The other morning in the shower I noticed my wife’s razor was hanging crooked from the holder it sat on.For a moment I thought about reaching up to steady it in the holder.I’m not sure if I thought it would not fall hanging the way it was, it was not my razor and therefore not my responsibility to adjust, or it was just easier to do nothing, but I chose not to adjust the razor.
Within a minute and with no bumping of the holder, the razor fell off the holder and landed on the shower floor.It was almost like the razor jumped off the holder and said, “OK, now what are you going to do?”The razor was now “not fine,” picking it up had become my responsibility, and doing so had become twice as hard as it would have been to simply straiten it moments ago.
It’s easy at times to do nothing justifying our actions with thoughts like, “sure, it would be better if I did it, but it will be just fine if I don’t,” or “it’s not my responsibility,” or “it’s easier not to.”The event reminded me that:
Waiting until the last minute to do something you know you should often comes with increased expense, effort, and time.
-Curtis Thomas
May 29, 2008 The Value of Time
“Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year, while another gets a full year’s value out of a week.”
Charles Richards
Much can be learned from the use of ones time.
-Curtis Thomas
May 28, 2008 Do You Think You Can
During World War II, soldiers were asked to compete to see who had the most powerful grip. They averaged 101 pounds per man. Then they were hypnotized and given the negative suggestion that they were weak and sickly, feeble and anemic. They were told to grip the machine as tightly as they could. They averaged 69 pounds per man.
Before they were awakened from their hypnotic trance, they were given the positive message that they were Herculean, Samson-like and powerful. They were then told to grip the machine as tightly as they could. What do you think was the result? They now averaged 140 pounds per man. This more than doubled their 69 pound grip under the defeatist or negative attitude and was almost 40% better than their best record in the normal waking state.
-Dr George W. Cane
Whether you think you can or whether you think you can’t, you’re right!
-Henry Ford
Do you focus on what you are not capable of doing or what you are capable of doing? Do you still carry with you to this day negative thoughts of your inadequacies? You have the opportunity right now to rid yourself of any negative impressions of yourself forever. You can change who you are. You have the opportunity to lay down each night a better and stronger person than the one who woke up that morning. Do you think you can? I know you can.
-Curtis Thomas
May 27, 2008 Amazing
One of the purposes of Growing In Goodness is to help you find news, people, and events worth watching, meeting, and participating in. I found this video of a 12 year old boy that is AMAZING. I have no doubt you'll enjoy it, as I have.
On Saturday I visited the Field of Heroes. Field of Heroes is a tribute to each of our casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan. For each of these casualties they have placed a white cross in the ground.
Walking onto the huge grass field covered by crosses helped to visually put into perspective the losses we have received during this time of war. And the great love these soldiers have for others. I have ABSOLUTETLY no desire to get into whether we should or shouldn’t be where we are at this time in the war. I only want to share my great appreciation to these men and women who have laid down their lives that the rest of us can enjoy the blessings that we do day to day. To see some of the pictures click here.
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” -John 15:13
-Curtis Thomas
May 23, 2008 Those Who Have Gone On Before
No matter who we are, we have family members who have gone through this life before us. This weekend we have the opportunity to take the time to reflect on memories of these people and what we have learned from them.
Let’s also make sure the good things we’ve learned from those who have gone on before us do not get lost from one generation to the next. During this time of reflection let’s make sure we pass on the good things we’ve learned from parents, grandparents, and other family members to our children and grandchildren. As each new generation stands on the shoulders of its predecessor, we do the world a great disservice if we do not pass on the values and good traits of those who have gone on before us to the next generation.
Make the effort to share your memories with family members; it is well worth the time.
-Curtis Thomas
May 22, 2008 The Small And Simple Things
Although sometimes hard to believe, small and simple things add up to great things. Here are a few examples:
Garages. It’s not like somebody wakes up one morning and says “OK, today’s the day. I’m going to see if I can cram so many things into my garage that it will be impossible to ever park a car in there again.” It doesn’t happen that way, it’s the little new things that are put in the corner out of the way that add up until one day there is no more corner and everything is in the way, and soon you say OK I can handle only parking one car in the garage and then eventually there is no more garage and you now own a storage unit that is so conveniently attached to your home. It’s the small things that add up to great things or in this case not so great things.
Beaches and Oceans. Millions upon millions of particles of sand make up thousands of miles worth of beaches. Millions upon millions of drops of water make thousands of miles of oceans. It’s the small particles and the small drops that make great things.
Good People. For the next newsletter, I interviewed a lady who went blind at the age of 25. When I asked her what makes a GOOD person she said, “I’ve learned from all the good people around me that it is the simple things you do for others that make you a good person. For me it’s when somebody reads a card to me or drives me somewhere. It doesn’t have to be big it doesn’t have to cost money. It’s the simple and thoughtful things you do for others that make a difference. It’s kindness and caring for others that make you a good person.”
Take care of the small things in life and bit by bit they will add up to great things.
-Curtis Thomas
May 21, 2008 Appreciation
The United States Post Office dead letter department receives annually thousands and thousands of children’s pre-Christmas letters addressed to Santa Claus asking for things. After it was all over one year, a single, solitary letter thanking Santa Claus was received.
Could this be one of the problems of this troubled world – that people think only of getting, not giving; of receiving, and not even expressing their gratitude for that which they do receive?
- Margaret R Jackson
To make sure we are not contributing to this “troubled world” I invite you to call, text, email, or send a letter to 5 people who have made a difference in your life and tell them thank you. It will only take a few minutes…. I’m starting right now.
-Curtis Thomas
May 20, 2008 Bringing Out Our Best
I attended a funeral over the weekend of a family member who died from an accident. One of the speakers at the funeral said. “Sometimes the worst things that happen to us bring out the best in (other) people.” How true this is. Opportunities to serve others and to strengthen relationships abound in times of trial and grief. We all have times in life when our candles begin to flicker and dim. We all have times when we feel the darkness closing in around us. What a blessing to have friends and family who are there to support and strengthen. And just as sure as we may need their help there will be times when they need ours.
The poet wrote:
I met a stranger in the night, whose lamp had ceased to shine;
I paused and let him light his lamp from mine.
A tempest sprang up later on, and shook the world about,
And when the wind was gone, my lamp was out.
But back came to me the stranger—his lamp was glowing fine;
He held the precious flame and lighted mine.
-Author Unknown
Use your days to lessen the burden of others and you’ll find happiness.
-Curtis Thomas
May 19, 2008 Nourish or Neglect
Our days are made up of choosing what we will spend time nourishing and what we will neglect. By choosing to nourish something we have chosen to neglect something else. Even the choice to spend our time doing nothing is a choice to neglect something.
This constant battle of what to spend our time doing seems increasingly difficult as more things compete for our time.
Spending too much time at work can leave your family neglected. Spending too much time with your family can leave your work neglected. Sleeping too much can leave the rest of your life neglected. Not sleeping leaves your body neglected. The list goes on and on; what should I nourish and what should I neglect.
Find the things in life that have lasting value and nourish them.
May 16, 2008 You Get What You Plant
Forget spring cleaning it's time for spring planting. It's important to remember in life that you harvest in the fall what you planted in the spring. If you want to know why you are where you are in life look at what you've done in the past. If you want to know where you will be tomorrow look at what you've done today. Remember you get what you plant. What are you planting?
- Curtis Thomas
May 15, 2008 Builder
I attended a city government meeting a few weeks ago where a gentleman recited from memory a poem titled Builder. I asked him to send me a copy as I think it is worth sharing:
Builder
I watched them tearing a building down;
A group of men in a busy town
With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled?
Would you hire these men if you were going to build?”
He smile and said, “No, indeed,
Common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two,
That which takes builders years to do.”
I thought to myself as I walked away;
Which of these roles have I tried to play?
Am I a builder who builds with care,
Who measures life with a compass and square,
Who follows life with a straight laid plan,
And patiently does the best he can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content on the labor of tearing down?
- Anonymous
May 14, 2008 It's Time
Like the constant pull of gravity it feels like there is a constant pull on us to do “just enough to get by.” This heavy feeling seems to come from many places. I’ve felt it when I do not have as much time to finish a project as I would like or when the lazy side of me tries to overpower the industrious side.
I’m not sure what it feels like shooting into outer space and breaking free from the constant pull of gravity, but I have no doubt that this feeling of freedom and weightlessness would be similar to that feeling you get after successfully finishing something that has tested you to the inner core. It’s the same exhilarating feeling you get when some trial or endeavor has repeatedly pummeled you into the ground and you rose each time ignoring that ever increasing desire to “do just enough to get by.”
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would solve most of the world’s problems.”
The world needs you to do what you are capable of. The world needs you to break free from the constant pull of doing “just enough to get by.” You are capable of great things; it’s time to do them.
- Curtis Thomas
May 13, 2008 Who Are You
What do you focus on in life?
What do you want more than anything else?
What do you stand for?
What do you believe in?
What do you spend your time doing?
What will you contribute to the world before you leave it?
In life there are things that matter and things that don’t.
In life there are things that we have to do and things that we don’t have to do.
It’s often the things that we don’t have to do that matter the most.
- Curtis Thomas
May 12, 2008 Believing in One Another
It seems that for every one person who sets out to do something of great worth, there are 10 ready to tell them why it can’t be done.
In regards to Edison and the light bulb:
A British Parliamentary Committee in 1878 said, “Good enough for our transatlantic friends...but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men.”
In regards to Ford and the automobile:
The President of the Michigan Savings Bank advised Horace Rackham (Henry Ford’s lawyer) not to invest in the Ford Motor Company in 1903 saying, “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.”
In regards to the Wright brothers and flying:
Lord Kelvin, a British mathematician, physicist, and president of the British Royal Society said in 1895:
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”
And the list goes on and on, it covers every advancement and every man or woman who has ever set out to do something worthwhile.
Even Mahatma Gandhi recognized this opposition when he said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Albert Schweitzer once said, “Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of his way, but must accept his lot calmly if they even roll a few more upon it.
Striving to accomplish that which is good and worhwhile in life has enough opposition without cynical comments from onlookers. The ability of someone to correctly predict the failure of anothers dream is useless.
I hope we do not roll stones in the way of others endevours to do good. I know that believing in others and offering a heart felt “How can I help” is how we build up each other, and build up a world of charity and goodness, a world worth living in.
We of course know that the light bulb and air flying machine were invented and today’s world is blessed daily by these inventions. But what of Rackham and the advice he received from the President of Michigan Savings Bank not to invest in Ford Motor Company? Rackham ignored the advice bought $5,000 worth of stock and years later sold it for $12,500,000. Not a bad payout for believing in others and their dreams.
- Curtis Thomas
May 8, 2008 Brick by brick, day by day
From the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s famous epigram, “brick by brick, my fellow citizens, brick by brick,” we learn that most (if not all) worthwhile causes take time and consistent effort. We also learn that many small deeds can lead to great works.
One such great work under the rule of Emperor Hadrian was the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in Northern England which began in AD 122. The age and size (some 73.5 miles long, and up to 20 ft in width and height in certain places) of Hadrian’s Wall make a visit worthwhile.
I stood next to this inspiring structure some 1,878 years after the first stone was put in place. I wondered if the emperor ever believed it would still be standing more than 1800 years later. I began thinking of the importance of building things of lasting value in life. I came to the conclusion that the way we live our life has more lasting value to those around us than anything else we could build.
Just as one brick on top of another built Rome, and one stone upon another built Hadrian’s Wall, each day, one after another, we build our life. We decide daily what we stand for and what we do not. Each day we make many choices that ultimately lead to what we become. More than structures built from bricks or stones, the lives we build from our days have more affect upon not only the quality of our own life, but that of countless others. We have the tremendous opportunity to inspire others by building lives of lasting value.
Today with this post, I place the first “brick” in building something of lasting value and invite you to join me in this worthwhile endeavor. The world needs you to stand up for what you know to be right. Lets build better tomorrows by growing in goodness one day at a time “brick by brick.”
PORTLAND, Ore. - With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.
But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.
She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.
Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count — an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.
Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky.
The umpire said there was no rule against it.
So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky’s legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.
“The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt,” Tucholsky said. “I told her it was my right leg and she said, ‘OK, we’re going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,’ and I said ‘OK, thank you very much.”’
“She said, ‘You deserve it, you hit it over the fence,’ and we all kind of just laughed.”
“We started laughing when we touched second base,” Holtman said. “I said, ’I wonder what this must look like to other people.”’
“We didn’t know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run,” Wallace said Wednesday. “That makes the story more touching than it was. We just wanted to help her.”
Holtman said she and Wallace weren’t thinking about the playoff spot, and didn’t consider the gesture something others wouldn’t do.
As for Tucholsky, the 5-foot-2 right fielder was focused on her pain.
“I really didn’t say too much. I was trying to breathe,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday.
“I didn’t realize what was going on until I had time to sit down and let the pain relax a little bit,” she said. “Then I realized the extent of what I actually did.”
“I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation,” Tucholsky added.
As the trio reached home plate, Tucholsky said, the entire Western Oregon team was in tears.
Central Washington coach Gary Frederick, a 14-year coaching veteran, called the act of sportsmanship “unbelievable.”
For Western Oregon coach Pam Knox, the gesture resolved the dilemma Tucholsky’s injury presented.
“She was going to kill me if we sub and take (the home run) away. But at the same time I was concerned for her. I didn’t know what to do,” Knox said.
Tucholsky’s injury is a possible torn ligament that will sideline her for the rest of the season, and she plans to graduate in the spring with a degree in business. Her home run sent Western Oregon to a 4-2 victory, ending Central Washington’s chances of winning the conference and advancing to the playoffs.
“In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much,” Holtman said. “It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run.”
