“Life is more meaningful when you are always looking to grow and working toward a goal.” — Les Brown, Motivational Speaker

The follies which a man regrets most in his life are those which he didn’t commit when he had the opportunity.” — Helen Rowland (1875-1950), Journalist

“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) Writer

“Kind words and good deeds are eternal. You never know where their influence will end.” — H. Jackson Browne

“Doubts are the ants in the pants of faith. They keep it awake and moving.” — Frederick Buechner

“Of neighborhoods, benevolence is the most beautiful. How can the man be considered wise who when he had the choice does not settle in benevolence.” — Confucius

“He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.” — Confucius.

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution.” — Kahil Gibran

“Blessed are those who give without remembering. And blessed are those who take without forgetting.” — Bernard Meltzer

“Do all the good you can By all the means you can In all the ways you can In all the places you can At all times you can To all the people you can As long as you can.” — Bernard Meltzer (My Golden Rule)

THE THIEF WHO WAS ROBBED

Zig Zigler, well-known motivational speaker tells the story about a thief who was robbed. The incident took place back in 1887 in a small neighborhood grocery store when a middle-aged gentleman, Emanuel Nenger, gave the assistant a $20 note to pay for the turnip greens he was purchasing. When the assistant placed the note in the cash drawer she noticed that some of the ink from the $20 came off on her hands which were wet from wrapping the turnip greens.

She’d known Mr. Nenger for years and was shocked. She ponders, “Is this man giving me a counterfeit $20 note?” She dismissed the thought immediately and gave him his change. But $20 was a lot of money in those days so she notified the police who, after procuring a search warrant, went to Emanuel Nenger’s home where they found in his attic the tools he was using to reproduce the counterfeit $20 notes. They found an artist’s easel, paint brushes, and paints which Nenger was using to meticulously paint the counterfeit money. He was a master artist.

The police also found three portraits that Nenger had painted-paintings that sold at public auction for a little over $16,000! The irony was that it took him almost as much time to paint a $20 note as it did to paint those portraits which sold for more than $5,000 each.

The man that robbed Emanuel Nenger was himself. We do the same whenever we cheat or break the law for illegitimate gain. And while most of us wouldn’t rob another person of his or her material possessions, it is very easy to rob a person’s reputation through idle gossip.

We also rob and cheat ourselves when we don’t give to to others in need . . . whether it is of our time, talents, resources, or love.

DO IT WHILE YOU LIVE

A rich man once asked a friend, “Why am I criticized for being miserly? Everone knows I will leave everything to charity when I die.” “Well,” said the friend, “let me tell you about the pig and the cow. The pig was lamenting to the cow one day about how unpopular he was. `People are always talking about your gentleness and your kind eyes,’ said the pig. `Sure, you give milk and cream, but I give more. I give bacon, ham, bristles. They even pickle my feet! Still, nobody likes me. Why is this?’ The cow thought a minute then replied “Well, maybe it’s because I give while I’m still living.'” SUNSHINE MAGAZINE

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. Life is no ‘brief candle” to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for a moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” — George Bernard Shaw