Today,
Today,
Today,
As all of your tomorrows
yesterday, today, and always. -- Michael Coffey Tarbert
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For weeks the troop has been engaged in expectant
preparation for its Parents' Night
The toastmaster was well under way. The crowd sang
with that respectably restrained
Then Jimmie Davis arose to give his oration. This
was the moment he had looked
Then something happened. The world seemed to swim
before him. He slowed down -
And ever prepared, having heard that boyish masterpiece
rehearsed again and again,
Jimmie paused again - and the scoutmaster prompted
him again. For the remaining two
But Jimmie finished it. In the heart of the lad who
sat down, knowing that he had
The audience applauded in a perfunctory way, sorry
for and pitying the boy who they
But the scoutmaster was on his feet. His quiet eyes
twinkled. All listened tensely, for
"I am more happy than any of you can possibly understand
because of what has just
"Jimmie had his chance to quit. To have quit would
have been easy. But to finish the
"You may someday hear a better oratorical effect,
but I am confident that you will
The people thundered their applause now. Jimmie's
mother sat straight and proud. The
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Submitted by Martin Louw from A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul Copyright 1995 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen |
From Charles Dickens My favorite Christmas story is A
As we watch Scrooge change from
Granted, most of us don't have as
That's where A Christmas Carol
The gift of hindsight
If you had decided to
I was stunned. In a single pathetic
Before I could answer that, a new
You're missing the
Suddenly, I got it. I finally
Hallelujah! I had been handed one
What if I couldn't change? What if I
As if on cue, my thoughts leaped
That did it. I'd had enough. I was a
And they did. I became a writer,
So use your past to empower your
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this column may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, telecommunicating, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review or research project. Keith Ellis, a nationally known motivational speaker and writer, is the author of a popular new book called THE MAGIC LAMP: The first goal setting guide for people who hate setting goals. http://www.selfhelp.com |