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WITandWISDOM(tm) - January 26, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "Anything I've ever done that ultimately was worthwhile initially scared me to death." - Betty Bender ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: When his son was just learning to write, Paul Halpern gave him a small chalkboard so they could write notes to each other. One evening while Paul was in the living room, his son called out from the bedroom, "How do you spell 'best'?" A few minutes after Paul answered, his son yelled again: "How do you spell 'kid'?" Paul responded. And then, for a third time, his son asked, "How do you spell 'ever'?" When Paul went into the child's room to view the board, he expected to see a note saying, "I am the best kid ever." But he was totally surprised when his son presented him with a different message: "You are the best dad a kid can ever have." Paul told his son he would have to buy him another chalkboard. He wanted to save this one. Many years later, it still hangs on his wall. Most people struggle hard for approval at work with the hope of getting acknowledgment, a raise or a promotion. These forms of recognition can give real pleasure. Yet if you could choose between winning your child's "Best Dad a Kid Can Ever Have" award and being named the best employee, which would you choose? The point is not to belittle the pursuit of recognition and success in your work life. It's to remind you how much closer, more personally meaningful and easier it is to find an enduring sense of pride and pleasure in the earned appreciation of your own children. This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts. © 2007 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit http://www.charactercounts.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Quotes of the Day If at first you don't succeed, find out if the loser gets anything. - Bill Lyon It was such a lovely day I thought it a pity to get up. - W. Somerset Maugham Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both. - John Andrew Holmes, "Wisdom in Small Doses" Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone. - Anthony Burgess I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map so it won't fall down. - Mitch Hedberg Source: Quotes of the Day, http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: I figured that at age seven it was inevitable for my son to begin having doubts about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. Sure enough, that day came. One day he said with an ominous tone, "Mom, I know the secret of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy." Taking a deep breath, I feared his innocence had been betrayed. I asked him carefully, "What is that?" Without hesitating he replied, "They're all nocturnal." Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright (c) ACTS International, 2004, http://www.actsweb.org/subscribe.php ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: A 10 foot tall emu was spotted walking the streets of New York in 1973, it had accidentally escaped from a circus that specialized in large exotic birds. When police questioned the circus owners they responded saying "George was constipated, so we thought a run around the grounds may help him feel better". Police fined the circus 25 dollars, and 5 months later a bi-law was passed stating that all emus within New York City must be on a leash. Submitted by Lorraine