Doing Well vs. Doing Good

Donald Trump has been doing well all his life. But Agnes Bojaxhiu spent her life doing good.

Born in Skopje, Macedonia in 1910, Agnes was 21 when she began teaching school in a bad part of town. Looking outside her door each day, Agnes saw such pain and despair that it jarred her sensibilities. At 38, she walked out that door and began doing what she could to help, a task that bought the rest of her life. Agnes died at the age of 87 and some people believe the world is a better place today because she lived.

Agnes Bojaxhiu made a positive difference in the lives of others. I wonder if the same will be said of the Donald?

How about you? Are you spending your life only in the pursuit of doing well, or are you trying to do some good?

In 1979, when asked about her Nobel Prize, Agnes said, "I choose the poverty of our poor people. But I am grateful to receive (the Nobel) in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."

I admire Agnes because she was willing to pay the price for her beliefs, a rare trait in these shallow days.

Some people enjoy great wealth because they're clever. I do not admire them. Right or wrong, my respect for a person's accomplishments is usually tied to what that person has endured. I'm not a Catholic, but I admire Agnes Bojaxhiu, also known as Mother Teresa. I'm not Hindu or even a pacifist, but I admire Gandhi. Heck, I don't even know what Nelson Mandela did or said or believed that got him thrown into prison for so many years, I just know that he was willing to go. And for that, I admire him. A carpenter from Nazareth once said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." (And I like to believe he added, "I'm going to go do that now. I'll be right back.")

I speak to you now as your friend, assuming that you consider me so. What I'm about to say has nothing to do with your achieving wealth or recognition and I'm certainly not trying to be sarcastic or flip and maybe I'm not even talking to you, but to the other 99 percent who read this. But all that being said; Isn't it time you got off your butt and did something with your life?

Talk is cheap. Go do something.

Roy H. Williams

Inventions
I have an idea for an invention. Magnetized legos, then have a magnetized picker upper. If you have a small child you know the task. Magnetized toys would make it a lot easier.
In fact why not magnetize all toys with a large magnet in the toy box and when they are finished playing you turn it on and all the toys go back in the box. That could be used on all toys, books.
My wife says add the magnets to my socks and cloths.
Wow using magnets could be great clean up tools!

Yahoo! News - Greenspan-Aged Population to Hit Finances: "'If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels,' Greenspan said in prepared remarks at an annual symposium. 'If we delay, the adjustments could be abrupt and painful.' "

I guess abrupt and painful means: NO MONEY!

"Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart."
Ralph Waldo Emerson1803-1882, Poet and Essayist

"Every great achievement is the victory of a flaming heart."

Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882, Poet and Essayist

I'm told that there's such a demand in China for shipping containers, they're hard to get. It appears they are all over here. And shipping them back is costly, they've been making them and shippng them out, but now with the price of steel containers are even more costly.
Not enough boxes.
Just look on the trains around the USA, they are just about all fully loaded with sea containers.

Yahoo! News - Krispy Kreme Quarterly Earnings Plunge
Was it a fad or was it real? Some say a fad. It definitly was a bubble for a while,
I can attest to that, and it was definitly a spare tire, I have 2 now!

"When I examine myself and my methods of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge."

Albert Einstein
1879-1955, Physicist

"Work is an extension of personality. It is achievment. It is one of the ways in which a person defines himself, measures his worth, and his humanity."

Some may have seen the John 3:16 and John 16:3 controversy, here's my take:
I think scripture in the original Greek had no Chapters or verses, John 3:16 came about because some Monk decided that's the place it should be-God wrote it but didn't give it John 3:16---Monks or scribes made mistakes as well in placing verses in the bible, dim lights and fatigue the main cause--- the bible is divided the best way man could have done it---context is thrown out the window in 3 worlds that I know: 1. Religion 2. Politics 3. Fights with my wife

It is best never to mix the first 2 worlds!

"The art of living lies less in eliminating our troubles than in growing with them."

Bernard Baruch
1870-1965, Financier and Government Adviser

The Gary Halbert Letter: "90%25 of Americans who own pets buy them Christmas gifts"

Ronda discovered a 4th person in the trinity?
Father
Son
Holy Spirit
Barney

The Uvalde Leader-News You think you have a tough job,
"I'd almost rather deal with anything than a skunk. They don't even have to give you a direct hit and that stuff permeates everything."
Is there some correlation between this election year and the rise of skunks?

"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need."

Kahlil Gibran
1883-1931, Poet and Novelist

"Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need."

Kahlil Gibran
1883-1931, Poet and Novelist

"Pity is one of the noblest emotions available to human beings; self-pity is possibly one of the most ignoble. Pity is the capacity to enter into the pain of another in order to do something about it; self-pity is an incapacity, a crippling emotional disease that severely distorts our perception of reality. Pity discovers the need in others for love and healing and then fashions speech and action that bring strength; self pity reduces the universe to a personal wound that is displayed as the proof of significance. Pity is adrenaline for the acts of mercy; self-pity is a narcotic that leaves addicts wasted and derelict." Eugene H. Peterson, Earth and Altar

My kinfolks:
This is my great-great-grandfather, my grand-fathers, grandfather— notice my GG Grandmother's name? I had no idea until I looked at the family tree!
Hillis, Isaac Spouse: Johnson, Hannah Marriage: 02 Nov 1852

My Great Grandfather:

Hillis, Clayborn Spouse: Barnes, Mathyar Marriage Date: 26 Dec 1883

"If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading or do things worth writting." Benjamin Franklin

"What is important is not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens to us."

Jean-Paul Sartre
1905-1980, Writer and Philosopher

Wizard Academy - Monday Morning Memo
No small talk in Advertising or marketing! this is well worth reading.

Last weekend an ACU student died in a car accident near Mason.
The roads in Mason are long and uneventful. Deer is about the only danger. Ronda & I came upon an accident about 4 yrs ago where 1 of 2 ACU students died just south of Mason.Driver fatique was the cause of this accident. It was very very sad. I would assume this accident was driver fatigue. It appears on long stretches of road driver fatigue is the common cause of accidents.
The accident like the one a few years ago happened in mid afternoon, sunny day, not road hazards.
Watch out for Driver Fatigue!
What I do: Listen to CD's, eat ice or popcorn, lots of coffee, stop every 2 hrs or less.
Talk, talk, talk--Listen to Rush and get mad, or happy! Do something but don't ever drive while fatigued.

Pig Manure Converted to Crude Oil
What's your car running on? Pig 110 Octane!
Talk about innovative!

Smoking!

Uncle Martin was telling me yesterday how he started smoking . He's 81 and remembers the day he started. He, my Dad (Hudson) and Bryan Connor a family friend with a ranch south of Uvalde were setting on a windmill. My dad and Bryan were smoking Bull Derom(sp?) rolled cigeretts while dove hunting. Uncle Martin the older of the 3 said he'd like one of those. "He got sick as a mule." But that didn't stop him. After approximatly 42yrs he smoked. The last year he was up to 3 packs per day, then in 1965 he put them in his desk drawer and never picked them up. By asking the questions:"I wonder how long I can go without picking up a pack of cigerettes?". Its been 39yrs since he's picked up a pack.
The military he said put a pack in his ration FREE! So they encourged the habbit.

"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."

William James
1842-1910, Psychologist, Professor and Author

Yahoo! News - U.S. Marines Launch Najaf Assault, Protests Erupt
It's hard for me to believe Iraq will not end up in a civial/religious war for control
of the country unless the US is firm in staying there for the duration (maybe
several decades).

Business Centre - canada.com network Red Ink in the Budget!

Not so good News!
I heard the Federal deficit grew over $69billion in the month of July 2004.
That's over $2BILLION per day our government spends that it doesn't have. We are on target for a record deficit this year.
What really surprises me is that no one seems alarmed? Isn't massive debt a problem anymore? Politicians seem to be comfortable with it. Do you remember the Ross Perot flip charts?

"Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself."

Robert Green Ingersoll
1833-1899, Orator and Political Speechmaker

Yahoo! News - '60 Minutes' Veteran Accused of Disorderly Conduct
Can you believe this? Mike Wallace gets arrested! I'm sure that was some meatloaf.

"When you paint success pictures in your mind, you initiate an inner process whereby your attitudes, hopes, aspirations, and enthusiasm are elevated in response to an image of a more promising future. Every person who aspires must first sell themselves hope, the promise of a better life."

U.S. Andersen
Author and Speaker

Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace. The brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm."

Charles Caleb Colton
1780-1832, Sports Writer

"We followed our dreams, for dreams were all we had. In the process our lives became magical."

Sigfried & Roy

"'If you ever injected truth into politics you'd have no politics.'"
Will Rogers

'The man with the best job in the country is the vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, 'How's the President?''
Will Rogers

When the Oakies left Oklahoma and moved to California, it raised the I.Q. of both states.
Will Rogers

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.
Will Rogers

Happiness is a product of focus.
Focus comes from having a purpose.
Having a purpose comes from being needed.
Being needed comes from serving others.
Roy H. Williams

"The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time he sees me. The rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them."

George Bernard Shaw
1856-1950, Playwright

I've heard some comments about John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. Some have said she's not up to being first lady or A little stange or a little outspoken. All one needs to do is examine Mary Todd Lincoln. Mary Todd had her difficulties. Of course my friend Mark Whitehead says I'm stretching this alittle. And to the 3 people who read my blogg it will not have much of an impact on the race.
Do yourself a favor and buy the book: Father Joe! Read it a tell me what you think?