On and On and On

 Perseverance 

What are your core principles?  One of mine is to never give up. I am grateful that perseverance is somehow resident deep in my soul.  Winston Churchill had it too.  Remember the famous line in his speech where he said “never, never, never give up”?
 
When we, like Churchill, are experiencing overwhelming attack or bad odds we must keep our face square into the wind and press on.  Showing persistence will also encourage those who look to us.  Seeing our example, they are likely to mimic our perseverance and display this character quality to those they interact with.  

 

"Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did." Newt Gingrich

Truth of Consequences

 To Tell theTruth 

I remember the first time I experienced injustice.  It was when the grumpy old man at the end of my boyhood street accused me of throwing a rock at his house.  It seems that a few of the neighbor kids has committed the heinous act and conspired to blame it on me.  When he accused me I felt indignation such as I had never experienced.  I had received injustice!
 
Superman was known for his mantra “truth, justice and the American way.”  Let’s be “super people” and known as lovers of truth and justice and let’s demonstrate that to those near us.  We also should be known as people who give others the benefit of the doubt because sometimes we don’t know or can’t get all the facts. 

 

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." Mark Twain

Watch Your Mouth

 Moderation

Have you ever had lunch with someone you want to get to know and they spend the whole meal talking about themselves and their accomplishments? 

If you are like me, you wanted to learn about their life but you wanted them to learn about yours too.  Boasting, bragging or monopolizing in conversation is a relationship killer.

A good test as to whether there is moderation in your conversation is to look to see who has eaten the most food.  If your plate is much fuller then your guests, then you are talking too much and asking too few questions.

My father had a great, if not a bit raunchy, term for people that talked too much.  He called it “diarrhea of the mouth.” On this matter John Wayne had great advice for managing our speech.  He said, "Talk low, talk slow and don't say too much."