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No matter who we are or what our actions may say, we all want to be recognized and appreciated. Quoting Lou Holtz, the famous Notre Dame Coach, who said, "Why is it that the people who need love, appreciation, and understanding the most usually deserve it the least?"
Jaime Escalante, the teacher on whom the movie Stand and Deliver was based, tells an amazing story about a mistaken identity and the difference it made in a young man's life.
This teacher had two students in his class who were both named Johnny. One Johnny was an excellent student, a happy child, and always had his homework completed on time. The other Johnny was always in trouble, never had his work finished, and generally made the teacher's life miserable.
The night of their first PTA Open House of the year a mother stayed after the meeting to ask about her son, Johnny, and how he was getting along in the class. Assuming it was the mother of the "good" Johnny, the teacher replied, "I can't tell you how much I appreciate him. I am so glad he's in my class."
The next day, for the first time all year, the "problem" Johnny had all his work done, he spoke up in class, and never once caused a disruption. He even volunteered to help another student. The teacher was astounded!
At the end of the day when everyone else had left, "problem" Johnny came up to the teacher and said, "My Mom told me what you said about me last night. I haven't ever had a teacher who wanted me in his class."
That Johnny became one of the best students the teacher ever had - and all because of a mistaken dose of appreciation! No matter who we are and what our situation in life is, we all want and need to be appreciated.
You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.
~Zig Ziglar
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"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain." - Vivian Greene
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NATURE OF TRUTH
> Truth cannot be found in facts. It can only be derived from
> removing everything that cannot be true and seeing what is
> left. If indeed truth could be found in facts, then everyone
> who looked at the same facts would come to understand the
> same truths. This does not happen. A hundred people looking
> at the same facts can come up with a hundred different
> truths to explain what the facts mean.
> I aim at truth, not facts, and I'm old enough to know
> the difference.
> This reality, however, does not stop each of us from
> believing we have found the better truth, the more accurate
> interpretation. People everywhere believe they have found
> the corner on the market of truth, and everyone else must be
> wrong. People will stand before each other, pound their
> chests and proclaim for all to hear that they know the truth
> that others have missed. But each of these people's
> truths are different. How can they all be truth if they
> contradict? How can Christians be so passionate about their
> brand of truth when the guy next to them is just as
> passionate about his brand? Such logic fails to budge the
> true believer. He or she will believe it more intently than
> anything else because it's a truth made up of their most
> basic beliefs and values. They believe their own truth
> because real truth has big missing pieces of information in
> it, making it fuzzy and uncomfortable. Their own truth is
> more palatable because they have filled in the
> missing parts with their own information, values, and
> beliefs, and it, therefore, makes more sense in their eyes.
> In essence, they have used their own, often-unprovable
> presumptions as a key or blueprint for how facts should be
> interpreted.
> This key is called the "Basic Assumption." It
> defines how we see information. It defines how we see the
> world. It quite literally defines how we see everything.
> Our Basic Assumption is what defines how we interpret the
> facts around us. And as our example shows, different
> assumptions can create wildly different truths from the same
> facts.
> Basic Assumptions fill in the gaps when we're forced to
> interpret what the facts mean. But more than that, they link
> the facts together into whole realities that make sense to
> the person doing the interpreting.
> Its no wonder people can't agree on anything. We all
> think we know the truth, but all of our truths are mutually
> exclusive. Well, not all. Sometimes we band together into
> groups of people who share the same Basic Assumptions, and
> thus, the same interpretations of truth. But rather than
> diminish our differences, by grouping together we only
> provoke bigger conflicts between groups of people with
> different Basic Assumptions. With a group surrounding us
> (Christians) and telling us our interpretations are correct
> because they agree with their own interpretations, the
> members' Basic Assumptions are fortified and given an
> even greater role in creating a reality palatable to the
> interpreter. The group's truth becomes an absolute truth
> in the minds of its members. And everyone else's truths
> must be interpreted as falsehoods, misconceptions, or
> downright lies.
> In America, people who believe the Bible to be completely
> accurate in every word have vastly different Basic
> Assumptions that the rest of society. They will interpret
> current events and find a way to fit them into biblical
> prophecy. Suddenly every headline becomes an omen of the end
> of the world; every non-biblically-based political
> organization is a tool of Satan; every cultural trend not in
> line with the New Testament is called a "decline of our
> Nation"; and the protection of freedoms that don't
> fit their beliefs is called "a loss of national
> morals."
> And just as they test the world against their
> interpretations of truth based on their group's Basic
> Assumptions, they will even test their own people to make
> sure they are actual members, and not infiltrators wishing
> to dilute their beliefs. Anyone whose interpretations of
> current events are not the same as the groups will be
> labeled a heretic or an unbeliever.
> Christians call these people "Backsliders."
> “Jews call them "Secular Jews." Conservatives
> call them "Closet Liberals." Liberals call them
> "Moral Conservatives." And every other group whose
> presence is formed around a communal Basic Assumption has
> its own way of perpetuating its truths in their most
> "pure" form.
> Christians might fight and die, or even kill, for our
> interpretation of truth, but it won't make it any truer.
> All we can do is learn as much as we can and then remove
> everything that cannot be true and start seeing what is
> left, but at least it won't be a self- group's own
> basic assumptions, created one based on our personal Human
> conflict is a self-perpetuating problem.
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