there to see my horse run. They shot the gun and he bolted out of the gate, his tail was sticking straight out, his ears were back and when he came around the final turn dust was flying and rocks were breaking out windshields. This fella said, "well, did your horse win?" This man said, "No-o-o, my horse didn't win, but he's the happiest loser you ever saw."

In a way this story kind of applies to my wife. We can't tell whether or not the gin spiked raisins are helping her arthritis, but I can tell you this for sure, she is happier than she has ever been. Not long after this experience, I told this story at a Chamber Of Commerce banquet and a lady said to me after the meeting, "I don't know if you were watching my husband or not, but he was laughing so hard that he almost fell out of his chair."

In the Bible we read in Proverbs 17:22 "A joyful heart is good medicine. But a broken spirit dries up the bones." In my opinion, we all need to have a good laugh from time to time and to have fun and really enjoy life. I hope you are not like the lady who came up to me after another speaking engagement and said, "I want you to know, while you were telling some of those stories, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing." (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, Arkansas 72034)

No. 59
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE OPTIMIST CREED

Sometime back I was asked to be the speaker for an "ol' timer's" breakfast at an Optimist District Convention that was held in Texarkana, Texas. In case you are not familiar with the Optimists, they are a service organization with over 4,000 clubs in the United States, Canada and a small number in Europe. The motto of Optimist International is "Friend of Youth." These men and women do a great job of working with young people in the various communities where one or more of their clubs are located.
It was a fun time, with lots of good, clean humor and at the conclusion of my presentation, they presented me with a framed copy of the Optimist Creed that they recite at each of their meetings. This creed contains such a timely and profound message that I asked if it were possible to share it with you in this column. Permission was granted, so here it is: PROMISE YOURSELF: "To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best. To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble."
After you finish reading this column and some time has passed, if you will go back and reread the Optimist Creed and really think about what it says, I believe you will find a great deal of encouragement for your life. To my way of thinking, in today's times we have far too many people who are cynical and pessimistic and not optimistic about the future and their own chances for success and happiness. While doing research for this column, however, I came across a quotation about "Optimism", by Georges Bernanos, that really made me stop and think. Based on the tone of what I've been saying, this will seem out of place, but he said, "Nine times out of ten, optimism is a sly form of selfishness, a method of isolating oneself from the unhappiness of others."
This is just one man's view and it's certainly no reflection on the fine men and women of Optimist International and the good work they do, and I don't want to say or imply anything that sounds like it. I couldn't find anything at all about Georges Bernanos, but what I think he was saying is that if we are not careful, while we are optimistic and looking on the "sunny side of everything," we fail to see many hurting people and the unpleasant side of life that is all around us.
Certainly it's an individual thing and in most cases, what happens to us during the course of our lives is not nearly as important as how we react to it. It has been said that in most cases, life is a self-fulfilling prophecy, as more times than not, we will get what we expect. The wonderful thing to always keep in mind is that we do have a choice and if we begin each day with hope and optimism, expecting good things to happen, in most cases it will turn out that way. I don’t know about you but my glass is “half-full” if you know what I mean. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 61
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE PREACHER’S NEW SERMON

Former President Thomas Jefferson once said, "Farmers are the chosen people of God." Over the years I've come to have a deep respect for our nation's farmers. They have come a long way since Jefferson spoke those words and today, they not only produce the fruits, vegetables, meat and other foodstuffs we need, but they also help to feed millions of people all over the world. Sometime back I heard the following story about a farmer and a preacher that contains a message every American should stop to consider.
One Saturday morning a preacher was riding down a country road and he came to the most beautiful farm he had ever seen. The house had just been painted, the grass was freshly mowed and a beautiful row of flowers lined the driveway. The barns, fences and fields were in the same condition. They were immaculate. As he drove on, the preacher saw the farmer out on his tractor plowing and he was so impressed that he stopped his car and waited for him to get down near the end of the row. At this point, he hailed him and when the farmer came over he said, "My good man, God has certainly blessed you with a beautiful farm." The farmer backed up, thought for a moment and then said, "Yes, He has, and I'm grateful, but you should have seen this place when God had it all by Himself."
They chit chatted for a while but on his way back to town, the preacher began to think about what the farmer had said, and then he had his sermon for the next day. You see, he began to realize that all the farmers up and down that road had bought or inherited the same type of land, but here was an example of where one farmer had made something great out of his. The message here for each of us should be obvious. If you will take a moment and think about it, in this sense you are given the same land, too. You were given a marvelous human mind, a body and opportunity in what could be called the greatest farm in the world: The United States of America! Unless there are limitations and circumstances beyond your control, if you have not already done so, you too can make something great out of your life. Even in these days of high taxes, government regulations and the ever present threat of inflation, the United States still has great opportunities for most of us. However, I'm convinced that most people never see or take advantage of them because they are preconditioned by those around them.
Unfortunately, too many people see themselves as destined to fail, because they were born poor, born with the 'wrong' color skin, born on the wrong side of the tracks, never had a chance to get a good education or any number of other reasons, which in reality are only excuses. While this may sound strange, I believe the people in this country who are at the greatest disadvantage are those who were born rich. To illustrate what I'm saying, sometime when it's convenient, go into a forest and notice the giant trees that almost blot out the sun. When you see a small tree in their midst, notice how it has to struggle to survive. It has to fight for moisture, because roots of the big trees are deeper. It gets very little sunlight, because it is overshadowed and it is sheltered from the wind, which has already made the big trees strong.
While it may not be obvious, human beings are much the same way. When we have been taught character values and have to earn our own fortune by the sweat of our brow , the chances are much better that we will keep it and appreciate its value. Over the coming weeks and months, I hope you will think about the preacher and the farmer and how the message it contains could help you. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 63
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
TEN CAUSES OF "BURNOUT"

Every once in a while, I have a friend or hear about someone who has been working 16 hours a day, 7 days a week, and this has been going on for months! Because of my own personal experience, I feel very sad for this person, because I know if things do not change they are headed for some very serious problems. Someone once said, "You can burn the candle at both ends and it does produce a brilliant flame, but it sure is hard on the candle." While I began this column with an extreme example, there are many other people in our society today who are under a tremendous amount of stress and without their being aware of it, they may be headed for the modern day phenomenon known as "burnout."
When it comes to our job or career, "burnout" is a relatively new term, and if you will stop and think about it, it came along about the time jet airplanes began to criss-cross the skies. It seems as though our tendency to get burned out is directly related to our penchant for speed. This is quite natural when we stop and think about it. For example, when does a car overheat and blow up? When it's barely moving? Of course not. The dad-burned contraption blows up after it has been running 100 miles an hour for several hours.
But back to the subject of burnout. Please understand, there is a big difference between a person being physically tired and able to rest for a few days, then going back to work, and the person who feels a lot of stress and pressure and it just won't go away. As it relates to this, I heard a humorous story a while back about this school teacher named Maxine, who went to her principal and said, "I've had it up to here. I'm stressed out, the other teachers don't like me, I can't get the kids to mind and I'm just burned out!" The principal said, "Maxine, before you can be burned out, first you have to be lit."
Sometime back, Small Business America, a newsletter of The National Association for the Self-employed, listed 10 causes of burnout. If you have any inclination that you may be headed for burnout, if you are not already there, you may want to think seriously about these causes to see if one or more relate to you. Ten Causes Of Burnout:
1) Do you feel yourself under pressure to succeed all the time? 2) Do you need to generate excitement again and again to keep from feeling bored? 3) Is one area of your life disproportionately important to you? 4) Do you feel a lack of intimacy with the people around you? 5) Are you unable to relax? 6) Are you inflexible, once you have taken a stand on something? 7) Do you identify so closely with your activities that if they fall apart, you do, too? 8) Are you always worried about preserving your image? 9) Are you taking yourself too seriously? 10) Are your goals unclear, shifting back and fourth between long-range and immediate?
Well, how about it? Did you see yourself in any of these 10 causes of burnout? I sure did -- several times! A few years ago, I discovered that I was headed for burnout and I've been able to back the throttle off just a little bit. Having triple by-pass heart surgery will do it every time! What we need to do is slow down and take time to enjoy life because we are not going to get out alive anyway. This reminds me of the fellow who went to the Doctor and asked him the secret of long life. The Doctor said to put a little gun powder on his oatmeal or cereal each morning and that should help. Well, he took his advice and it worked. He lived to be 93 and outlived 3 wives. They said when he died he left behind 8 kids, 13 grandkids, 26 great grandkids and a 9 foot hole in the crematory wall. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 65
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
A SPECIAL BIRTHDAY REQUEST

It has been said that "A birthday is a big event in everybody's life -- it should be a holiday -- with pay." This sounds like a great idea, except for those of us who are self-employed. In this case, we would have to pay ourselves. While I enjoy the cards, phone calls, gifts and usually a birthday dinner, it's really a special day for my wife. Viola is a lovely and caring person and on her birthday she has many friends who call and take her out to brunch and dinner, as well as express their love in a variety of ways.
It seems the older we get the more special our birthdays become. If you are getting along in years, too, you may appreciate this story about a 90 year old man. When someone asked him how he felt when he woke up in the morning, he said, "surprised!" Isn't it wonderful what technology has done for people all over the world? We are living longer and enjoying it more. Aside from this personal reference about our birthdays and a little levity, I'd like to redirect our focus to a wonderful little story that contains some principles that could help any of us.
This is a story about a small crippled boy who was very hunched-back. When asked by his father what he wanted most of all for his birthday, he said he wanted a life-sized statue in the likeness of himself, except tall and straight and he wanted it placed right outside his window. The father complied with his request and each day, the young lad would stand and strain, looking up, admiring the likeness of what he longed to be. On his 21st birthday, he walked out in the yard and without having to strain, he looked the statue right straight in the eye.
If you will think about this story for a moment, I believe you will see some principles here that can help any of us who have a desire to improve ourselves in some way. First, this youngster, to some degree, was handicapped. He was crippled and he was hunched-back. Now, no one likes to endure pain and many handicapped people also have to overcome stereotyping, which simply means they have been looked down on, thought inferior and many people are embarrassed to be around a handicapped person, much less be willing to give them a job. While the overall treatment of the handicapped and providing greater opportunities for them is a topic for another column, I'm proud that we have made a great deal of progress in this country over the past several years.
But back to the story of the young lad who for years had been admiring the likeness of what he longed to be: Isn't this also true for us? Don't we need to see ourselves as the person we can become, rather than the person we are? In reality, this is the secret of all achievement. When we know who we are, where we want to go and then develop a plan to get there, it’s just a matter of time until we succeed. The key word in this whole story is “longed” which is just another word for desire. You show me a ‘winner’ in any field of endeavor and I will show you a person who had a deep down longing or desire to achieve it.
We also need good models around us -- people we can look up to, admire and pattern our lives after. While it's my personal opinion which you may or may not share, I believe one of the real problems we have in America today is that we don't have enough good role models. In the case of this young lad, the role model was his father, which is exactly as it should be. When it comes to being a good role model, what’s important to realize is that many great opportunities are available to you and me. Let’s make the most of these opportunities when we have the chance. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 67
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
ALONG THE MARGINAL WAY

If you'll come along, I would like to invite you to take a wonderful trip that literally produced enough memories to last me a lifetime. Early one Saturday morning, this past October, my wife, Viola and I, along with our good friends, Fay and Deveryl Smith, boarded a Delta flight bound for Hartford, Connecticut. For me this was the fulfillment of a long awaited goal to visit the New England states during the peak foliage season. We were met at the Hartford/Springfield Airport by some precious people, Charles and Hope Rice, who live at nearby Enfield and they were our unofficial hosts while we were in the area. Deveryl and Hope had been childhood friends back in Arkansas and they have maintained their friendship over the years. It was super nice to have these dear people to greet and dine us and then send us on our way the next morning, in our rental station wagon.
We had already decided to take the back roads without any itinerary and see all the sights at a very leisurely pace. Each of the five states we visited was different and the whole New England area was just beautiful, with the mountains ablaze with color! It is impossible to share all the highlights in this column, but for me the greatest blessing of all came from something that was totally unexpected. Near the end of the following week we spent the night at York Beach, Maine, and the next morning during a phone conversation, Hope told Deveryl to be sure and see "The Marginal Way" at Ogunquit, which was only a few miles away.
None of us knew what to expect and when we arrived, we were not overly impressed, as it turned out to be just a one mile paved walking trail. The trail, called "The Marginal Way", begins at Perkins Cove, where a lot of gift shops and restaurants and a charter boat service is located. The air that morning was a little chilly, so the girls said they had rather visit the gift shops and would be along in a while, so Fay and I went across the parking lot to start our journey up the trail. Almost from the beginning, it rises in elevation as it curves and winds its way through the scrub brush up to the top of the cliffs, where you can see and hear the ocean waves as they crash onto the jagged rocks over 100 feet below. It only took a few minutes for both of us to realize that our initial reaction was wrong and that we were experiencing something very special.
As we walked along, drinking in the majestic view, we began to notice the trash cans that were 300-400 yards apart and had been painted a dark green color. Further observation revealed that each can contained a single word printed with white script lettering which made it stand out against the dark background. The first can we noticed had the word "compassion", the next "forgiveness", the next "sympathy", followed by "generosity" and "thoughtfulness". Fay and I had no idea who had done this or why it was done, but it sure made us stop and think.
We both agreed that along "The Marginal Way" you could feel the presence of God and you could also see some of His very best handiwork. When you add to this the human qualities of forgiveness, compassion, sympathy, generosity and thoughtfulness, there is no reason why any person should not stop and count their blessings. We surely did. A few minutes later, we were joined by the girls who had made quite a contribution to Maine's economy and we did our best to share with them what we had experienced. It turned out they had felt it too, and we just praised the Lord together for the privilege of being there. Yes ! The Architect of the universe has certainly built a wonderful place for us to live! (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 69
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
"SELF-TALK"

My wife and I have a wonderful relationship, but every once in a while when she is deep in thought, I come up on her blind side and when I say something or make a noise, she almost "jumps out of her skin." This is always followed by, "Don't do that!", along with some other stern admonishments, especially if she thinks I did it on purpose.
Because of the way the human mind is constituted, we all spend some time each day in deep thought, and we also spend a great deal of this time talking to ourselves. I don't know about you, but I spend a great deal of time talking to myself, "out loud", especially when I am alone. This self-talk may be more important than many people realize and this is what I want to talk with you about. In his wonderful little book, Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill talks about "repeated affirmations" of one's chief aim in life. This is simply the process of self-talk being used to systematically reinforce a purpose or a goal into the recesses of our subconscious mind.
In terms of achieving personal success, the problem for most people is that they don't have any specific, written goals. Because they have no goals, their thinking is not focused or directed to achieving anything that is truly worthwhile. We live in a negative world, where the news of the day is constantly negative, and for this reason it's much easier to think negative than it is to think positive. It's just common sense to realize that if our thinking is negative, then our self-talk will also be negative.
One of the best examples of negative self-talk that I've ever heard, can be found in the following story: Late one night, before most people had a telephone, a young man and his girl friend were driving down a lonely, deserted gravel road and they had a flat tire (really!) When the young man got out and opened the trunk to change it, he discovered he didn't have a jack. At this point, they both realized the dilemma they were in, because they had passed just one house and it was about a mile back up the road. After some discussion, it was decided the best thing to do was for the young man to walk back to the house to see if he could get help or at least borrow a jack.
As he walked along, he began to talk to himself. At first, he was very hopeful about his prospects to get help, but then his thoughts began to turn negative. As he continued to walk and the closer he got to the house, the more negative he became. Soon he was completely overcome by his negative thinking and he said to himself, "this fella is probably going to be mad when I wake him up and he sure won't be willing to help someone like me who is too stupid to make sure he has a jack in the car." By the time he reached the house and knocked on the door, he was so upset that when the man finally opened the door, he yelled, "you can keep your old jack! I didn't want to borrow it anyway."
The moral of this story should be obvious: This young man had already defeated himself mentally before he even had a chance to succeed. If you will think about what I said earlier about "repeated affirmations" of your purpose or your goals in life, I believe you will see how your own positive self-talk can help you achieve even greater success and happiness in your life. If you would like to know what works for me, I will be happy to share it with you. I spend a good deal of time talking to myself about my own plans and goals, and especially during the day when I'm working to reach them, but I also spend some quality time early each morning talking to the Lord. When my priorities are right, my “self-talk” makes life so much easier. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 71
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BURNING THE AMERICAN FLAG

Several weeks ago I received a telephone call from a man by the name of Ron Spradlin who lives here in our community. He had called to tell me how much he was enjoying this column and in the course of our conversation, he shared a very touching and heart warming experience involving the American flag. It seems his son, Daniel, had retrieved a badly soiled and tattered flag from a trash heap where someone had thrown it away. That same afternoon, as Ron was looking out through the back screen door, he saw something that brought tears to his eyes: Daniel was in the process of disposing of this tattered old flag in the proper way.
Ron was so moved by this experience that he wrote the following tribute, titled The Day My Son Burned The American Flag: "Some have cried and cursed those who burn the American flag and would have condemned the culprit to an impersonal body bag. Is it really so important as our wounded and dying fathers say? Well, I watched as my son burned it just the other day. Just a filthy piece of cloth, never again to fly and wave in the air. Without the sun and light, with no respect and without care. Yes, my son burned the flag which he retrieved that day, all torn, tattered and stained with clay. With scissors he trimmed the fray and removed the clinging trash. He smoothed the banner bright and pulled together a gaping gash. He folded Old Glory to a military tuck, then made of sticks a supporting tripod, now a flaming benediction for this ensign, one nation under God. From the back porch I watched smoke curl from that burning rag, folded to a perfect pack, my son burning the American flag. He stood respectfully saluting and adding character to his stately manner. Grasping a harmonica in his left hand, softly played The Star Spangled Banner. I stood so very still, could speak nary a word, a lump in my throat, emotions within me stirred. He has properly learned to dispose of a used-up flag, no doubt. Yes, we are the happy parents of an honorable Eagle Scout."
What you have just read was a tribute written by Ronald Spradlin to honor his son, Daniel, for achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. In relation to this, there are many things that could be said, but here are a couple that should be obvious. When our children are young, we should do our best to teach them to love, respect and honor our country. As parents, we just cannot assume that someone else is going to do this later on. I don't know how you feel, but I get very distressed when I see someone not showing the proper respect for or misusing our flag as a symbol of protest.
The American flag, which we often refer to as "Old Glory" symbolizes the very essence of what our country stands for. She represents millions of men and women who have fought on countless battlefields through the years, giving their lives and their all, to win our freedom and then to insure that our nation has remained free. I'm proud to say that I'm a past president of the Lions Club here in our community and we pledge allegiance to our flag at each of our weekly meetings. Make no mistake, our flag is very important and when it comes to disposing of a used-up flag, there is a wrong way to do it, but there is also a right way. Thanks, Ron, for sharing this with us in such a moving and stirring way and for teaching your children to honor and respect our great nation. It's my hope and my prayer that each person who reads this column will think seriously about what the American flag means to them. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 73
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE GOOD OL' DAYS

Every so often in a conversation with some of my friends, we get to talking about
the "good ol' days." When the conversation shifts to me and it's my turn to talk, I usually mention the days when you could buy a coca cola for a nickel, you didn't have to lock your doors at night, you never had to take the keys out of the car and a family could make it on one salary. While we have a lot of things going for us now that we didn't have back then, the "good ol' days" for me were back in the 1950s when I was in high school. My parents were good, honest, hard working people and this was a carefree time for me. Since I was not married, had no house payment, no car payment and no April 15th to worry about because I had not yet taken on the responsibilities of being an adult.
If you have been around for any length of time, you can probably think back to some of your "good ol' days". On the other hand, these may be your "good ol' days", as you may never have had things any better in your life than you do right now. One of the things that determines our "good ol' days" is the satisfaction we experience from our job or career, and this is the reason I wanted to share something that I found in my files recently. What
I discovered was a list of office work rules that were issued in 1852 and found a few years ago in the ruins of an old factory in Scotland. As you read these rules, if you will think about your job or career, past or present, I believe you will appreciate your "good ol' days" even more.
All employees must abide by the following regulations: 1) This firm has reduced the hours of work and the staff will now only have to be present between the hours of 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.. 2) Daily prayers will be held each morning in the main office. The staff will
be present. 3) Clothing must be of a sober nature. The clerical staff will not disport themselves in raiment of bright colors. 4) No member of the staff may leave the room without permission from Mr. Rogers. The "calls of nature" are permitted and the clerical staff may use the garden below the second gate. This area must be kept in good order. 5) No talking is allowed during business hours. 6) The cravings of tobacco, wines and spirits is a human weakness and as such, is forbidden to all members of the clerical staff. 7) Now that the hours of business have been drastically reduced, the partaking of food is allowed between 11:30 a.m. and noon, but work will not on any account cease. The owners recognize the generosity of the new labor laws, but will expect a great rise in output of work in compensation for these near "Utopian" conditions.
After reading these office work rules that were adopted in another country back in 1852, I believe we can all agree that during these times working conditions in our country also, left a lot to be desired. With our marvelous free enterprise system and the freedoms we enjoy in America today, it would be virtually impossible to foist anything close to this on any segment of the American labor force. In thinking about this, the one point that I do not wish to be lost or overlooked here is that while these conditions were terrible, they were probably much better than workers a century earlier had to endure.
As a citizen of the greatest nation on earth, as you think about your "good old' days", I want to remind you that everything we have today came about as a result of someone else's sacrifices and it was bought with a price. There must be a balance if we are to continue to prosper. We can have things too hard, but we can also have them much too easy. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 75
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE POWER OF INFLATION

There is an old Welsh proverb that goes, "money is an eel in the hand." In other words, it's so slippery that it's impossible for most of us to hold on to it. Back in the 1992 presidential election, the phrase "it's the economy, stupid" not only helped the democrats win the White House, but it also summarized in one simple phrase what is most important to the American people. There is a lot of truth in the saying, "if you really want to get someone's attention, hit them in the pocketbook."
In these modern times, there is no doubt about it, money is very important and there is a factor that we know as "inflation" that determines the value of our money and how much it will purchase. You know about inflation, don't you? Inflation is that $100 that you had 20 years ago that would go a long way, and now you won't have much change left if you take your spouse out to dinner some evening.
Several months ago I received a report from my congressman that contained a full page article about inflation. Even before it reached my mail box it was out of date, because as you probably know, the consumer price index is tabulated on a monthly basis and the inflation rate changes. There are a number of factors that determine the inflation rate, but it is controlled, for the most part, by the Federal Reserve Board when they raise and lower interest rates.
We all know that inflation means higher prices, but here is an example to show how inflation affects you and your family. Back in 1980 the inflation rate was 12.4% and in 1983 it was 2.5%, a difference of roughly 10%. This means that a family of four with an income of $24,000 is ahead by $2,440.00 with the lower inflation rate of 2.5%, as opposed to 12.4%. What I really want to get across to you is this: a lot of people and a lot of politicians would have us believe that inflation is "just a way of life" and that we can live with moderate inflation. What this does is give them room to operate.
What we constantly need to be reminded of is that every 1% increase in inflation increases taxes by 1 1/2%. The people in our country that inflation hurts most are those on a fixed income and those in minimum wage jobs. They have to pay the same prices at the grocery store that the rest of us do. If our annual income is increasing more than the rate of inflation, then we are not affected too adversely, except for the tax factor. Keep in mind that politicians can give themselves a raise, but most of us can't do that.
The article I mentioned earlier contained a graph showing the explosive power of inflation. Let me show you what inflation does to items worth $100 over a period of 50 years, and remember, this is your $100 I'm talking about. Items costing $100 at 2% inflation in 50 years would cost $269. Items costing $100 at 4% inflation in 50 years would cost $711. Items costing $100 at 6% inflation in 50 years would cost $1,841. Items costing $100 at 8% inflation in 50 years would cost $11,739. Now, it should be easy to see why a politician would want us to believe that from 4%-6% inflation is acceptable. This would give them room to operate, but I'm not sure about the rest of us -- especially our kids and grandkids.
It may appear that I'm down on politicians, which is not the case. Only those who are greedy and self-serving. Let me say how very much I appreciate those men and women who serve in elected office, who care about America and make decisions based on what is best for our country. In the months and years to come, we must pay off the national debt and get back on solid ground. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 77
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHAT'S YOUR WORTH?

If you have ever struggled with your self-esteem, your identity as a person and your value to yourself and others, I believe you will be interested in what I have to share. Because I have been so blessed with loving parents, great teachers, pastors and others through the years, who have helped me to truly understand my own self-worth and value as a human being, I count it among my greatest blessings to, in turn, help others realize just how special they really are.
Make no mistake!! What I'm talking about here is a real sales job! If you don't like yourself as a person, don't feel like you have much value as a human being and don't have much self-confidence, then I'm going to do my dead level best to help you to change that. First, let's understand that you are indeed "unique" as a human being, as science has proven that of all the six plus billion people in the world today, no other person is just like you. Your finger prints, voice print, DNA and other forensic tests prove this is true. Yes, you are special, whether you believe it or not.
Next, according to the Bible, in Genesis 1:27, you were created in the image of God. When you can understand and believe that you were created in the image of an all loving, all wise and all powerful God, and that he loved you enough to send His only Son to die for you, you will view yourself and others in a way that you have never viewed them before. While there are those who will disagree with what I've said, listen to these words by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower: "It takes no brains to be an atheist. Any stupid person can deny the existence of a supernatural power, because man's physical senses cannot detect it, but there cannot be ignored the influence of conscience, the respect we feel for moral law, the mystery of first life on what must have been a molten mass, or the marvelous order in which the universe moves us about on this earth. All of this evidence is the handiwork of a beneficent deity. For my part, that deity is the God of the Bible and of Christ, His Son."
Please understand that your worth to God is already assured. You count and you matter to Him. It's wonderful if you were fortunate enough to have loving parents, but if you weren't or don't, they will be held accountable and the same is true or all other members of your family. As the saying goes, "You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your kinfolks." Now it comes down to your worth to yourself, to others and to society. At this point, it's up to you to take the ball and run with it.
To demonstrate what I mean, I want to share something titled, What's Your Worth? Think about this for a moment: "A small bar of iron is worth about $5.00 to start with, but made into horse shoes, this same bar is worth about $10.50; made into screw drivers, it may be worth about $250.00; made into needles, this same bar of iron could be worth about $3,250.00; while made into balance springs for watches, its worth could go up to $250,000." This same thing is true for another kind of material -- Y-O-U. Your value is determined by what you make of yourself.
When you know and understand who you are and truly believe that you are very, very special, you will have that "inner peace" that will help you deal with the negative things that come along. You will have a feeling of genuine self-respect which is to be mentally faithful to yourself. When you can do that, you are on your way to a much happier and richer life. The great news is, IT'S SELDOM TOO LATE TO START ! (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034)

No. 53
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
AMERICA'S MAJESTIC SYMBOL

Several years ago when I was working in the production department for a printing company, we used to have a saying: "The eagle has flown." This saying was heard mostly on Fridays, because this was payday and the day that checks were passed out. The eagle in this case was synonymous with money, because over the years the picture of this majestic bird has been printed on different denominations of our nation's currency.
Most people know that the American Bald Eagle is America's symbol, but there is a story behind this fact that may not be common knowledge. In the earliest days of our nation's history, our forefathers decided we needed a national bird that would be symbolic of the character and values of our people. In the beginning there was a great deal of sentiment for the wild turkey, because of its keen eyesight, elusive qualities and also the fact that it provided food and other benefits, especially in relation to the tradition of Thanksgiving.
The eagle won out for reasons I'll share a bit later, but this is probably the basis for the saying we have all heard: "You can soar with the eagles or roost with the turkeys." This is the reason many people began to refer to someone else as a "turkey." In relation to this, I want to share a true story that you may appreciate.
The former chairman of the board of a large bank in our state was a well known civic leader, wealthy and very aggressive, but small in size -- around 5'6" tall. Quite naturally, in a large organization with several hundred employees, it takes a while for people to get to know each other, especially new people who have just been hired. One day this chairman got off the elevator on a floor where you must have security clearance and a new security guard who thought she was just doing her job, hollered, "Hey, turkey, where are you going?" Unfortunately, what this lady didn't know is that this man was not a turkey. He was an eagle and she lost her job. As I said, this is a true story.
For thousands of years throughout the world, the eagle has been admired for its grandeur, its grace in flight, its great size and awesome power. It gets its name from the white head feathers that gives it the appearance of being bald. The soaring eagle in flight so captivated the imagination of our nation's forefathers, they adopted it as our national bird and it came to be a symbol of the true meaning of liberty.
Our national symbol, however, is much more than what "meets the eye." The eagle displays a sense of responsibility that is a companion of genuine liberty. He mates for life and returns to the same nest each year, making necessary repairs and additions. He takes an active role in providing for his family and teaching his young to fly. While this may appear to be redundant, it's far too important to miss. The reason the bald eagle is America's symbol is because he possesses many of those characteristics and qualities that has made America great and must be reinstilled in our society, if we are to preserve the freedom which God has so graciously entrusted to us.
We live in a day when symbols have almost become America’s stock in trade so the next time you see an American Bald Eagle, stop for a moment and think about what he represents: the United States Of America, the greatest nation on earth. In view of what I have shared, I want to leave you with this verse from the Bible: "Yet those who wait for the Lord, will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary." Isaiah 40:31 (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 55
Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN
THE ONE IN THE GLASS

Several years ago, my wife and I attended a communications seminar in Phoenix, Arizona. During this time we had the opportunity to get to know Cavett Robert, who was one of the founders of The National Speakers Association. Sitting around the dinner table at the Camelback Inn in nearby Scottsdale with Cavett and his wife, Trudie, he said something in regard to accepting responsibility for ourselves that I have never forgotten. He said, "When many people are born and their umbilical chord is cut, they spend the next 50 years trying to find a place to plug it back in."
While they would never state it in this way, today there are millions of people in our nation who believe it's their parents, the government or someone else's responsibility to provide for their needs and to take care of them. When it comes to legitimate needs, through no fault of their own there are millions of people who are mentally and physically handicapped and they cannot provide for themselves. These people need our help and it's our responsibility to take care of them, but there are millions of others who have a healthy mind and body who must learn or re-learn to accept responsibility for themselves.
Since the politicians in Washington have changed welfare "as we know it" many of the people who are being forced off welfare are having a hard time dealing with it. Rather than being down on these people, what most of us need to realize is that this kind of thinking goes back to the earliest days of their childhood and it's so deeply ingrained that it will take many years for them to change. The rest of us can provide positive encouragement to these people who are getting off welfare, and in doing so we are helping our country, as well. While it has to be on an individual case-by-case basis, when many of these people are trained and have a good paying job, they will see things differently and have a sense of pride and self-respect they have never known before.
Along these lines, I discovered a poem several years ago, titled The One In The Glass, that has been a blessing to me and I hope you will think about it as it relates to your life. The One In The Glass
"As you go through life in your struggle for self, and the world makes you King or Queen for a day, just go to a mirror and look at yourself and see what that person has to say. For it isn't your father or mother or spouse whose judgment upon you must pass, but the one whose verdict counts most in your life, is the one staring back in the glass. Some people may think you are a straight shootin' sort and call you a wonderful gal or guy, but the one in the glass says you're only a bum, if you can't look him straight in the eye. He or she is the one to please, never mind all the rest, for they are with you clear up to the end and you have passed your most dangerous, difficult task, if the one in the glass is your friend. You may fool the whole world down the pathway of life and get pats on the back as you pass, but your final reward will be heartaches and tears, if you have cheated the one in the glass." Author Unknown
If you have family or friends who could benefit from this poem, why not clip it out, make copies and share it with them. The United States of America is a great land and our economic and political systems are based on the merits of the individual. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “An individual is a bundle of possibilities and he is worth what life may get out of him before he is through.” It’s not what we get, it’s what we give that really counts. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 808

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE VALUE OF FAMILY LITERACY

If there is one thing I have learned in almost 20 years of writing columns, it is that what I have to say is just so many words on paper unless I can express my thoughts and ideas clearly, with conviction. It must also be of interest and have real benefits for the vast majority of my readers.
If you will tune me in and really think about what I have to share today, I believe you will agree that this one qualifies on all counts. As you may know, my real passion is literacy, especially helping children in disadvantaged or low-income homes learn to read at an early age. A member of our Conway Bookcase Project Committee, and a former teacher, told me recently that if a child is not reading at grade level by the third grade, the chances of this child later winding up in prison are very high.
As you may know, illiteracy affects every single person in our nation, either positively or negatively. No literate or highly successful person in our society is above having an illiterate school drop-out who can’t find a job, steal from or rob them, or even worse, take their life. And this is just one example of how we are all affected. To improve literacy and our schools, reading must begin in the home with what is often called Family Literacy. I have a favorite aunt who has taught fourth grade in one of our local elementary schools for almost four decades. Several years ago she shared a school newsletter that contained the following article.
FAMILY LITERACY: Family literacy is a powerful and innovative approach to education. It is a bridge that leads to a more literate future for American families. It is often said that reading can take us places that we have never been. We can soar as high as a bird, travel to an exotic land, sail upon the open sea, or become a hero or a villain, all within the pages of a book. There is no better way to connect, educate, and just have fun with children than to read to them. (Parents and grandparents are you listening?) Here are 10 ways to encourage children to read.
1. Share at least one book every day with your child. 2. Select a quiet, comfortable place to share a book with your child. 3. Children need to see reading as a fun thing to do if they are to become good readers. Make reading a family fun ritual. Allow for age and needs of your child. 4. Listen to your child and encourage his/her listening. 5. Think and talk about the stories that you read as you go about daily life.
6. It is OK, even good, to read the same story repeatedly to your child. Children love to hear books repeated many times. Let your child turn the pages, touch the book, explore. Be patient. 7. Children are never too young to read to! Babies respond to sound and language before they are born. 8. Even when children can read, they still need to be read to. 9. Take your child to the library. 10. Apply for a library card and use it regularly.
Here are a few closing comments to consider. In the age of technology where we now live, all the major companies are spending billions of dollars on advertising to entice a younger audience to buy all the latest gadgets, including cell phones. However, for a person to succeed in life, he must be able to read. This fact makes it even more critical for parents, and grandparents, to begin Family Literacy in the home. When I encounter people who are struggling, I also see the results of poor reading and communication skills. This is why reading must begin very early in life.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 811

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

IS YOUR STATE GOING BANKRUKPT?

We have become a nation of “Takers” not “Makers,” so says Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal. Sometime back a friend sent me an article written by Mr. Moore, dated April 11, 2011, in which he outlines in very vivid detail why many states in our nation are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. As a general rule, when any business or a government goes bankrupt, it means that expenses exceed income. If this situation continues for long enough, an organization of any kind is insolvent and has no other choice but to declare bankruptcy. It’s kind of like that fellow I heard about one time who was making it for $3 and selling it for $1, but they said he was making it up on volume.
From a practical standpoint, when a ship starts sinking, you know the first thing that happens, don’t you? The captain and crew begin to throw everything overboard that is not nailed down to lighten the load. This is what states that are on the verge of bankruptcy must also do, but it’s very painful. If you want to understand better why so many states – from New York to Wisconsin to California – are going bankrupt, consider this depressing statistic. Today in America, there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million). This is an almost exact reversal of the situation in 1960, when there were 15 million workers in manufacturing and 8.7 million collecting a paycheck from the government.
It gets worse. More Americans now work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. Here is the real rub and why we must reverse the trend if we are to survive. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local government is the $1 trillion-a-year tab to pay the benefits of state and local employees. Is it any wonder that so many states cannot pay their bills? In his article Mr. Moore gives a number of state-by-state examples, but it all adds up to the same thing, as already stated -- unless the trend is reversed we will not survive.
However, don’t expect a reversal of this trend any time soon. Surveys of college graduates are finding that more and more of our top minds want to work for the government. Why? Because in recent years only government agencies have been hiring, and because the offer of near lifetime security is highly valued in these times of economic turbulence. When 23-year-olds aren’t willing to take career risks, we have a real problem on our hands. Sadly, we could wind up a generation of Americans who want to work for the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The real question for me becomes, what are we going to do about it? While easier said than done, we must elect people to office who have business experience and understand our free-market economy, and create jobs that are attractive for our nation’s college graduates. We can also reduce the size of government and not have to lay off or fire anyone just by attrition. Just stop hiring people to work for the government and, in a few years, the ratio will come back into balance. There certainly was a day when the dream of most college graduates was to go into business for themselves and not seek a career in the government. My economic attitude has always been, “Give me opportunity and then get out of the way.” To be sure, there is security in the ship of state, but only if it’s not loaded too heavy.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 813

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BUY GOODS MADE IN AMERICA!

In case you have not noticed, America is in a trade war and has been for the past several years. We have a huge trade imbalance as we import far more goods from foreign countries than we sell or export. Of course, this varies from month to month, and year by year. Our biggest trading partner is China, as the American consumer has all but built their economy. Now there is an effort under way to do something practical about our trade situation, especially with this fast-developing superpower, and it’s simply to stop buying Chinese-made products and food, unless there is absolutely no other option. Because of some recent developments we, the American consumer, may be able to turn this around.
Sometime back, Diane Sawyer of ABC News conducted a study that was later reported on this major television network. Here was the basis for the study -- their team removed all items from a typical, middle-class family’s home that were not made in the USA. There was hardly anything left besides the kitchen sink. Literally. During this special report, they showed truckloads of items – USA made – that were brought in to replace these items and they also showed where to find these items and the difference in price, etc. It was interesting that Diane Sawyer said that if every American spent just $64 more than normal on USA-made items this year, it would create something like 200,000 new jobs.
Here is the bottom line. Would you spend an extra $64 each year at the grocery store if you thought it would create more jobs in America and do great things for our nation’s balance of trade? I would in a heartbeat! Again, from a practical standpoint, simply look at the bottom of every product you buy, and if it says, “made in China” or “PRC” (Peoples Republic of China) and that now also includes Hong Kong, just choose another product or none at all. If you will take what I am saying seriously and begin to do this, you will be amazed at how dependent you have become on Chinese products and you will be equally amazed at what you can do without.
For example, who needs plastic eggs to celebrate Easter? If you must have eggs, use real ones and help some American farmer. Easter is just one example. The point is this: Do not wait for the government to act. Just go ahead and assume control on your own. Think about this: If 200 million Americans refuse to buy just $20 each of Chinese goods, that’s a billion dollar trade imbalance resolved in our favor … fast. There is a downside: Some American businesses will feel a temporary pinch from having foreign stockpiles of inventory. I would not want that and I don’t think you would either.
What’s the solution? Let’s give them fair warning and send our own message. Most people who have become aware of this campaign, and are reading and thinking about it, will taper off over a period of time anyway. For me, and perhaps you as well, this comes down to a matter of freedom. We all cherish our God-given right to open, honest and free elections but actually we vote each time we open our wallets or swipe a credit card. When enough American consumers decide we have had enough, and vote with our purchases, there will be changes made in our economy.
The greatest change of all is that more Americans will be working instead of drawing unemployment. If you have some good ideas, share them with me. I will be happy to pass them along in a future column.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 815

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

FAILURE: DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL!

Have you ever heard of a prolific author by the name of Joey Green? To be honest, I had never heard of him until my friend Coach Dale Brown sent me some excerpts from one of his books titled “Famous Failures.”
With a little investigation, I learned that Joey Green was born in Miami, Fla., on May 26, 1958. He graduated with a BFA from Cornell University in 1980, where he founded the humor publication, The Cornell Lunatic, and had many literary honors. At this point in time, Joey Green has written more than 40 books, has been a guest on numerous television talk shows and has written numerous television commercials.
Coach Brown and I have a wonderful relationship because we have a common bond -- we both want to encourage others to be the best they can be. The book “Famous Failures” lists a plethora of well-known individuals in a wide variety of fields who were told by others that they would never make it, and later went on to become a household name because of their outstanding success. This brings me to a very important point. You and I have the final vote. No one, I repeat, no one, can tell us that we can’t succeed but ourselves. Failure is just a normal part of life and, when we don’t take it personally, we can get back up, dust ourselves off and get back in the game.
Most, or all, of the following names of people who achieved outstanding success will probably be well known to you, but maybe there is a story behind the story that will be both interesting and revealing. The most important thing in the life of each individual is that they did not quit when another person in authority sold them short.
Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, but was later named the greatest athlete of the 20th Century by ESPN. Marilyn Monroe was dropped in 1947 by 20th Century Fox after one year under contract because production Chief Darryl Zanuck thought she was unattractive.
The famous children’s author Dr. Seuss’s first book was rejected by 27 publishers, and Seuss considered burning the manuscript. The book that was eventually published sold six million copies. Barbara Streisand’s Broadway debut opened and closed on the same night. Humphrey Bogart was fired from a job reading radio playlets for laxatives. He then earned a living playing chess for 50 cents a round.
Walt Disney’s first cartoon production company went bankrupt. The Beatles were rejected in 1962 by Decca, Pye, Phillips, Columbia and HMV labels. And here is a shocker, Elvis Presley’s music teacher at L.C. Humes High School in Memphis gave him a “C” and told him he couldn’t sing.
In Joey Green’s book “Famous Failures,” the list is almost endless, but without the specifics here are other well-known names of individuals who failed one or more times before they achieved great notoriety: Lucille Ball, John F. Kennedy, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Mick Jagger, Gen. Douglas McArthur, Albert Einstein, Wilma Rudolph, R.H. Macy, Henry Ford, Randy Travis, Rudyard Kipling and best-selling author John Grisham, whose first novel was rejected by 16 agents and a dozen publishers.
What this says to me is these people had more than talent and ability. They also had true grit and determination. A final question: Are you as successful as you would like to be?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 817

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

DO UNIONS HAVE TOO MUCH POWER?

A few years ago I bought a new set of tires for our 2003 Honda Element, an automobile that has served us well. A new set of tires just gives you that hug-the-road feeling and you, at least, feel safer. Then over the past few weeks I began to notice a vibration on the front end and I knew from past experience that it was time to rotate and balance the tires. This past week I got around to doing that and, presto, the problem was solved for a while.
You know, having the proper balance is the key to lot of things running better and smoother, including our lives. This concept also includes our nation’s economy, which has been terribly out of balance for a long time. In this context it is important to understand that it only took a few months of highway tread wear for my tires to get out of balance, while it’s taken several decades for our economy to get out of balance.
There are many different reasons for the dilemma we face: Corrupt politicians, a massive national debt, high unemployment, a huge trade deficit and a national government that is seeking to control more and more of our lives. While there is more than enough blame to go around, one of the factors that must be considered is our nation’s unions.
In the national interest, here is a question that I would like for you to ponder with me for a few minutes: Do unions have too much power? From my perspective, the answer to this question is both “yes” and “no.” If you are a member of a union and, over time, your union leaders have been able to negotiate you a higher salary, fringe benefits and a better work environment, the answer is “no.” On the other hand, if you own or manage a company that is “union” and it has become so powerful that it is almost impossible to fire incompetent employees, and the union is inflexible when it comes to concessions when the company falls on hard times, the answer is “yes.”
Whether you agree or not, here is the problem. Like my tires that got out of balance, when unions get out of balance and have “too much” power, you have a stand-off that is not good for anyone, and this includes our nation’s future. The key phrase in the question is “too much.” As English historian and moralist Lord Acton (1834-1902) has said, “Power corrupts; and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Then there is also the question of whether we are talking about private sector or public sector unions. I belong to the school of thought that public sector unions should not exist. It is a privilege to work for the government and serve the people, and when public sector employees band together to from a union and “take more” than private sector business and jobs can sustain, you are again out of balance. You know what happens when workers are taxed to their limit -- the government borrows the money and this is where we are today. If we are to ever again have a healthy free-enterprise economy in our nation, we must understand who the real boss is.
The author here is unknown, but the truth is undeniable: “There never has been, there is not now, and there never will be any boss but the customer. He is the one boss we must please. Everything we own he has paid for. He buys our home, our cars and our clothes. He pays for our vacation and puts our children through school. He pays our doctor bills and writes every paycheck we will ever receive. He gives us every promotion we will ever obtain during our lifetime and he will discharge us, if we displease him.”
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 819

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

LESSONS FROM THE GARDEN!

If you could stand a little practical advice in the areas of happiness, loss, humility, pride, death, life or some other crucial aspect of our existence, I have some great news for you. Sometime back I received an offer from Steve Bates to preview his first book titled, “The Seeds of Spring -- Lessons from the Garden.” Steve Bates is a longtime gardener and journalist who grew up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., and spent 14 years as a reporter and editor at The Washington Post. Steve received a scholarship from the Virginia chapter of Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists, and he earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary.
After reading his book, I have concluded this is not only a great book from the gardener’s perspective, but it demonstrates how our gardens can teach us valuable lessons about life. As one would suspect, this journalist with one of our nation’s major newspapers is a gifted writer, but what sets Steve apart is that he loves nothing better than to get his hands dirty in the soil. He not only loves to reap the rewards of seeing things grow, but also enjoying the fruits of his labor at the dinner table. “The Seeds of Spring” follows the challenges, failures, joys and revelations that Steve experiences as he cultivates vegetables, fruits and flowers in a remarkable setting.
The book intertwines practical “how-to” gardening advice with deep insights as he recognizes the richness and simplicity of the outdoor life and the importance of sustainability for individuals and the planet. As they say, the proof is in the pudding and I don’t know of a better way to convince you to buy and read this book, especially if you love to garden, than to share a portion of the Foreword with you.
He begins: “We all tend gardens. Tens of millions of us battle heat and storms and unrelenting weeds, all for that golden moment when we pluck that first rich tomato of summer or fill a basket to the brim with bright yellow zinnias. We save a little on our grocery bills, welcome the release of tension as we work the soil, revel in that supreme sense of satisfaction as we harvest the fruits of our labor.
“We tend figurative gardens, too. We cultivate our careers, families and sow the seeds of hopes and dreams. We weed out illness, transplant hope, nurture ideas. In countless ways, we strive to create, to shape, to guide, to produce and we are compelled to be at least a tiny part of something bigger than ourselves, outside of ourselves. Yet it is in our garden plots that our spirits take flight in unique, myriad and sometimes surprising ways. It is here that we become more than just neighbors and voters and architects. We come to realize that we are the fortunate ones who know that dirt is not dirty, that returning home with a line of fine soil under our fingernails is a badge of honor.”
Well, I will stop there because you can easily see what a gifted writer Steve Bates really is, and his ability to use words that can add meaning to our lives. The whole book is laced with solid and entertaining ideas that will stimulate your thinking in ways you may have not even considered. A healthy mind is a good mind that will serve us well all the days of our lives. “The Seeds of Spring” is available from Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle editions or visit his web site: www.theseedsofspring.com.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 820

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BOOKCASE FOR EVERY CHILD IN AMERICAN PROFILE!

There is an old saying with a great deal of merit that goes, “If you are free, thank a soldier. If you can read, thank a teacher.” I am confident that most Americans are grateful for our nation’s Armed Forces that have won and preserved our freedom. I am also confident that the vast majority of Americans who are literate are grateful for their teachers who taught them how to read and the value of education.
As a literate person, can you imagine what life is like for those who cannot read? Sadly, there are 42 million adults in America today who are being denied basic opportunities most of us take for granted.
Those in our society who are at the greatest risk are children being reared in low-income homes, because quite often their parents can’t read. As a result, they have few, if any, books in the home for the children. In 2005 we started a literacy project here in Conway, Arkansas, called “Bookcase for Every Child” and we are making a difference. So far we have given 350 personalized bookcases and a starter set of books to some of these children. We are making a difference, and now our project is beginning to spread to other communities. The community of Greenbrier, just north of us, is holding their first Bookcase Literacy Banquet soon, no doubt with great success, and will build 60 bookcases to present to their children this coming spring.
We have been truly blessed by something that happened back in August 2011 when the American Profile magazine featured our project on the front cover. This publication is a full-color weekly magazine that is distributed in more than 1,400 newspapers, has a nationwide circulation of more than 10 million and is presently the fourth largest magazine in the nation. You can view our story at www.americanprofile.com. Knowing the story was coming for several weeks, I worked hard to completely rewrite and update the copy for our own web site so I could point those in the right direction who had an interest in starting a project of their own.
My thinking was well founded, as there was no way I could have kept up with all the activity without this miracle of technology. As the chairman, I had e-mails and phone calls from interested people all across the nation and believe we have at least two other communities in other states, so far, that are starting their own project. Just go to our web site: www.bookcaseforeverychild.com and you will find everything a community needs to start and complete the first-year cycle of having a book drive, hosting a fund-raising banquet and an awards ceremony to present the bookcases to their children. You should see the children’s faces light up when they receive their very own personalized bookcase and a starter set of books.
The American Profile story was written by contributing editor Marti Attoun, who came to Conway to interview me about our project. She also interviewed Nija Graves, a child who received a bookcase as a Head Start student a few years ago. Her picture, along with her bookcase and books, were featured on the front cover. In a subsequent video, she and her mother told about how much she had been helped by a “Bookcase for Every Child.” As the article says, “We are making a difference one kid at a time.” These children are America’s future and we must take time and make the effort to help those in low-income families who, in most cases, cannot help themselves.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 822

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHAT IS YOUR LOT IN LIFE?

Every once in a while when I get to thinking about my lot in life, at this particular time, I am reminded of the story of the man who felt sorry for himself because he had no shoes, then he encountered a man who had no feet.
As individuals, when we are facing adversity, regardless of the source, we can usually find others who are having a much rougher time than we are. To be sure, adversity is just a part of life, and how we handle it can mean the difference between sanity and insanity, happiness and unhappiness or even life and death. The word “lot” has a number of different meanings, including a parcel of land, a batch or group of products, a number assigned as a result of drawing or casting lots and several others. However, when I say my “lot in life” I am referring to fate, as in a card game - playing the hand we are dealt.
If you happen to be going through a rough time, regardless of the reason, what I am going to say to you in this column is meant to be a source of encouragement and a way of mentally dealing with the problems you may be facing. If you have read my column for very long, you know that my wife Viola has Parkinson’s and has had for the past 15 years. In spite of this, we have had a great quality of life and have been able to accomplish more than we ever dreamed possible. However, the inevitable is now beginning to come about. Parkinson’s is winning the battle, as we knew it would. Over the past few years I have seen her go from walking with a slight limp, then to walking behind a walker, and on to a power chair but still able to stand, move about and do many things.
Then, in just the past few weeks, she reached the point where she can no longer walk or stand, which means she is totally dependent on me or someone else to take care of her and meet all of her needs. To exacerbate the problem, Viola happens to be a very fastidious person, this is to say, she has a special way of doing many things and she wants them done the very same way they have always been done. It’s taken me a while, but I am learning and life is getting much easier. It is amazing the things you can learn when you have to. My domestic skills have improved dramatically over the past couple of months. I am now doing the laundry, cooking, grocery buying, dish washing and many other household duties, while continuing to write my column, volunteer for our Lions Club and doing all I can to provide leadership for our wonderful “Bookcase for Every Child” project.
When I have told this to a few of my friends, some have responded by saying how sorry they were for my present state. To this I have replied, don’t be … this was part of the contract I signed many years ago. The contract, our marriage vows, did not say for better or better, it said for better or worse. We just face life and each new day one at a time. I am happy to report that I have found some relief when a wonderful lady, who is experienced in dealing with those who have Parkinson’s, has come to help me and stay with her three days a week.
I am not complaining. I count it all joy that I can be here to take care of her during this time. She certainly took care of me for many years. Now, this question please. What is your lot in life? If it’s rough, how are you handling it? A positive attitude certainly makes a lot of difference.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 824

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE LIFE-LONG IMPACT OF PARENTING STYLES

What I want to share today can make a tremendous difference in the lives of many, many people. Dr. Charlotte Rainey Green has written one of the best and most insightful little books I have ever read. I say little because it only contains about 100 pages. It’s titled, “Because I Said So” and is about various parenting styles and the influence they have on a child’s development, self-esteem, behavior and success. Just remember, we were all children at one time and I believe we have a responsibility to help the children of today become good citizens and the leaders of tomorrow. This is especially true if we have children or grandchildren at the present time.
The book opens with the example of two pre-school girls, in different homes, getting too close to an open fire in a fireplace. Cassandra’s mother states firmly, “I told you not to get too close to that fire, Cassandra!” “Why can’t I get close?” Cassandra questioned. “Because I said so, Cassandra. Do not ask me why. Just do what I told you to do.” When their eyes locked, Cassandra quickly stepped back from the fireplace and watched her mother close the screen.
This scene is repeated in another home when Stephanie also moved too close to the fireplace. Her mother says, “Remember what I told you, Stephanie,” her mother said firmly. “I remember: Don’t get too close to the fire,” Stephanie recited in her mother’s tone. “That’s right. Fire is dangerous. Don’t let the beauty fool you. Fire can and will burn almost everything it touches.” “I know mom. You don’t have to remind me.” “OK, because it will burn your hand, just like it destroyed that house on the news last night.”
After these verbal exchanges, two years passed and both girls were entering kindergarten, same school, same class, with the same teacher. The first day Mrs. Icy, the teacher, prepared to read the class a story and showed them a picture. “Who knows what is in the picture?” Mrs. Icy asked. Both Cassandra’s and Stephanie’s hands shot up. So she called on Cassandra. “It’s a picture of fire,” she answered confidently. “That is correct, Cassandra. What do you know about fire?” “You don’t touch it!” she responded confidently. The teacher said, “Very good, Cassandra. Who else can tell me about fire?”
Stephanie was almost out of her seat when Mrs. Icy called on her, “Fire is dangerous. It can burn almost anything it touches. It burns houses and takes away people’s things, and you should not be fooled by its beauty.” This brief exchange set the wheels in motion for much more serious things down the road. In the teacher’s notes after class, she noted that Stephanie was exceptional with a good vocabulary, while Cassandra may need some remedial work. Here is the rest of the story. Cassandra is an African-American child while Stephanie is Caucasian.
Dr. Charlotte Rainey Green, who is African-American, points out that the parenting styles in the home environment, before each child enters school, could be the difference that charts the course for each child’s future. She lists three different parenting styles: Authoritative, Authoritarian and Permissive. She also talks about the African-American culture and the impact it has on achievement gaps and dropout rates. You will have to read the book to learn more, but this fine author, who did the research, really opened my eyes. The book is “Because I Said So” and was published by Outskirts Press.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 826

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE RULE OF LAW!

Here is one of the most compelling statistics in all of society and affects every law-abiding citizen, whether they realize it or not. According to the National Institute for Literacy, 85 percent of all juvenile offenders rate at functionally or marginally illiterate. In our local daily newspaper, perhaps yours as well, we have a section that runs several times each week titled “Police Beat.” In this section you will find reports released by the Conway Police Department that lists the various incidents, or police calls, that occur in our city over the past 24 hours or longer, depending on when the report runs in the paper.
We have one or more homicides reported from time to time, along with the usual armed robberies, muggings, purse snatches and many others. To give you a good idea, here are some incidents that were in a recent “Police Beat” that I read: harassing communications, public intoxication, violation of a protection order, sexual assault, terroristic threatening, theft of property and property damage. Have you thought about the fact that a high percentage of individuals who are involved in these incidents are functionally or marginally illiterate? Again, we all pay a price whether we realize it or not.
In our community, our overall crime rate is fairly low because we have a good police department and they are on top of the crime problem. The thing that makes any community safe, more than any other, is something we call the Rule of Law. The rule of law in its most basic form is the principle that no one is above the law. The most important application is the principle that government authority is legitimately exercised only in accordance with written, publicly disclosed laws adopted and enforced in accordance with established procedural steps referred to as due process.
The principle is intended to be a safeguard against arbitrary governance, whether by a totalitarian leader or mob rule. Since this column runs in newspapers all across the country, please allow me to stop here and ask you a few questions. How safe is your city or community? Is the Rule of Law strongly exercised where you live? Do you feel safe when you leave home, in the daytime or at night? While my column is basically a “community” newspaper column, I have been seeing something in the news that is very disturbing to me.
This is the rise of something called “flash mobs,” where a group of people, mostly teenagers, swoop down on a business of some kind and just loot it in mass, taking anything they can get their hands on. Apparently these “hits” are coordinated with the use of cell phones and they enter an unsuspecting business establishment, take what they want and are gone before anyone has time to call the police. For the most part this is happening in large cities, but you can see where this is taking us if the authorities do not put an end to it. You can be sure that those responsible for actions of this type do not have any respect for the Rule of Law.
I am sure you know that the best way to deal with problems of this nature is to stop this activity before it spreads or gets a toehold. This usually requires harsh action and severe consequences for the offenders. Of course, catching them is something else. When people are functionally or marginally illiterate, they are failing in life and we all, as law-abiding citizens, pay a high price. Our Bookcase for Every Child project can make a difference.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.

No. 828

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE HIGH COST OF BACON!

Even though I like bacon, I quit buying it several weeks ago when the price of the brand I like went to almost $5 a pound. It was not that I could not afford it, it was the principle involved, and besides I could buy a great 97 percent fat-free slice of ham for a dollar a pound less.
Now I know there are various market factors involved that determine the price, but the one that overrides all others is called supply and demand. Apparently a lot of other people agreed with me, because the price of my bacon has come back down. As a result, I have started picking up a package now and then.
I have shared this example to talk about another kind of bacon, which as you know is made from pork. The pork being doled out by members of our nation’s Congress is literally killing us and is one reason for our massive national debt.
Here is the bottom line and the point I want to make. In our society we have gotten so used to members of our congressional delegation bringing home the bacon or pork to our district that we are willing to look the other way when it comes to his or her character. It has been said that character is the stamp on our souls of the free choices of good and evil we have made through life.
A good case in point is former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who represented the 9th Congressional District in the state of New York. Congressman Weiner was elected to Congress in January 1999 and resigned from office in June 2011 due to a sexting scandal that began when he posted a link to a suggestive picture of himself on his public Twitter account. There is much more about this affair that I could say, but won’t. However, he would still be in office if left to his fellow congressman to boot him out -- rather it was the media that did him in. Personally, I am so thankful for the American media, in spite of their shortcomings, who understand there is a limit to what a person can do and still remain on the government payroll.
In spite of this sad state of affairs, the thing that is most egregious to me is that in a subsequent survey of the people in his district, 56 percent of his constituents said it did not matter at all to them what he did in his personal life. When I heard this, my first thought was, “Boy, I sure would not want any of these people representing me in Congress.” While not a true reflection of the attitudes of voters in all parts of the country, it has a lot to say about what is important and what is not important, at least in former Congressman Weiner’s district.
As I thought about this, two observations came to mind. First, is the morality so low that a majority of his voters think it’s the norm and don’t see anything wrong with the kind of bizarre behavior that finally led to his resignation? Second, so long as Congressman Weiner was bringing home the bacon or the pork, regardless of his poor character, in the end is that what really matters? If that is the case, the price of bacon is way too high. It has been said that a better world begins with me. Certainly I am not perfect, but I do know what is right and what is wrong. While only time will tell, together we can make a difference.
If enough of you feel as strongly as I do, we can begin to hold our elected officials to a higher standard. For the sake of future generations of Americans and our country, we must hold our elected officials accountable. They take an oath when they are sworn in. Let’s boot them out of office if they don’t live up to it.
P.S. As a postscript, apparently the survey about 56% of voters in his district not caring was wrong or the voters had a change of heart. In the following election to replace Congressman Weiner, voters elected a Rupublican for the first in in almost 100 years. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 830

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

AM I MY KEEPER'S BROTHER?

It is often said that an honest confession is good for the soul. I certainly hope this is true. This is because I am about to make one. For most of my life I have known what an idiot was, but I had no idea what an idiom was. Do you know? If you do, you are way ahead of me in this area of our various language peculiars. Fortunately, this changed for me several weeks ago while attending an interdenominational prayer breakfast at one of our local churches. A well-versed gentleman by the name of Joe Heird, who has become my friend, brought the program that day and he talked about Idioms.
In case you don’t already know, an idiom is an expression, word, or phrase that has a figurative meaning that is comprehended in regard to a common use of that expression that is separate from the literal meaning or definition of the words of which it is made. There are estimated to be at least 25,000 idiomatic expressions in the English language. In linguistics, idioms are usually presumed to be figures of speech. Moreover, an idiom is an expression, word, or phrase whose sense means something different from what the words literally imply. When a speaker uses an idiom, the listener might mistake the actual meaning, if he or she has not heard this figure of speech before.
Idioms usually do not translate well -- in some cases, when an idiom is translated into another language, either its meaning is changed or it is meaningless. As you can guess, this drives teachers of ESL (English as a Second Language) crazy. If you are like me, you have probably been using idioms all the time and did not know what they were. Here are some of the more common, with maybe a comment or two by me, thrown in here and there. You will recognize that a good number of these come from the Bible, and if you are interested you might even look up the scripture references from where they came.
Here we go: “Fly in the ointment. My heart’s desire. Three score and ten. See eye to eye. Put words in one’s mouth. No rest for the wicked. Go the extra mile. Fight the good fight. O ye, of little faith. Woe is me. Living off the fat of the land. Can a leopard change its spots? Fall from grace. Don’t cast your pearls before swine. Wolf in sheep’s clothing. Writing on the wall. Sweat of your brow. Thorn in the flesh. Pride goes before a fall. Skin of your teeth. It is better to give than to receive. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Man after his own heart. Wash your hands of the matter.”
There is a little difference in an idiom and a cliché. A cliché is just a truth used so many times that it has grown old, while an idiom is a figure of speech that is separate from its literal meaning. In preparation for writing this column, I went to the Internet and found scads of other idioms. One that struck me was “Zip your lip.” Now we both know that you cannot put an actual zipper on your lip but another way to say the same thing is “keep your mouth shut.”
When I read the idiom, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” which comes from the story of Cain and Abel in the Bible, I had the mental picture of a monkey sitting in a cage in the zoo, being fed by his caretaker and the monkey was asking himself this question, “Am I my keeper’s brother?” For sure, an interesting way to close this chapter on Idioms.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 832
The Next Password is Dill

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO HELGA’S BAR?

Helga is the proprietor of a bar in downtown Detroit. She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar. To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now and pay later. Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting her customer’s loans). Word gets around about Helga’s “drink now, pay later” marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga’s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume in Detroit.
By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most popular consumed beverages. Consequently, Helga’s gross sales volume increases massively. A young and dynamic vice president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga’s borrowing limit. He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral. At the bank’s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.
These “securities” are then bundled and traded on the International Securities markets. Naïve investors don’t really understand that the securities being sold to them as “AA” “Secured Bonds” are really debts of unemployed alcoholics. Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation’s leading brokerage houses. One day, even though the bond prices are still climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga’s bar. He informs Helga, who suddenly demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.
Since Helga cannot fulfill her loan obligations, she is forced into bankruptcy. The bar closes and Helga’s 11 employees lose their jobs. Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 98 percent. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank’s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.
The suppliers of Helga’s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firm’s pension funds in BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debts and with losing more than 95 percent of the presumed value of the bonds. Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that has endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor who immediately closes the local plant and 150 workers are laid off. Fortunately, though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multi-billion-dollar no-strings attached cash infusion by the government.
The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Helga’s bar. There are winners and losers here. Does this story sound familiar? A special word of thanks to my friend Bud Green for sharing this with us.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

The Next Password is Dill

No. 167

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL

The German reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) has left us with this enduring thought: "A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing." In the Bible in the book of Hebrews we find these words in 11:1, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." A person's faith is a very private matter, but as I have studied the Bible over the years, one of the most reassuring things I have come to believe is regardless of the events and circumstances we see about us, God is still in control.

This is something I beleive we all need to hear and think about from time to time, especially when we are discouraged. God is eternal and to understand His greatness and His awesome power is something we should not fear, but take comfort in. I was reminded of this truth in a new and dynamic way the other day when I read an article titled Perspective, that was written by the pastor of a Church in Bloomington, Minnesota.

Shortly after getting out of bed and washing the sleep from his eyes, this pastor begins by saying, "It was early morning as I put on my new jogging outfit and headed West toward the edge of town. The rising sun warmed my back as I turned the corner and crossed the river. The cobwebs began to clear from my mind. Once again, I rejoiced from that special exultation that comes from exercise and dawn. I swung West again and faced the monster hill at the edge of town. I had never come this way before and I was anxious to try this new challenge.

Halfway up the hill I began to have serious doubts. My legs felt as is spikes were being driven into them. My lungs seemed to be burning as I kept my eyes focused on the pavement. Each step I took made the snow capped Mt. Adams loom larger until the whole horizon seemed to be filled with its 12,000 feet majesty. The pain of running drained from my body, as I was filled with the wonder of God's creation! I topped the hill and ran past the airport. I glanced to the South and there stood Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens in equal splendor.

As I headed home, I saw the awakening city before me and my thoughts turned to its buildings and its people. I was struck with the contrast of the physical creation of God, and the struggle of life on this planet. I thought about a house where a young woman lived alone, abandoned by her husband; an apartment where two unmarried young people were living together; another house where religious differences were ripping a family apart; a house where divorce threatened to destroy the children; another house where alcohol had already crushed one of God's special creations; and still another cottage where a widow grieved alone. About this time I looked up and saw the church rising above the trees. Then I realized that God's redemptive power is still at work. Yes, God is still in control."

Along these lines another special blessing from God happened in my life just the other day. Because of my schedule and work load, I had allowed stress to build up in my body. So much so that my chest was hurting. First, I prepared myself a cup of hot tea and then sat down in my recliner, but that didn't seem to help. After a bit I took my Bible out on the deck and as the sun was setting and the rays were filtering through the trees, I read several chapters from God's word. After a few minutes I noticed that the stress was gone and I had perfect peace. Yes, in my mind and heart, I know that God is still in control. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 169

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

YOU TELL ME I'M GETTING OLD

It's often been said that "Age is mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter." There is a great deal of truth in the saying, "you're only as old as you feel." To feel good most of the time is a blessing that most of us take for granted. When it comes to the subject of old age, someone once said, "Old age is a club that with luck we will all join."

I'm looking forward to it, aren't you? You may respond by saying, "I'm already old." This may be true in a chronological sense, because based on the letters and phone calls we receive, I know many of my readers are elderly people. Did you notice how I switched terms? There is a vast difference between being elderly and being old. This is to say we get old when it comes to our thinking and our ideas.

What prompted these thoughts was a poem I ran across the other day written by Dora Johnson titled, You Tell Me I'm Getting Old. While reading this poem I discovered it contained a profound message and I would like to share it with you. Even if you are not elderly, just be patient because your time will probably come. It's my sincere hope that this poem will be a source of great encouragement for you.

YOU TELL ME I'M GETTING OLD

"You tell me I'm getting old. I tell you that's not so! The house I live in is worn out, and that of course, I know. It's been in use a long, long while; it's weathered many a gale; I'm really not surprised you think it's getting somewhat frail. The color's changing on the roof, the window's getting dim. The wall's a bit transparent and looking rather thin. The foundation not so steady as once it use to be. My house is getting shaky, but my house isn't me. My few short years can't make me old. I feel in my youth, eternity lies ahead, a life of joy and truth. I'm going to live forever there; life will go on, it's grand. You tell me I'm getting old, you just don't understand. The dweller in my little house is young and bright and happy; Just starting on a life to last throughout eternal day. You only see the outside, which is all that most folks see. You tell me I'm getting old, you've mixed my house with me."

The message this poem contains is very clear. For Dora Johnson and those of us who have experienced the free gift of eternal salvation made possible through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, life will go on for eternity. While this is a very personal decision and this is between you and your God, I care about you and where you will spend eternity.

In reality, every book must have a final chapter, just as every person's life will someday come to an end. To me, it would be tragic to pursue our goals in life and strive to achieve success and then get to the final chapter and discover that we had missed the whole point of life. I hope you understand that every important decision you make is your own personal affair but whether you are a religious person or not, physical death is something that sooner or later we all must face.

While we are here, however, we should make the most of each day. I would like to leave you with these thoughts by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. The day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear with its hopes and invitations to waste a moment on yesteryears." (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 171

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION

The American pioneer John Chapman (1775-1847) also known as Johnny Appleseed once said, "The task of education is to bring the young and the great together." What I believe Mr. Chapman was saying is when young people study the lives and careers of great men and women, they will be inspired to achieve greatness in their own lives. Young people need good role models and this is true for the rest of us as well. As a businessman who has worked with educators for many years, I have found that most young people do indeed want to become great at something during their life time.

While this will work out for a few students, the real challenge for the vast majority is how to use or apply what they have learned out in the world, especially in the market place. This has always been a real concern of mine, but along this line, just recently I have had the opportunity to get involved with something that I really feel good about. In our community, as well as hundreds of others throughout the country, there is a structured program called NEWSPAPER IN EDUCATION. This is a joint effort between the local newspaper, the schools, the business community and a number of individuals who care about young people and their future.

This past year I had the privilege of becoming a sponsor for an NIE teacher in one of our local elementary schools. This means I am personally paying for a class set of 25 papers each week throughout the school year. When I expressed an interest to my friends at the paper I never dreamed that I would be the sponsor for Mary Jones' 4th grade class at Ida Burns School. You see, Mary Jones was recently selected as The Arkansas Newspaper Foundation "Teacher Of The Year" for the newspapers in education program. This is why I said earlier that it was quality instruction, but all of the other NIE teachers in our community are doing a great job as well.

A few weeks ago I got a call from Mrs. Jones and she invited me to come and speak to her class. I spent over an hour with her students and they were bright, well mannered and not only participated but they had a ton of questions for me. It was a rewarding time and before I left, they presented me with a personal letter from each student thanking me for providing the newspapers and I was also given an album of photos showing various students working with newspapers during their instruction time.

I'm sure you know that community newspapers cut across all areas of society and they can be used to teach a multitude of practical and useful things to students. Every teacher who participates in NIE develops his or her own unique ways to use the papers in the classroom. They can be used to teach Science, Math, Social Studies, Health, History, and all phases of Consumer-Related topics that will help them for the rest of their days. Something else that's exciting to me is that, working with teachers in their area, The Mobile Press Register in Mobile, Alabama has developed a comprehensive list of ways to use the newspaper in the classroom. I have been given permission to share these and if you will send me a self-addressed stamped envelope, I will be happy to send them to you free of charge.

As you read this column, if you are a business person or an individual who would like to make a difference in the lives of some precious young people, you may wish to become an NIE sponsor. If you will call your local paper or your elementary school principal, I'm sure, even if they don't have an official NIE program, you will find a very positive response. The cost is very reasonable and you will be making an investment in the future...yours and theirs. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 173

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THIS IS NOT A CHECK

In my early days, when I was a kid growing up, we lived so far out in the country they had to pump sunshine in to us and when we wanted to go hunting, we had to come back toward town. Now we live much closer to the city and things are different. We have indoor plumbing and even have a telephone. Now, hopefully you realize that I am just kidding and I don't want to insult your intelligence like some people insult mine. The other day I got something in the mail from a home equity loan company that is located in another state that seems to be typical of the times. The top third of this sheet of paper was designed as a check from this company in the amount of $42,800. Where they got that number I'll never know but printed across the middle of this fake check were the words 'This Is Not A Check.'

Being as perceptive as I am, of course I knew this was a direct mail appeal for me (and it was made out to me, not jointly) to take out a second mortgage on our home in the amount that I stated earlier. In the letter below this fake check, they stated that if I wanted to increase or decrease this amount, just call the agent listed below. They were also liberal enough to say that I could receive these funds even if our property had no equity and if my credit had suffered in the past. The one thing they failed to do, however, was state the rate of interest for the loan.

Now, I would like to turn my comments to a more serious note and talk with you about the massive number of appeals for easy credit and debt consolidation. There is not a week that goes by that I don't see from 10 to 15 advertisements for loans of this type, and all tied to a tangible assett...our home. There is one big catch in all of these advertisements however, and that is the money has to be paid back....plus interest.

Apparently there are millions of people who are taking out these 2nd mortgage or debt consolidation loans or these companies would not keep up this level of advertising. Please don't misunderstand what I am saying here. I certainly believe in advertising and I also believe in credit, if it's used wisely. The problem comes for individuals and families, who do not exercise good judgement and wind up losing their home a few months or years down the road, and that's my real concern.

The reason these types of loans are attractive is because of what easy credit has done to millions of credit card users over the past several years. When a person is 'maxed out' and their level of income is not sufficient to continue with their acquired life style, there are hard decisions that have to be made. Unfortunately, in many cases the decision is bankruptcy. For others, it's taking out a home equity loan which reduces the amount of their payments each month.

Before I share the real problem, I would like to say that I realize this is a free country and every responsible adult can make his or her own decisions. My purpose here is not to try to tell you or anyone else what you should do. I just wanted to share some insights that may be of value to you or someone who seeks your council about taking out a loan of this type. There is a real pitfall for this type of loan and I hope you will think seriously about what I am saying.

These loans may be good over the long haul only if the individual is willing to change his or her behavior and their spending habits. Otherwise, the home equity loan will serve as a false sense of security and the debt will continue to grow and there will be a time when it must be paid. Unfortunately, that sports star that has been hawking the loan is not going to help repay it. If a real emergency should arise, it could be "the straw that broke the camel's back." I care !! (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 175

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHAT "IS" YOUR BAG?

There is an expression we hear quite often in our part of the country, and perhaps in yours as well, that goes, "That's not my bag". Most of us have said this at one time or another. I know from time to time I talk with someone about giving a speech and they respond, "That's not my bag." This expression would be apropos in many other activities as well. This simply means that whatever we do not like or want to do, for whatever the reason, "That's not my bag" would be fitting and appropiate.

The other day I was thinking about the fact that as unique human beings we have different interests, likes and dislikes and this to some degree determines how we spend our time, both leisure and in the persuit of our job or career. For example, it would be much more crowded than it already is if everyone liked to play golf, fish, bowl, fly an airplane, or a multitude of other things. Many of us have similiar interests but we are really and truly unique and thank God for that.

While the expression "That's not my bag" is negative and it does rule out for many of us the opportunity to learn and explore new and exciting things, it is however, more or less the norm. It's easier to think negative than positive and that's why on a percentage basis, so few people are truly successful. With these thouhts in mind I would like to go a step further and ask you this question, "What "is" your bag"? Have you ever thought about it in view of what I've been saying?

Along this line, something I heard a while back may be of value to you. We can acrosticize the word "bag" and take a personal inventory. The letter "B" stands for blessings. What are your blessings? If we would stop every once in a while and think of all the things we have to be thankful for, in the areas of personal, family, career, income and opportunity for service, we would face each new day with a much better attitude. As I've said before, on a human level, attitude is everything.

The next letter "A" stands for accomplishments. What have you accomplished so far? Can you look back over the years and pick out a number of things that you have accomplished that are a source of pride and personal satisfaction? The list could encompass such things as perfect attendence, awards, honors, offices or positions held, rearing successful children and other things that bring you joy and happiness. For each person this is different, but I know if you would give it some thought, there are many things you have accomplished during your life time.

The next letter "G" stands for goals. What are your goals, both short and long term? Do you have any? Are your goals written down on paper with a definite time limit? From my own experience, I can tell you the number one reason for boredom, and that is because most people don't have any goals. When you see and hear people who are down in the mouth, critical of everything and everybody, you can just bet they don't have any exciting goals they are working to achieve.

It's been said that a person without a goal is like a ship without a rudder. These people are tossed to and fro by every wind that comes along and they just drift through life without any real purpose. If you do not have any clearly defined goals, I hope you will think about what I have said in this light. To kinda sum it all up, here is that important question again, "What is your bag"? What are your blessings? Your accomplishments so far? Your goals? I believe you will agree, this is really something to think about. In the final analysis, the difference between success and failure is, to coin an athletic term, "taking care of business." As W. Clement Stone says, "DO IT NOW!!" (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 177

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A CANCER IN OUR SOCIETY

This past week I sent a small contribution to the American Cancer Society in the hopes that, along with millions of others, it may help medical researchers find a cure for this dreaded disease. Regardless of the type or part of the human body it attacks, if left unchecked, it will continue to devour healthy cells until it squeezes the very life out of its victim.

Furthermore, it is no respector of persons and practically every family in our nation, regardless of status, has been affected in one way or another. With regards to cancer, we have all asked questions like, "Did they get it all?", "Is it in remission?", and "What is the prognosis?". Sadly, cancer is among the leading causes of death in the United States.

Unless your name is Rip Van Winkle, you also know there is another form of cancer in our society today that is equally, if not more dangerous to the health and well being of our nation. I'm referring to the breakdown of moral, ethical and spiritual values over the past several decades. If the erosion and decay of these important values is not checked and rebuilt, it will result in the downfall of the greatest nation in the history of civilization.

If you have read my column very often in the past, you know that I am an eternal optimist. I believe in success. I encourage individuals to reach for the stars, to use their God-given talents and abilities to serve others, and in return receive all the rewards, both tangible and intangible, that life has to offer. But you and I both know this is only possible if our nation remains free and the opportunities afforded by a free market economy are available to us in the near and distant future. Furthermore, we can't just assume that this will always be the case if we don't take care of what we have.

A while back I ran across a quotation by former President Harry S. Truman that pretty well sums up what I am saying, "Always tell people the truth. They can handle it." To be sure, we can handle the truth. It's the lies under oath, the bribes and kickbacks, the scandals, the pervasive and widespread cheating and the blatant, open immorality that we can't handle. When I say we, I'm talking about the millions of God fearing, honest, responsible and hard working American Citizens who love this country and want to perserve our way of life.

In the long run, the individuals involved in the activities I mentioned will ultimately pay a price for that they do, but in the meantime our standards are lowered and the unsuspecting are caught in the web of personal destruction before they truly understand the consequences of their actions. We must be reminded again and again that our leaders, whether political, business or others in high positions must be held to a higher standard than people in the general population. In time the example they set establishes the very basis for our culture. Contrary to what many people think, you don't raise morale in an organization, it filters down from the top. It's the same principle with leadership in our society and nation.

As I've said before, I don't get involved in partisian politics. Unfortunately, many people are so turned off by politics as usual that they don't even take the time to go and vote. Our system of government in our nation has served us well, but I have never been an active member of any political party. In every general election, I have always voted a split ticket, because I vote for the candidates who I feel are best qualified and who have America's best interest at heart. In the final analysis, we either will or will not stop the spread of this cancer in our society, but the stakes are high, especially for future generations. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 179

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THINGS WE ALL WANT TO KNOW

The well known speaker and author Dennis Waitley once said, "The mind has an amazing quality. It doesn't automatically gravitate toward truth, right, justice..the best. It gravitates toward what it is exposed to the most." When I first read this statement I said, "Eureka...I've found it!!" I finally realized how all the people I see and hear on talk shows can sit there and spout "untruths" and use them as the very basis for what or who they are promoting. It simply boils down to the fact that if we hear something long enough and often enough we will tend to believe it, even though it could be miles from the truth.

In relation to this, here is something that applies to me, you and every other person. If we are not building our lives on "truth" we are building on sand and sooner or later, the sand will be washed away. To me, this means we should always check our references or the foundation that is holding us up. Like the surveyor who must always find the pin or cornerstone, we cannot proceed with firm assurance until we know the right starting point, which for us is the truth. Personally, I believe the Bible is the source of all truth and I'm willing to base my future and my life on it. As I read and study the Bible, the Holy Spirit teaches me Godly laws and principles that I can apply to any situation or set of circumstances.

Before I discuss two questions that we all want to know the answers to, I would like to say that I know I make mistakes. When I discover that I have made a mistake, I will do my best to correct it. I will also do my best to always tell you the truth and try to do it in a helpful sort of way. The two questions that I mentioned a moment ago are, "What's in it for me?" and "Is it worth it?" Now, collectively there are billions of things we want to know and questions we could ask, but when it comes to our basic human nature these two questions are near the top of the list.

Let's just take them in order. The question "What's in it for me?" is an expression of our legitimate self-interest. Each time we spend our money, render a service, give a gift, develop a skill or talent and every other human activity, this question comes into play. It's important to understand that what we receive in return does not have to be material, money or other tangible objects. It can be in the form of satisfaction, peace, joy, contentment and increased self-esteem.

The other question, "Is it worth it?", simply projects the other half of the equation. In order to get something we must always give up something in return. It may be our time, our money, our reputation, and many other possessions. A good example would be to win a Gold Medal in the Olympics. You know, or can visualize, I'm sure, what a person would have to give up in order to do this. In the beginning, of course, the question was, "Is it worth it?" Once the answer is yes, they are willing to commit all of their resources to make this dream or goal come true.

Hopefully, you are still with me because I want to bring what I have been saying into sharp focus, and share a thought that will enable you to achieve whatever you want out of life. Because of the wonderful LAW OF RECIPROCITY, we always get back from others what we first give. What I mean by that is that we have to serve "FIRST" and the rewards will come as a result. In view of this great law, instead of saying, "What's in it for me?" rather say, "What can I do for others?" and think about their needs. You will find, as I have, the more you do for others, with the right attitude and the right motive, the more God wll bless you. I can make you this promise. A life of serving others will give you more rewards than anything you could ever do. "It is worth it!!" (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 181

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

LIFE GETS "TEDIOUS"...DON'T IT?

There is a word in the English language that we don't hear very often and this word is "Tedious", which means "Long and wearisome, tiresome and boring." About the only time I use this word is when my wife asks me to thread a needle or tighten the screws on her glasses. After poking the thread at the needle for about five minutes or trying to line the tiny screwdriver up with the slots, I usally say, this is really 'tedious.' In our modern society however, the word tedious is used most often in relation to "close work" like the person who has a job installing computer chips or working on an assembly line in a watch factory. Of course there are many other examples, but you get the picture.

The full and complete meaning of this word however, is only understood when a person must do this type of job for an extended period of time like 8 to 12 hours a day, for weeks, months or years on end. These circumstances have given rise to my title, "Life gets "Tedious, don't it?" My point being, the person who has this kind of job needs a break...and they need one often. While I love writing these columns and sharing positive ideas with you, I also need a break from time to time. You can only stay in a stressful mental state for just so long before it begins to take its toll. I don't know about you, but the thing that keeps me going is to always place things in perspective and try to really enjoy what I do. We are not going to do anything very well over the long haul if we don't have a little fun once in a while.

If you have not cracked a smile in a day or two, you may enjoy this story a friend told me the other day about an old maid that had a great sense of humor. When she went to the funeral home to prearrange her funeral, she requested all women pallbearers. When they asked her why, she replied, "Well, if the men couldn't 'take me out' while I was living, I sure ain't going to let them 'carry me out' when I die!"

Here are a few more humorous stories I found tucked away in my files that you may find amusing or if you make talks, you may be able to use them. I'm not sure where I got these stories but apparently I picked them up at an educational conference, because as you will see, they are slanted toward parents or educators. Now, picture yourself in an audience and the speaker has been introduced and he says, "You know, I've always wondered, how do history teachers keep a straight face when they tell students the early settlers came to America to escape high taxes?

A while back, we had a county agent come to talk on the dangers of rat infestation. When a student stood up to thank him for coming to talk to the class, she said, "We didn't even know what a rat looked like until you came to school." When Johnny came home from school the other day, he said to his father, "Here is my report card and here is an old one of yours I found." You know what FEAR is, don't you? "Fear is watching your teenage son drive off in his four wheeled lawsuit." I passed by the Civics classroom the other day. The teacher was yelling at the top of her lungs, "I don't care what your father says, money is not this country's chief export."

Finally, we have been concerned about some of our students, but it looks like the counserlor has come up with a solution. He says, "The vocational aptitude of some of our students indicates their best opportunities lie in a field where their father holds an influential position." As I said earlier, "Life gets "Tedious", don't it?...that is, if you don't have a little fun. Hope you have enjoyed these thoughts on the "lite" side. You know, we should always take what we do seriously, but we should not take ourselves too seriously. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 157

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE SCOTT PENDLETON STORY

William Penn, the English Quaker and founder of the State of Pennsylvania once said, "Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in another still." These words, I think, better than any other, describe a wonderful young man by the name of Scott Pendleton. Scott was the Grandson of my long time friend, the late Win Pendleton who lived in Winderemere, Florida.

One day shortly before he passed away I got a note from Win, along with a news article, saying that at the age of 31, Scott had been killed in a tragic automobile accident near his home in Mesa, Arizona. Because this dear man was so very special to me, rather than a few words in a sympathy card, I just picked up the phone and called him. It was obvious from the beginning that he was hurting, but slowly he began to tell me about Scott and the wonderful life he had lived.

Scott was a skilled musician and played French horn in the University of Miami band. He later transferred to the University of Michigan where he received a degree in music. Shortly thereafter he took a job with the Mesa, Arizona public schools teaching music to fourth grade students in three elementary schools. From the beginning he had an uphill battle because he was teaching violin to 30 students and many did not want to be in his class. You know how you would feel if you did not want to take violin but mom and dad said you had to.

One thing that made Scott's classes unique is that he taught the Japanese method of playing the violin. While I am not a musician, I have been to Branson, Missouri and had the pleasure of hearing Shoji Tabuchi play the violin at his own theater. If Scott could teach these youngsters to play the violin like that, they would have something they could be proud of for the rest of their lives.

Because this young man had a wonderful, magnetic personality, plus being a very gifted musician, he began to win his students over. It was not long before there was a waiting list to get into his classes. In the area of human relations here is a technique that Scott used that could help any of us. When he was having difficulty with a particular student, he would say something positive and complimentary about this student to the other members of the class. Before long, word would get back to this student what the teacher had said. A changed attitude was almost always the result.

In a day when our society cries out for good role models I just thought you would be blessed by reading his story. He came to town with nothing, and although he was there for only a few short years, he left with everything. A good name, an impact on many of the people that he touched and a legacy that will live on for many years to come.

This was most evident when it came time for Scott's funeral. There were over one thousand people who came to the viewing at the funeral home and over one thousand people who came to the service the next day. In addition to family and friends, the mourners included members of the school board, administrators, teachers and students.

The television newscast that evening in this city of 300,000 people devoted about five minutes of coverage to his funeral and it featured comments from teachers and one of his students who told about the impact that Scott had made on his life. A Scott Pendleton Memorial Fund has been established with an initial deposit of $10,000 to help needy students to buy musical instruments. Scott Pendleton is too soon gone, but his life really counted. He truly did make a difference. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 159

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE LAW OF CONSEQUENCES

While working with people over the years one of the most reassuring truths I've ever discovered is that we all have the potential to do a better job than we are now doing and consequently earn more of the rewards that can be ours. The reason this statement is true is because of a natural law that operates in the universe called, "The Law Of Consequences." Are you familiar with this law? Do you truly understand that every "action" will have a "reaction" and for every act we perform there is a natural and appropriate consequence?

What I'm going to say next is not from my intellect, but from my heart. I feel so sorry for many people I see in the news each day. The radio, television and newspapers are filled with stories of people who either didn't know about the "Law Of Consequences" or they thought it would not catch up with them when they were committing immoral, unethical or illegal acts. Unfortunately, what these people failed to realize is that by committing these acts they were just sowing seeds that would sooner or later come up and the evil exposed for all to see.

While working as a businessman consultant with our nation's public schools, in relation to wrong deeds or actions, I've had many students make the statement, "It's ok to do it, if you don't get caught." Here again, as in my earlier example, these students did not truly understand the "Law Of Consequences." Even if their wrong deeds or actions were never discovered or revealed, they knew about them, which in time would take an even greater toll. We can never escape from who we really are.

Here is something we should always remember. When we commit a serious crime, it's not something that happens just once and is behind us. It stays with us as long as we live. Have you ever heard of Benedict Arnold? He became a traitor and actually tried to sell West Point. The evil first settled in his heart and then it ruined his life. We should continually and forever be aware of the great "Law Of Consequence" that says, "No wrong ever goes unpunished" and for every evil thing we do, there must be a natural and appropriate consequence. Now I ask you, what could be simpler to understand than that?

But I would do you a real disservice if I did not also point out the positive side of this great natural law. Just as all evil deeds will be punished, all good or righteous deeds will be rewarded. This is the law that allows us to tell our own fortune. When our deeds and actions are based on truth, honesty and integrity, over time good things will come to us. Now, this is not to say that bad things do not happen to good people. We all know they do. Here it's not so important what happens to us but whether we act on it or react to it.

The other day a friend and I were talking about all the good things that were happening in our lives and she made the comment, "Even a lot of good Christian people fail to realize all the blessings they can receive from being of service to others. They just don't get it." She is right. If we will just look for ways to help other people, with the right attitude and the right motive, more good things will come our way than we ever dreamed possible.

Please understand, I give God the glory but I am deeply grateful for letters and phone calls from readers all over the country who express appreciation for our column. At this point we have about 180 newspapers in 27 states who run it and when we started, I never dreamed this would be possible. I can only say "THANK YOU" to all of you who have called or written to encourage me. You're the best!! (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 161

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE GENUINE ARTICLE

One of the things I love about small children is that they are totally, and often, brutally honest. The former radio and television personality Art Linkletter made a good living interviewing kids who always said, "The Darndest Things." A good example is the story I heard about the mother who gave little Johnny a dime to put in the collection plate during Sunday School. After Church the mother asked, "Johnny, did you put your money in the collection plate?" He said, "No, me and the devil are gonna have us some bubble gum."

While little Johnny may not have pleased his mother, at least he was honest, which is more than we can say about a lot of politicians these days. If you are concerned about the breakdown of ethical character, integrity and basic morality in our country, I have some things to share that I hope you will seriously consider.

In view of all the scandals that have taken place the past few years, it's obvious we must return to the basic morality and ideals of our forefathers. There has been and always will be sin, but even during my lifetime I have seen it move from the discreet, to the big screen, the tube, the tabloid, the front page and now the Internet.

Please understand, I don't have any political axes to grind and it does not make any difference to me which party they belong to, or their gender or national origin. I can say with complete honesty, I just want what's best for America and the American people.

The question in my mind is, "What kind of nation will we have in the 21st century if we don't return to basic morality and character values that made it possible for the United States Of America to become the greatest nation on earth."

What every American needs to realize, if they don't already, is that we are not "independent" but rather we are "interdependent." This means in the long run we must depend on each other. When we see people who are dishonest, won't pay their bills, tell lies, fail to pay their taxes and commit acts of gross immorality, it affects every person in this country. If left unchecked, this kind of behavior just lowers our standards and we all ultimately pay the price.

While I don't know how you feel about it, I love people who are genuine. This is to say they are real and don't engage in half-truths and double talk. I'm sure you know that a half-truth is still a lie. When it comes to the right way to live, to act and to treat our fellow human beings we have something that will serve as a guide that I would like to call "the genuine article." You know it as THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and ever since the days when God gave them to Moses on Mt. Sinai, they have been the basic moral code that has guided all civilized people.

If you have not read THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in some time, why not take a moment and read them here. If you will read each one slowly and think about what it means, I believe you will agree that America can take a giant leap forward if we will take them serious and began to obey them again.

1. You shall have NO other Gods before me. 2. You shall NOT make for yourself any idol or graven image. 3. You shall NOT take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy. 5. Honor your father and mother so that your days may be long. 6. You shall NOT murder. 7. You shall NOT commit adultery. 8. You shall NOT steal. 9. You shall NOT bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall NOT covet. I hope your life is a source of hope and inspiration to those who know you best. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 163

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

MOUNTAIN TALK

William Smith, the father of English geology, once said, "Language is the memory of the human race." In recent times, progress and advancement in education have altered the course of human history. When it could be truthfully said, "the pen was mightier than the sword," the fulcrum of power was no longer brute strength, but people's ability to use their native tongue with grace and ease. While America is a land of diverse peoples and cultures, our rich heritage is something we should always strive to preserve.

Several years ago I had the honor of being the speaker for the Yellville, Arkansas Chamber of Commerce Banquet. Yellville is a quiet little town on the Ozark plateau, not too far from the Missouri border. The morning following my speech I had breakfast at a little restaurant called the Cedar Inn. I understand it's no longer in business but back then their place mats contained something called Mountain Talk that I found to be very interesting.

Before I share a portion of this information with you, I would like to point out or at least emphasize that one of the greatest things about our country is that we have a common bond. Regardless of who our ancestors were or where they came from, what we do for a living, whether we are rich or poor, we are all Americans. We should take our responsibility seriously because we are all citizens of the greatest nation in the world.

Not only do we have a common bond, we also have a great diversity among our people which is also a great strength. As diversity relates to our language, millions of Americans speak languages in addition to English and many speak with an accent. Accents can reflect more than American's ethnic variety, they can reveal regional speech patterns as well. For example, I can't figure out why the folks in Boston think I talk funny. Mountain Talk, the article from the place mat that I want to share with you, contains regional sayings commonly used in the Ozark Mountain area. Some of you folks in the Mid-West, California, Washington and other areas where our collumn runs may find this a little more than unusual. Some of these sayings have roots in expressions found in England, Scotland and Ireland brought to this country by early settlers who lived in the mountain regions of the American South.

Here are some of the examples: A-fixin' means getting ready to do something. "We're a-fixin' to go to the store." Peaked means pale or sickly looking. "He's looking mighty peaked today." Fetch means to bring." "Go fetch the Doctor." Put-Out means angry or annoyed. "He shore was put-out about the meeting." Hesh-up means become quiet. "Make Jamie hesh-up." Clum means climbed. "I clum that hill for the last time."

Now, before I'm plum slap done, I would like to give you more of the sayings without the definitions and examples. You will probably be able to figure out some of them. Askeered of, doins, dast, holler, vittles, you'uns, cuttin' up, book read, fur piece, gully washer, lolly gag, crick, airish, kiver, skittish and smack dab.

These expressions have a way of touching my roots, and if you will think about it, you can probably trace yours back there too. You know, if we will take this line of thinking back far enough, we're all just chips off the old block. In all my years of speaking, the one thing I have learned is that if I want to be effective, I must speak in the language of those who are in the audience. I have found however, that clean humor is the one bond that unites us all. As Robert Louis Stevenson has said, "All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language until it finds a willing and prepared hearer." (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 165

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE DOG AND THE RABBIT

The other day I heard an interesting story that may be of some value to you. This story will be especially meaningful if you are bored with your job, your marriage, your school or maybe even some of your friends. Incidentally, the American editor and craftsman Elbert Hubbard once said that, "Boredom is the essential nature of monogamy." Now, you may have to think about that for a moment, but boredom is a disease more crippling to the human species than most of us realize.

If you will think about the divorce rate, decline in church attendance, lost sales and productivity and many other things along this line, and see boredom as a big part of the problem, you will begin to get the picture. The story I mentioned earlier is called "The Dog And The Rabbit." In an allegorical sense, as it relates to living a more exciting and fun filled life, I want to suggest that you learn to live your life like a dog chasing a rabbit.

Now, please stop for a moment and think about what I have just said. Have you ever had the opportunity to look at a dog's face while it was right in the middle of a rabbit chase? Well I have, and believe me, it is the most satisfying and enthusiastic sight you could ever see. You can be sure when a dog is chasing a rabbit, in his mind, he has something wonderful to do.

As it relates to what I am saying, here is something else to think about. How many rabbits can a dog chase at once? While there may be several rabbits running around at the same time, a dog is lucky if he catches even one. There is something else that I might also point out here. I've never seen a rabbit chasing a dog, have you? Most of the time the rabbit gets away but the dog's goal is always to catch him.

However, here is the real moral of the story. The fun is in the chase. Now, let me pause here and say something very important because if I fail to get this point across, I've done you a disservice, and even more so if you happen to be bored a good portion of your time. The rabbit is the GOAL, and the fun is in the CHASE. In other words, "No Goal, No Fun, at least not for long.

Can you see and understand what I am getting at? Life is only rewarding and interesting when we are working to attain something that is really important to us. While we may not even be aware of it at the time, when this element is added life takes on new meaning and in the process we are having a wonderful time.

As it relates to what I was saying earlier about being bored with our job, our marriage, our school and maybe some of our friends, the truth is, it may be our fault. In a sense, this is why some people like to travel. They are always moving, seeing new things and meeting new and interesting people. Our journey through life should be that way. Unless we are retired or on vacation, we should never get out of bed without something wonderful to do and something to look forward to.

If what I am saying has any merit in your life and you are not already doing this, here are a few suggestions to get started. First, visualize the rabbit chase and notice that the rabbit is always out front. That's the GOAL. Secondly, stop here and set some goals for yourself. Write them down on paper and decide on the single goal that is most important. Remember, the dog can only chase one rabbit at a time.

And lastly, focus on that goal that you want to achieve and get started and each day when you get out of bed you will have something to look forward to. As a result, life will take on new meaning and "boredom" will be a thing of the past. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)

No. 839

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

EVERYONE HAS A STORY!

Several years ago one of the network television stations in nearby Little Rock had a weekly feature called, “Everyone Has a Story.” The on-air reporter had a unique way of selecting those she featured in the following week’s program. The station had a large map of Arkansas affixed to one of the walls in the studio, and this female reporter would face in the opposite direction, take a dart and throw it back over her shoulder. The city or town where it landed is where she would travel to select someone to interview for the following week. It was a neat idea and a lot of interesting stories came as a result.
Since we all have a story, this begs the question: what is the story of your life up to this point in time? Are you happy with the way it has been unfolding? If not, I want to offer you a word of encouragement. It is seldom too late to improve, make amends or change direction. We only have one life to live, and it’s important to make the most of it while we are here. Every person has a story, especially those who live long enough to make choices that affect his or her environment, and there have been billions of people in this planet since time began. As I thought about this, I realized that most of us would fit into one of the following categories.
Obviously, I must be concise here because of space limitations, but I want to invite you to think about people who come to mind, in addition to the examples I give. There are people in our world and nation we could call --
1. Traitors: The most famous of all in American history is Benedict Arnold. Then there is Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, along with Aldrich Ames and several others. What other names come to your mind that could be called traitors?
2. Patriots: The number here is endless, but George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Audie Murphy, Dwight Eisenhower and General Douglas McArthur are my choices.
3. Villains: Charles Manson, Adolph Hitler, Ted Bundy, Pol Pot and Benito Mussolini come to mind.
4. Legends: Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King Jr., Will Rogers, Amelia Earhart, Albert Einstein, George Washington Carver, Benjamin Franklin are names right off the top of my head. It would take volumes to include all the legends, past and present, who have made a real difference.
5. Heroes: Members of our nation’s Armed Forces (past and present), policemen and women, firefighters, all those who risk their lives to save others who are in peril.
6. Public Servants: Those who run for public office, federal, state and local, and those who are employed by various agencies of our government. (Sometimes we forget about all the good people who sacrifice to make life better for the rest of us.)
7. Your Average Joe: Of course, everything is relative, but this is the category where most of us can be found. We just have a job, pay taxes and obey the law. But as producers and consumers, we are also the backbone of our nation’s economy.
While there are exceptions, the vast majority of people can be found in one of the aforementioned categories. What is truly exciting is that God created each of us as unique, one-of-a-kind human beings, with no one on earth exactly like us. When we reach the age of accountability, we have the opportunity to write the story of our own life. Why not make it a masterpiece?
One story I forgot to mention. The greatest story of all is about the life of a Jewish carpenter, who would change the world forever. His name is Jesus.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 841

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE REAL WORLD KEEPS SCORE

Literacy is perhaps our most critical skill. It can mean the difference between a life well lived and a life of hardship. Unfortunately, more than 93 million Americans read at or below a basic level -- with 30,000 in Central Arkansas alone struggling with the burden of illiteracy every day.
These words were taken from a brochure I picked up recently when Kelly Bullington, local representative for Literacy Action of Central Arkansas, spoke to our Lions Club. Kelly, a graduate of the University of Kansas, was articulate and very knowledgeable, but the thing that stood out the most for me was the obvious passion she had for her work and helping illiterate adults learn to read. That’s what I like to see. If a person is not passionate about what they do, how can they expect others to help or support them, which was the primary reason she was there.
As founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project, it was only natural that I would have a sincere interest in the work she is doing. We chatted after the meeting and both agreed it would be great if our bookcase project could put them out of business. We both know this will never happen. There were a couple of items in her handout literature that I consider as crucial to a child’s future success, and I would like to pass along that information.
First, a mother’s reading skill is the greatest determinant of her children’s future academic success, outweighing other factors such as neighborhood and family income (U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, 2010). Second, children whose parents are involved with them in family literacy activities score 10 points higher on standardized tests (National Center for Family Literacy, 2006).
Over the past several weeks, I have been thinking about writing a column with the theme, ‘The real world keeps score.” Kelly’s talk really reinforced just how true this is. While there are many reasons why we have 93 million adults in America today who read below a basic level, this number would be much lower had literacy been a top priority in the homes of these adults back when they were children. We have millions of children in America today who don’t like to read and, as a result, don’t read well. Sadly, many will wind up as a statistic, and someone who missed out on most of the great opportunities that come their way.
What I am going to say next is not meant to be a panacea, but there is a question that millions of children never ask themselves when they are involved in countless activities they are passionate about. I have two beautiful granddaughters. One is a beauty queen, having been in the Miss Arkansas Pageant this past year, and the other is very popular and a fantastic dancer, and it would seem that she has a bright future. Because they are still both very young, only time will reveal how successful they become in the real world where it really counts because, if they live to the normal life expectancy, they still have more than 50 years before them.
Here is that question: can I make a living at this? The real world keeps score and many young people never think about this until they find themselves on a dead-end street. After school and college they have no real goals, no direction and, in many cases, no job or career path. While money is certainly not everything, it is important in today’s society. In many cases these young people will take any job just to get by, but they miss the joy of personal success. The question “Can I Make a Living At It” should be at least a part of our thinking when we are having fun and spending time doing things we love to do.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project Visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 843

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THIS TOO SHALL PASS

The other day I asked a lady I know about her mother that I had not seen in some time, and she replied, “She passed.” What she was saying is that her mother had died. The term, “she passed” or “he passed” is an expression used by a good number of people, but most of us would add the word “away” to this term to say he or she “passed away.”
You may wonder where I am going with this line of thinking, but one of the things that I feel very strongly about is doing my best to provide good information and reliable benefits to each person who invests their time to read what I have to say. I realize that I don’t hit the nail on the head every time but I honestly do my best to keep your needs in mind when I sit down to write.
With regards to what I have been saying, it is just a fact of life that we are all going to die, regardless of the term that is used. Obviously, the only chance and choice we have to make a difference in the lives of people, including our own, is while we are living. My comments to this point are used as a way of introducing a term that my wife, Viola, and I have used over the years. If I can place it in the proper context, I believe the term I am going to share will help you, too. When we have sharp disagreements over something, which usually are trivial, or find ourselves in an uncomfortable situation, we say, “This too shall pass.” Regardless of the situation and whatever it may be, it’s comforting to know that, in the vast majority of cases, in time our circumstances will change and we will have smooth sailing again.
Now, please ask yourself this question: What am I facing now, short of a terminal disease or illness, that cannot be made much better by intelligent action? A few examples of what I am saying could include working under the supervision of a taskmaster who has no compassion or love for others; sitting on the bench waiting for your chance because you know you are better than those who are playing; a child who is sitting in jail facing drug charges or is charged with a serious crime; a spouse who is cheating on you; more bills sitting on the kitchen table than you have money to cover and you have maxed out all your credit cards; tires on your car that are slick and winter is coming with no resources to buy new or better ones; and on and on.
Here is something we should all remember and think about from time to time. We can not be defeated when we take the long-range view. If we can see down the road far enough and not get caught up in the emotion of the moment, we will have peace and a settled mind that will buy us time to work out a solution. Most people do not take the long-range view. I have a good friend who is hurting because his son went through a divorce. Maybe he thinks it’s his fault, which it is not, but he needs to understand that divorce is not the end of the world. People go though divorce every day and many are justified. It is not God’s plan to divorce, but He does forgive those who ask for forgiveness -- I John 1: 9.
Going back to a point I made earlier, the vast majority of our challenges and problems can be made better by intelligent action. We all have problems. We can choose to defeat or overcome them, or we can let them overcome us. Please sit down and take a piece of paper and a pencil and list the most pressing problems or challenges you face. Now, give each one some thought and list what you think are possible solutions. When you are finished, put the paper away and go to work on solving your problems. When we say “This too shall pass” we are simply buying time.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 845

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHY AMERICA’S CREDIT RATING WAS DOWNGRADED

For more than 70 years, the United States has enjoyed the highest credit rating given by Standard and Poor’s, the world’s most highly esteemed credit rating agency. But this is no longer the case. In August 2011, this changed when our nation was downgraded from an “AAA” rating to the next lowest level “AA+.” Most Americans will give this very little thought, but it has serious implications for anyone looking to borrow money. The downgrade in rating means that we are a greater risk for defaulting on our loans and this means higher interest rates, which over time filters down to every level of our society.
According to David Beers, head of S&P’s government rating unit, “It’s possible the rating will come back, but we don’t think it’s coming back any time soon.” Now, let me pause here and say just for the record, I am not an economist and there are thousands of people in our nation who know a lot more about it than I do. The reason I wanted to share this is because a friend sent me something the other day that makes it very easy to understand for the average layman like me. Of course when you talk about finances and debt, you are always taking a “snapshot” in time, as it’s very fluid and always changing. Think about this in terms of your own personal finances and it will be much easier to see and understand. And to be sure, it does affect you whether you realize it or not.
Here we go, and try to not get dizzy because of the zeroes. The title is simply, “Why the US was downgraded.”

U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000.
Federal Budget: $3,820,000,000,000.
New Debt: $1,650,000,000,000.
National Debt: $14,271,000,000,000. (It’s over 15 trillion now)
Recent budget cut: $38,500,000,000

Now, let’s remove 8 zeroes and pretend it’s a household budget:

Annual family income: $21,700.
Money the family spent: $38,200.
New debt on credit card: $16,500.
Outstanding balance on credit card: $142,710.
Total budget cuts: $385.

To my way of thinking, this is a pretty good way to visualize the sad state of our nation’s finances and why we were downgraded by Standard & Poor’s. This is also the battle that is taking place in the U.S. Congress each and every day. Most members of Congress don’t have any backbone and do not want to cut anything, but rather spend even more if they think it will help get them reelected. The big question is simply this, will we get a handle on our nation’s debt or will it destroy us?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 847

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

IS IT TIME TO RETHINK POVERTY?

One of the saddest stories I hear these days is about the large number of people who are falling out of the middle class. Most of these people have lost their jobs, and as a result their home, and are struggling just to survive. This is a story we hear on the national news every day, and I don’t think for a moment that I have all the answers, but I could venture some possible reasons.
Rather than a rehash, I believe a better use of our time - yours and mine - may be to rethink poverty itself. We might begin with this question: What causes poverty and why are so many people in our nation and all across the world living in poverty? Since poverty in our society is determined by income levels, which is to say the amount of spendable income a person receives, from all sources, to meet their needs, this is where it might be profitable to invest a little of our time.
Here is a trick question for you to ponder for a moment. Since poverty is determined by income, would having more money solve the problem of poverty? Well, not according to David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute is a think tank based in Washington, DC, and is a public policy research organization dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. This organization accepts no government funds and more than 80 percent of its budget comes from contributions from individuals and foundations.
In an article titled “Time for New Thinking about Poverty,” Mr. Boaz takes journalists to task for continuing to advocate more money to poor people and poor countries as a way to solve their domestic and global poverty. He says, “It’s remarkable that so many smart people in our society are unaffected by the evidence that such transfer programs just don’t work.” In another article two reporters talked about the destitute people who fled Hurricane Katrina and wondered if America would finally face the problem of poverty. They suggested that only a renewed “War on Poverty” is the real way to help the poor.
That aside, let’s look at the facts. The United States has spent $9 trillion (in current dollars) on welfare programs since President Johnson launched the War on Poverty in 1965. (This article was written in 2005 and you know what has happened since then). Critics have challenged this figure, saying it includes more than welfare alone. They go on to list some of these programs: Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, food stamps, Medicaid, Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children and a wide variety of other programs. Clearly, those are all entitlements for the poor.
The article continues, “There are more than 80 poverty-related programs, which in 2003 cost $522 billion.” The next line reads, “Yet despite these programs, 37 million Americans continue to live in poverty.” Mr. Boaz goes on to say, “It’s time for new thinking about poor people and poor countries. Transfer programs don’t work; they trap both people and countries in a state of dependence instead of self-reliance. Markets work. People who get a job — any job — and stick with it until they find a better one will stay out of the welfare and poverty trap. But welfare is a powerful lure away from the world of work.”
He concludes by saying, “And reporters need new glasses, to let them see the evidence in front of them rather than relying on their outmoded assumptions.” Get any job may be the key to future success.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 849

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

BEYOND THE RIVER!

The people who know me personally will tell you that I am a man of very modest means. Granted, I could have had a lot more money and material possessions if that was my goal, but money has never been something I was obsessed with having. I need money to pay our bills like everyone else, and a little extra for a rainy day, but that’s about it. So, for me to pay $110 for a coffee-table book, not once but twice, is a little out of the norm for me. The reason is because the author of both books is Bill Ward, a friend of mine, and should he write another one, he can put me down for that one as well.
Bill’s latest book is titled “Beyond the River,” and it is one fabulous piece of work, from a content standpoint and also the beautiful photography. But first a little background since you probably don’t know Bill Ward personally. Bill is the son of a Baptist minister. He and his seven siblings moved around quite a bit, but they spent most of their time in the Conway area, mostly in Morrilton, Greenbrier and Bee Branch. Singing and musical instruments were part of their upbringing, and their talents were honed over the years until later when the family got together to form the Ward Family Singers. They were not only in demand, they were good. In the mid-1950s, Bill started to Arkansas State Teachers College, which later became the University of Central Arkansas. Needing to supplement his income, he took a job as photographer of the Log Cabin Democrat, the local daily newspaper. This was well before modern technology and back in the days of hot-metal and linotype to prepare the copy for publishing. As the paper’s first photographer, Bill would spend part of his time helping to get the paper out, but any time there was a story he was on the scene to visually capture the images for the following day’s paper. If he had extra film he did not use, he would just snap a wide variety of shots that would later help to create his archives that now contain more than a half million photographs.
He has been a photographer for more than 50 years, so this includes the transition into today’s high-tech digital world and more beautiful color photographs than you can imagine. Now, to the topic at hand, “Beyond the River” features the Arkansas River, which flows about five to six miles west of Conway. However, the headwaters of the Arkansas begin near Leadville, Colo., as a small stream you can step across. It later snakes its way through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas to the mighty river it becomes before it enters the Mississippi in extreme Southeast Arkansas near Arkansas Post. What Bill has done with this book is travel to the headwaters for some beautiful pictures and then uses beautiful prose to tell stories of life near the Arkansas.
While it is impossible to do justice to this book in just one column, here are a few of the offerings: Developing a Great River, Mark Twain at Napoleon, Quapaw: Life and Death of a Great Tribe, Age of Awakening of Food and Music, Gospel Music and Watermelons, Indian Artifact Collector, Jimmy Driftwood: A different Sort of Fellow, Two Brothers Cover J.F.K., Grim Reminder of Cold War, Arkansas’ Greatest Success Story: William Jefferson Clinton, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller: A Lot Like His Father, and So Much More.
All of this narrative has the backdrop of beautiful photographs. Just the research is worth many times over the cost of the book. If you would like a copy, visit Bill’s website: www.billwardphotography.com.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 851

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A TRIBUTE TO COACH DALE BROWN!

One morning several days ago, the phone rang at our house and there was a familiar voice on the other end of the line. It belonged to Coach Dale Brown, former head men’s basketball coach at Louisiana State University. Dale was calling in response to an e-mail I had sent him a few days before about our Bookcase for Every Child project. The e-mail contained an article I had written titled “One Kid At A Time” that not only gives an overview of the project but what we are doing, now in 10 communities, to provide children in low-income families with a personalized bookcase and some quality children’s books.
It was obvious from the beginning of our conversation that my article had hit a nerve with him, because he asked for permission to share it with others. He pointed out that none of our nation’s political candidates are talking about illiteracy and how it is impacting our country. He went on to tell me about the work he has done in the past at Angola Prison in Louisiana. Angola is the largest maximum-security prison in the United States and one of the toughest prisons in America in terms of the level of offenders they house. He said, “Do you know what the average grade level of inmates in this prison happens to be?” My answer was the 8th grade, which is the case in most other prisons I have read about. He said, “How about the 5th grade.”
Dale then told me about some of the work he has done with inmates in this maximum-security prison, a fact I already knew from viewing a film clip and reading some of his literature. The true-life example I have just shared is what really characterizes Coach Dale Brown after he retired from active coaching. After getting to know him over the past several months, he sends me several e-mails each week. The thing I most admire about him is that, after retirement, he did not quit serving and giving of himself to help others. His basketball legacy at LSU, head coach from 1972 to 1997, is assured as he has more wins (448) in the SEC than anyone else except Adolph Rupp of Kentucky.
However, this is not the reason I want to pay tribute to this man who has helped and inspired thousands of people over the years. I want to pay tribute to THE MAN, Dale Brown, who is known as “The Master Motivator” and who is also a true patriot. Just recently I received a copy of his new book “Getting Over the Four Hurdles of Life.” He signed it as follows: “Dear Jim: Please never let up on your quest to see all of our children educated and successful. I admire your efforts and wish you the very best.” Your Friend, Dale Brown.
Here are Dale’s four hurdles: “The First Hurdle: I can’t/You can’t”. “The Second Hurdle: Past Failures/ Fear of Failure”. “The Third Hurdle: Handicaps”. “The Fourth Hurdle: Lack of Self Knowledge.” If you can appreciate the fact there are literally hundreds of successful people in our country today who were told by someone in their life, “give up, change course, you will never amount to anything” but each case they were proven wrong. You will recognize most of the following names: Shaquille O’Neal, who wrote the introduction, Oprah Winfrey, Rudy Ruettiger, Albert Einstein, Elvis Presley, Walt Disney, J.K. Rowling, Paul Anderson and Steven Spielberg are just some of those Dale tells about in his latest book. The book is a great read with lots of practical, useful ideas that will help any person to use more of their latent God-given talents and abilities.
I am honored to pay tribute to THE MAN, Dale Brown. His book can be ordered through www.acadianhouse.com.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 854

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A PERSONAL CHALLENGE TO YOU!

With your permission and hopefully your blessing, I would like to present a personal challenge to you. If you can read the following column without laughing out loud or at least cracking a smile, I will give you an autographed copy of my new book, the new and revised edition of “Learning, Earning & Giving Back.” However, I must limit this offer to the first 25 readers that I hear from, for obvious reasons. And you will be on your honor as to whether you laughed or smiled or not.
What follows is about a nun sitting at her desk grading papers from students in her class. These students were asked questions about the Old and New Testaments. The following 25 statements about the Bible were written by her students and they have not been retouched or corrected. Note that the incorrect spelling has been left in.
“No. 1 - In the first book of the Bible Guinessis. God got tired of creating the world so he took the Sabbath off. No. 2 - Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree. Noah’s wife was Joan of Ark. Noah built the ark and the animals came on in pears. No. 3 - Lots wife was a pillar of salt during the day, but a ball of fire during the night. No. 4 – The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with unsympathetic genitals. No. 5 – Sampson was a strongman who let himself be led astray by a Jezebel like Delilah. No. 6 – Sampson slayed the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles. No. 7 – Moses led the Jews to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients. No. 8 – The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mountcyanide to get the ten commandments.
No. 9 – The first commandments was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple. No. 10 – The seventh commandment is thou shall not admit adultery. No. 11 – Moses died before he ever reached Canada then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of geritol. No. 12 – The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him. No. 13 – David was a Hebrew king who was skilled at playing the liar. He fought the Finkelsteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times. No. 14 – Solomon, one of Davids sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines. No. 15 – When Mary heard that she was the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.
No. 16 – When the three wise guys from the East side arrived they found Jesus in the manager. No. 17 – Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption. No. 18 – St. John the blacksmith dumped water on his head. No. 19 – Jesus enunciated the golden rule, which says to do unto others before they do one to you. He also explained that man doth not live by sweat alone. No. 20 – It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance. No. 21 – The people who followed the Lord were called the 12 decibels.
No.22 – The epistels were the wives of the apostles. No. 23 – One of the oppossums was St. Matthew who was also a taximan. No. 24 – St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage. No. 25 – Christians only have one spouse. This is called monotony.”
Now, if you did not laugh or smile, let me know, and I will send you an autographed copy of my book. When you meet someone who has no smile, give them one of yours, because no one needs a smile as much, as those who have none left to give.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 858
The Next Password is Egg

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

AN ALPHABET OF CHILD-REARING IDEAS!

If you are a parent and have children, young or old, are you happy with your parenting skills? While a very simple question, it strikes at the very heart of why so many of America’s children get in trouble, feel insecure, and often run with the wrong crowd, which leads to some very serious consequences down the road. It is safe to say that most parents love their children and want the very best for them but simply lack the parenting skills necessary to create the kind of environment where their children turn out to be model citizens and all that entails.
Along these lines, a Kansas reader sent me column reprint by the late Ann Landers that features an alphabet of child-rearing ideas. While it was written many years ago, attribution is given to Jo Frisbie Von Rachl in Pasadena (I assume California.) If she were still here, I am sure Ann Landers or the original author would not mind if I shared these ideas with you.
It begins: A is for Accountability. Hold your children accountable for their behavior. B is for Boundaries. Set specific limits and make clear the repercussions if these limits are exceeded. C is for Consistency. Hold to the same principles and practices.
D is for Discipline. Make the punishment fit the crime. Never discipline in anger. E is for Example. Children are in greater need for models than critics. Set a good example. F is for Forgiveness. Practice it and teach the importance of forgiving. G is for Giving. Teach the joy of giving, not only to family and friends, but to strangers in need. H is for a sense of Humor. Keep your sense of humor. Promote laughter with your children. I is for Imagination. Be creative, and play with your children. Make up stories or songs when you read and sing with them. J is for Justice. Be fair, and insist that they be fair, also.
K is for Knowing your children’s friends and their parents as well as their teachers. L is for Listening. Listen to your children. It will teach them how to listen to others, and their thoughts will give you insights. M is for Morals. Be sure your own standard of conduct is sound. N is for No. Use it and mean it. O is for Outdoors. Provide as much outdoor activity as possible. Teach respect for others. P is for Pressure. Reduce the pressure on your children, but insist they maintain high standards. Q is for Questions. Pay close attention to their questions, and give answers unless they demand more. R is for Respect. Show respect, teach respect and earn respect.
S is for Source of Strength. Share your own faith or beliefs with your children. T is for Togetherness. Have special designated times to be together as a family – but know when to let go, too. U is for Uniqueness. Understand the uniqueness of each child, and let that child be who he or she is. V is for Voice. Tone of voice can convey more to a child than the words spoken. W is for Words. Keep your word. Promises broken destroy trust. X is for Examine. Examine constantly and be aware. You is for You. Take care of yourself mentally, physically and spiritually. A happy parent helps a child to be happy. Z is for Zowie. Who would have thought they would grow up so quickly?
Well, there you have it, An Alphabet of Child-Rearing Ideas. No doubt about it, there is some great information here for any of us parents, grandparents or guardians who will use them. You may have thought about Love and Honesty being in the list but it was assumed these were already in place. I want to end this column with my very best wishes and words that I believe are most appropriate; “when your children shine, what a nice reflection on you.”
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

The Next Password is Egg

No. 855

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH!

As I begin to share my thoughts with you, I have an honest confession to make. Today I am going to write the kind of column that I don’t like to write, but someone, hopefully thousands of people, will speak up about the many abuses that are taking place in country.
A few weeks ago I got a beautiful full-color piece in the mail (snail-mail) that had this heading: “No Payment Ever.” Below the heading were the following words: FREE Camera Phone – FREE Monthly Minutes. Then further down on the piece were these sentences, each with a red arrow in the check box beside them: FREE Camera Phone – FREE Monthly Minutes – No Contract – FREE Enrollment - No I.D. Required – No Problem.
How is that for getting something for nothing? It reminded me of the story of the company CEO who wanted to make his organization more efficient, so he hired a consulting firm with a stable of efficiency experts. He gave them the challenge to do an assessment of his entire operation and come back with ways to save his company money and run more efficiently. After about six weeks they came back with a report that contained more than 1,000 pages. The CEO looked at the report and said, “This is far too detailed, can you condense it down a bit?” So, they went away and came back a month later with a 500-page report.
Again, the CEO looked at the second report and said, “Still too much detail. Can you condense it still further?” In about a week they came back with one simple sentence. It read, “There is NO Free Lunch.” I probably don’t have to tell you that every business person in the private sector knows what this means. In addition to providing a useful product or service, every business is in existence to earn a profit. Profit is where every expense and all future potential growth comes from, and without it there is no future for the company.
For the uninitiated, here is how it works. A business sells its products and services to earn a profit. At the end of each accounting period, the business totals up its total sales and subtracts all of its expenses, including taxes, salaries, rent, utilities, insurance, advertising and all other expenses which is called overhead, and this leaves a net profit. Every business person understands that without profits, there is no future for the company. Again, they all understand there is no “FREE LUNCH” as someone has to pay for it.
Now, back to the beautiful brochure I received in the mail with all the offers of “FREE” printed all over it. Since someone has to pay, who do you think this is? I will give you the answer in a moment. For several months I had been hearing about people getting “FREE” phones, and this is what this unsolicited mailing piece was advocating. When I checked it out, I found that it is a government program offering anyone a free camera phone who is getting any form of government help such as Medicaid, food stamps, SSI, National School Lunch Program and Section 8 Housing. In short, the American taxpayers are paying for “FREE” phones for poor people, and again that’s not a regular cell phone but a camera phone.
Sadly, our government is now borrowing 40 percent of all the money it spends and we are more than $16 trillion in debt. Here are two statements that really sum it up. “The government’s food stamp program is pleased to report they are distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever.” Meanwhile, the National Park Service warms, “Do not feed the animals.” They are concerned the animals will grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

No. 833

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE EVILS OF CRONYISM

As I thought about what I wanted to share with you today, I felt like the mosquito that flew over a fence and unexpectedly found himself right in the middle of a nudist colony … I don’t know where to begin. This is because the topic is so broad and expansive that it would take volumes, and not just a single column, to do it justice.
For lack of a better title, I want to talk about The Evils of Cronyism. If you are not familiar with the word cronyism, it means partiality to long-standing friends, especially by appointing them to positions of authority, regardless of their qualifications. Hence, cronyism is contrary in practice and principle to meritocracy. Cronyism exists where the appointer and the beneficiary are in social contact; often, the appointer is inadequate to hold his or her own job or position of authority and for this reason the appointer appoints individuals who will not try to weaken him or her, or express views contrary to those of the appointer. Politically, “cronyism” is derogatorily used.
Now, what I have just shared came right out of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. At this point, let’s look at some examples of cronyism that are taking place as this is one of the many reasons our Congress has approval ratings that have fallen to single digits in the eyes of the American people. I might add that cronyism is not just in government circles but also takes place in the private sector. However, it is far more egregious in the public sector because most often it involves our tax money. The economic and social costs of cronyism are paid by society, which means all of us, and that includes you and me.
Before I share some examples of cronyism from the public sector, it should be noted that this is not a partisan issue, as Democrats and Republicans alike are guilty. Going back a ways in history, here is one for the books. The Warren Harding administration has become a schoolbook case of cronyism. Harding appointed his old college friends as members of his cabinet, resulting in several scandals. The term “Harding Cabinet” has become synonymous for rotten and corrupt administration. Another example is when former U.S. President George W. Bush was accused of cronyism after the nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. Miers had no previous judicial experience and demonstrated little knowledge of constitutional law, and her selection was soundly rejected by many conservatives and liberals.
Another more recent example is a private park in New York City that the Wall Street protestors were “occupying” that is not owned by the city. Zucotti Park is owned by Brookfield Properties, which recently hired Vice President Joe Biden’s son as an attorney and Mayor Bloomberg’s live-in girlfriend sits on the board. Both are getting paid big money. Here is the link that makes it cronyism. Brookfield Properties received some of the last of the Obama Stimulus money, which is our tax money, pure and simple.
When you think about the thousands and thousands of lobbyists in our nation’s capital who become “cronies” with members of Congress, the insider deals they make, and what it is costing the American taxpayer, you can see the evil of it. To have good government, we must have transparency, often promised but seldom received. As voters, we must hold all those elected to office to a higher standard. “We The People” must take our nation back and vote people out of office when they are guilty of “cronyism,” as this will send a powerful message. It has always been true: “Righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.”
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)

chilNo. 835

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A GREAT LITERACY IDEA!
When it comes to education in America over the past several decades, in many ways, we have had the tail wagging the dog, which is to say we have put more emphasis on athletics than academics. We have some notable exceptions, but by and large this is the case, as you will find community after community able to find money to build a new athletic facility but unable to find money to make the library and the curriculum what it should be. The ironic thing about this statement is that we can all be winners both in the classroom and the various venues of athletic competition, if the focus and emphasis is placed on the right things.
I want to give you just one small example of what I am saying by telling you about Greenbrier, Arkansas, a great community about 10 miles north of where I live. This community of a little more than 4,000 people is very progressive, has good schools, and this past year had an outstanding football team. Several months ago, Marilyn Battles, president of First Service Bank, decided that Greenbrier would be well served if they had a Bookcase for Every Child project, to give quality, personalized bookcases and a starter set of books to some deserving, but needy, children in their area. With little fanfare, she began to talk with her fellow citizens, and many got on board to launch their very own bookcase project. It is patterned and developed along the lines of our copyrighted project started here in Conway back in 2005.
In a short period of time they had a great group of local leaders committed to serve on their Greenbrier Bookcase Project Committee. After a couple of meetings, and countless e-mails, they set the date for their first Bookcase Literacy Banquet. They also had Rick Whitley, former elementary principal, and his son Matt, committed to build the bookcases. The first thing the committee did was have a local book drive, and decorated boxes were placed around the community so local people could donate gently used or new pre-school children’s books to the project. They did a great job, had plenty of donated books, had a fantastic banquet and were on their way to having a very successful project.
Now, here is where they took our basic Conway ideas and improved on them to the point that I am calling it, “A Great Literacy Idea.” At this point in the season, their football team was undefeated (6-0) and one of the teachers suggested that members of the team read to the children in the lower elementary grades the day of the game. Later that evening at their tailgate party, which most schools have, they advertised free food for anyone who would bring a children’s book as their contribution for the food. That one night they received more than 2,000 books for the project, enough to last for several years as “starter sets” for the bookcases. Many children in disadvantaged homes do not have any books, but one of the greatest benefits is awareness for the project. Greenbrier does not have a local newspaper to generate the level of publicity necessary for success. Now, everyone knows about the project.
It’s true that academics and athletics can go hand in hand, but when academics is not your top priority, everyone is the loser. A student athlete or cheerleader can be all-American or all-everything, but if they never learn to read well and speak well, they will leave school or college behind and face a future that is not nearly as bright as it could have been with a town and school that has its priorities in the right order. Why not start an all-volunteer bookcase project in your community?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helpind.)

NO. 837

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

A PROGRAM OF HOPE!
By nature, I am just naturally an optimistic person. However, I am not quite as optimistic as the old boy who went down to the courthouse to see if his marriage license had expired. There is another word in our English language that can be used interchangeably with optimism, and that word is hope. To be sure, we all need hope and in the right things -- a better job, better income, better health, better marriage, better future and a better life, just to name a few. However, in these stressful times with millions of people out of a job and most of them in debt, we all need to be constantly reminded of our self-worth as a person and the fact that learning and applying the right principles can indeed lead to a better life.
We have a unique ministry here in our community that is doing this for countless individuals and families who are down on their luck for any number of reasons. This ministry is called Bethlehem House, which, according to the director Judi Lively, encourages, equips and motivates homeless individuals and families to change their lives and their situations. Judi is quoted as saying, “I like to summarize that what we do is help people who want to change their lives, and we focus on equipping them to do so.”
Now, please allow me to pause here and make an important comment or two. If you live in another community where you read my column each week, the principles and strategy this ministry employs will help any person who may be down on their luck to achieve greater success and happiness. This is why I have titled the column “A Program of Hope.”
Please read and ponder the following information and you will see a program that has been developed over time, with trial and error, that can even be lifesaving for many people. Here are some of the reasons why their program works. First, they have the discipline built in the program that is lacking in many homeless and hurting peoples’ lives that has led to their present condition. The program requires drug and alcohol testing, and if a person fails these tests they are unable to stay. Those who do stay have to get jobs, and 50 percent of their money goes into a savings account that Bethlehem House manages and is used to pay off bills, fines, child support, or any accounts they may have in arrears. Their goal is to get residents into zero debt and for them to save money. Bethlehem House residents pay 20 percent back into the house. “That really is a discipline. We all have rent or mortgages to pay, and our residents have to do that, too. It also gives them some buy-in to the program,” states Judi.
Completion of a money management course is also a residency requirement. Habitants who may have addiction issues must attend a 12-step program, and those who have mental health issues must be stabilized. Bethlehem House has two dedicated case managers who work with the residents. “They work with their case manager to develop individual goals. These goals can be anything from reestablishing a relationship with a family member to getting back into church to getting out of debt or buying a car. The goals are their choice and their case manager holds them accountable. In fact, a case manager goes through their goals each week to check their progress,” says Judi.
That’s the end of what I wanted to share. Please note that most of this information came from a magazine called Women’s Inc., published each month by our local newspaper. Our community really supports this ministry and they have plans to build a larger facility to do more. Every community needs a program like Bethlehem House.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child!

No. 200

Jim Davidson...NEWSPAPER COLUMN

THE LAW OF SELF-CONTROL

Have you ever been discombobulated? I have, many times. This word means to be confused or upset. For some reason this word came to mind when I began to think about the Law Of Self-control, which is what I want to invite you to think with me about for a little while. If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that in the past Ive discussed various natural laws that can become success laws if understood and applied in the right way. Success is desired by almost everyone but unfortunately millions of people never take the time to learn the laws or principles that govern or determine success.

The truth is, we live by the grace of God but while we are here on this earth there are things we can do and acts we can perform on a routine basis that will make us more successful and in most cases, happier as well. Of course, whether its success or happiness or both, a lot depends on our priorities, but thats another column. But back to the word discombobulated for a moment. I am always inspired and even amazed at the amount of control that some people have over their body. Ill never forget Gold Metal Winner Mary Lou Retton who hit two perfect 10s in a row during the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Obviously, space will not permit too many examples but think of the high wire walker or flying trapeze artists in the circus or the fantastic ice skaters that have been around for years. My point is that you cant have this kind of control over your body if you are discombobulated. To be successful in most any endeavor we must have the mind and the body working in perfect harmony to achieve maximum results. However, there is still another aspect to consider here and that is to have a high degree of control over our lives. At this point, it should be rather obvious why our personal success depends to a large degree on our knowledge, development and proper use of the Law Of Self-control.

To elaborate a little more and to make it clear, we know by the process of experimentation that we have control over various parts of our body. A simple command will tell us to move our hands, fingers, legs, feet and even our eyes. But have you ever thought about the fact that a simple command will not cause your heart to stop beating? Its between these two extremes that lie all the rest of our self-control. While we have great control over our limbs, we have less control over our tongue, and in diminishing order our ideas, feelings, emotions and our instincts.

At this point I believe you can see that its here that our greatest potential lies. According to the dictionary, self-control means to exercise direction, restraint, motivation and government over our organs, our faculties, our emotions, as well as our personalities. At this point what Im going to say may be so simple that you may have a tendency to pass it off without a second thought. Hopefully, you wont do that because a little time spent each day in this area could pay great dividends. Please consider these final thoughts and what they could mean to you.

The key to achieving greater self-control is training and the greatest accomplishment is to train the mind to extend and increase its authority over the body. The first step toward self-control is planning. We must know what we wish to accomplish and also what our resources and shortcomings are. Then once a day we should sit down, plan, think, analyze and reason. If you will discipline yourself to do this on a consistent and regular basis, your self-control is bound to increase. Then to a larger degree, we will be masters of our own fate, and will be able to do more with our God given talents and abilities. (Jim Davidson is a motivational speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)