Charles Dickens, in writing his book, A Tale of Two Cities, began his story by saying, “It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.” That statement could apply to every era, every generation, and to every household in every country that has ever shared this beautiful earth. Too! It represents every period of…
Category: The Book of On – Volume 4
On Doing What Is Necessary
I have always loved a good story, especially one that ends in a way that you least expected. The following story is such a one: “One dark night outside a small town, a fire started inside the local chemical plant and within minutes it exploded into flames. An alarm went out to fire departments for…
On Tolerance
It has, sometimes, been an interesting observation of mine that when someone doesn’t believe my story, my argument, etc., they are intolerant. When I don’t believe theirs it’s either because they were lying or misunderstood the issue. Joshua Liebman said that: “Tolerance is the positive and cordial effort to understand another’s beliefs, practices and habits without…
On Yesterday
The song, “Yesterday,” was one of the most popular songs for many years, but we seldom hear it anymore. There were parts of it that were very meaningful and which made one contemplate life and lost youth. I have always had a difficult time hearing the lyrics while a song is being sung. Even though…
On Moral Elevation
The following story was written by Arthur C. Brooks: “Several years ago, I visited Provo, Utah—in the heart of what its residents call “Happy Valley”—to deliver a lecture at Brigham Young University. My gracious hosts sent me home with a prodigious amount of branded souvenirs: T-shirts, mugs—you name it. The Mormons are serious about product…
On Story Time
“Life is like a tale that lives, some life stories are written so vividly that, as you read, you see it’s action filmed upon the screen of your mind. We can’t all be such writers but that should not stop us from sharing our tales of life.” After reading the above, it made me realize…
On Sympathy Vs. Compassion
There is a difference between sympathy and compassion, but it has been hard for me to describe until I read this story about Mayor LaGuardia. He was a little man with a large presence. The story was part of a religious article about generosity and how this particular organization was being taught to be generous…
On Listen To this!
Our attention span is sometimes shorter than we or especially other’s may like. When our eyes start closing while another is talking to us about a problem they are having, that is a fairly obvious piece of evidence to them that we are not too sympathetic to their problem or interests. We essentially convict ourselves…
On Traveling
My wife and I have never been world travelers nor have we traveled frequently either. However, when we have had an opportunity to see new places and meet new people we have always enjoyed ourselves. We especially love people, for wherever we go we enjoy exchanging small talk with the local’s. Humor, is an international…
On Sunflowers
Planting Flowers in the Right Place Submitted by Danny Wakefield “Last night I bought a sunflower to put on the windshield of someone I’m smitten with. After some consideration I decided not to, since we had only been on one date, the night previous. I didn’t want to come off too strong, right? Anyway, I…