Cuts lined her arms.
He drinks himself into oblivion.

She chases after “Mr. Perfect.”
He’s looking to “hit it.”

She’s settling.
He’s settling.

You must love yourself before you can love another.

Accept yourself for who you are, but don’t “settle.”
- Don’t let addictions stand in your way.
- Don’t let lies blind you.
- Don’t let self-pity poison your heart.

“You’re better than that!!!”  That’s mysilentscream.

“Excuse me, is that your nose or did a bus park on your face?”

Charlie Bales has an unusually large nose and is an easy target for Insults and putdowns. 1

Confronted by an adversary who calls him “Big Nose” Bales diminishes the power of the insult by creating twenty insults of his own, including:

Personal: Well, here we are, just the three of us.
Punctual: All right…your nose was on time but YOU were fifteen minutes late.
Humorous: Laugh & the world laughs with you. Sneeze, and it’s goodbye, Seattle!
Scientific: Say, does that thing there influence the tides?
Aromatic: It must wonderful to wake up in the morning and smell the coffee…in Brazil. 2

My friend Jimmy Cooper has one of those experiences that you want, and don’t want to have. I’ll let him explain. 1

 On January 19th, 2012 -  I was with my wife Christiane in our apartment in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. We had been out on a date and we had just gotten home. Actually, I guess we had been home for an hour or so and it was pretty late at night, about 1:30am. I started having an overwhelming feeling that I needed to lie down. It was out of the blue and I couldn’t fight it, so I lay down in bed and closed my eyes. I wasn’t feeling well and it came on so quickly, I just had to close my eyes.

Football players cleaning out their lockers feel it.
Presidential hopefuls reviewing the debates feel it.
American Idols wannabes and coulda-beens feel it.

What is “it”?  Self- pity.  Self-doubt.  The curse of “if only.”

Don’t let self-pity take you down!

You are lovable even when your flaws are exposed.
You are capable even when you make mistakes.
You are worthwhile even when you’re struggling to believe it.

Somewhere there is someone that values you abilities.
Somewhere there is someone that sees your talents.
Somewhere there is someone that needs your skills.

There is no one like you! You’re unique and irreplaceable!  It’s true!

I’m reading, and on overload:
– Human Genome Project
– Emotional Intelligence
– GenEthics
– Autonomy and Human Rights in Health Care
– Pathological and Non-Pathological Traits
– Cloning and Stem Cell-Based Soft Tissue Regeneration

According to Lee Strobel, “when scientists announced that they had finally mapped the three billion codes of the human genome — a project that filled the equivalent of 75,490 pages of The New York Times — divine references abounded. President Clinton said scientists were ‘learning the language in which God created life,’ while geneticist Francis S. Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, said DNA was ‘our own instruction book, previously known only to God.’ ” 1

I’m a man.  Of the clan “men.”  I love going to church.

That said, Murrow’s title was compelling.  Here’s what I learned.

Here are his chapter titles and my brief summaries:

PART 1: WHERE ARE THE MEN?

1. Perfectly Designed – The church needs a re-design to open doors to men.
2. Yes, There Really Is a Gender Gap – And, it’s increasing worldwide
3. Men: Who Needs ’Em? – We do they bring balance, energy and drive
4. Who Are the Missing Men? – They’re getting “results” somewhere.
5. The Masculinity Bank – A typical man won’t do something he believes is feminine.
6. The Two Jesuses – We’re taught God’s meekness we no longer fear his wrath.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination yesterday. His dreams to become the next president, done. 1

Most of us do not have such exclusive finite dreams; only one in 312 million people can become president. 2

Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum remain to oppose President Obama in the 2012 Presidential election.  They dream on.

Dreams Deferred

Ezekiel, like us, lived in a troubled times. A war had divided his country, politics were a mess, economic hardship, and religious confusion.

High school Dropout Becomes A Millionaire

He was born to a young unmarried woman he never knew.
He was given up for adoption.
He was without parents until he was adopted when he was six weeks old.
He was without a mom – at five years old his adopted mom died.
He was without a dad – when he dad traveled around looking for work.

He did have a grandmother who modeled and taught him important life lessons.

No one would have predicted that a teen, who grew up poor with a troubled childhood and a limited education, would build a worldwide corporation and become incredibly wealthy.

For whatever reasons neither my family members nor my friends played chess. I learned to play chess in my thirties when my elementary-school-aged daughter learned to play in school.

Having played at least a few games a year I’ve learned a lesson or two about myself as well as about chess.

I think the forethought and decision making principles that we use in chess can help slow down the natural impulses of teens.

Q – How can an impatient person teach impulsive teens to think through chess moves?
A – I’ve listened and learned from others.

Dreamers Dream

Forty-eight years ago Martin Luther King, Jr welcomed the crowd assembled at the Lincoln Memorial, in Washington D.C. 1

He began, “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.” 2

Unless I’m mistaken, he was right.

Dreamers Deliver

“I Have a Dream” is a 17-minute speech in which Martin Luther King, Jr. called for racial equality and an end to racial discrimination. The speech became the defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement.