PRODS TO THE EQUIVALENT OF NOWHERE

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Do you want to know what one of the big problems in America today is?  Check out each year’s commencement addresses. 

 They used to be about courage and persistence and honor and selflessness. 

 The spirit of the words that President Kennedy quoted in his Inaugural Address, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

By way of example, the American University class of 2002 heard actress Goldie Hawn tell her audience that it was time for them to attend the “college of you.”

Several years ago, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Anna Quindlen told graduates of Mt. Holyoke to “set aside” the expectations, demands and requirements imposed by others. 

Instead, she urged her audience to do what they thought was best for them. 

In other words to set up a banquet table for me, myself and I.  No wonder the world is going to the dogs - too many people today really are barking up the wrong tree.

“Find yourself” is the overwhelming theme.  And having found yourself, put yourself ahead of everyone else.

But all is not lost.  There are pockets of selflessness rather than selfishness alive and well.  I remember hearing on the news several years ago of a problem in Minnesota.  A delightful problem called Minnesota Nice.  It seems that authorities have had trouble distributing flue vaccine.  Everyone has been saying, “No, I want to be sure those who really need it are getting it.”

.  When I graduated from college, the speakers spoke on altruism, otherness - God     first, then family and country and me last. 

     In writing about Abraham Lincoln, Carl Sandberg said, “He lived in a divided house but he never had any doubt as to what he must do.  He knew who he was.”

            Can a selfish person become less so.  Can a desire to do good for no more reward than satisfaction be accomplished in a life unaccustomed to such actions?  The answer is yes!

            How? 

By working at reducing the ego.  By forcing ourselves to let other people make compliments about us rather than constantly complimenting ourselves in our own conversations. 

If the habit is out of control…start making notes of how often you brag about what you have done or important people you know.  It may promote a little bit of disgust with such actions and began to limit them.

            Don’t speak badly about other people so that by standing on their flattened reputations you feel taller.  Funny thing is (though not funny at all)…quite often when we constantly find a certain fault in others it is the same fault we cannot see in ourselves.

            Avoid false modesty.  How often do say “I’m really hopeless” because you want people to respond in return “Oh, no you’re not.  You’re really quite good at whatever you do.”

            One thing is for sure; each day we become more selfish or more selfless.  No one stays the same.

^{THE CARE AND CONTROL OF ANGRY ARGUMENTS STARTS TODAY} 

Some recent topic titles are:ONE LOG ON A FIRE, TWO JOLLY GREEN GIANTS; LOVE AND FORGIVENESS, WISDOM IS

 

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