Be Yourself




          
        You do not have to be your mother unless she is who 
   you want to be. You do not have to be your mother's mother, 
   or your mother's mother's mother, or even your grandmother's 
   mother on your father's side. You may inherit their chins 
   or their hips or their eyes, but you are not destined to 
   become the women who came before you. You are not destined 
   to live their lives. So if you inherit something, inherit 
   their strength, their resilience. Because the only person 
   you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.
         
                   By Pam Finger
         from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul 
           Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark 
              Victor Hansen & Patty Hansen 



 		  To My Grown-Up Son



            
           My hands were busy through the day
           I didn't have much time to play
           The little games you asked me to
           I didn't have much time for you.
           
           I'd wash your clothes, I'd sew and cook,
           But when you'd bring your picture book
           And ask me please to share your fun,
           I'd say: "A little later, son."
           
           I'd tuck you in all safe at night
           And hear your prayers, turn out the light,
           Then tiptoe softly to the door . . .
           I wish I'd stayed a minute more.
           
           For life is short, the years rush past . . .
           A little boy grows up so fast.
           No longer is he at your side,
           His precious secrets to confide.
           
           The picture books are put away,
           There are no longer games to play,
           No good-night kiss, no prayers to hear . . .
           That all belongs to yesteryear.
           
           My hands, once busy, now are still.
           The days are long and hard to fill.
           I wish I could go back and do
           The little things you asked me to.
           
             By Author Unknown
             from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul 
             Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark 
             Victor Hansen & Barry Spilchuk 



 	            Take a Stand




          
      Jackie Robinson made history when he became the first 
  black baseball player to break into the major leagues by 
  joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. Branch Rickey, owner of the 
  Dodgers at that time, told Robinson, "It'll be tough. 
  You're going to take abuse you never dreamed of. But if 
  you're willing to try, I'll back you all the way."
  And Rickey was right. Jackie was abused verbally (not 
  to mention physically by runners coming into second base). 
  Racial slurs from the crowd and members of his own team, 
  as well as from opponents, were standard fare.
      One day, Robinson was having it particularly tough. 
  He had booted two ground balls, and the boos were cascading 
  over the diamond. In full view of thousands of spectators, 
  Pee Wee Reese, the team captain and Dodger shortstop, 
  walked over and put his arm around Jackie right in the 
  middle of the game.
      "That may have saved my career," Robinson reflected 
  later. "Pee Wee made me feel that I belonged."
      Be sure that the employees on your team feel that 
  they belong.
         
                  By Denis Waitley
           from Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work 
         Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor 
            Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & 
                     Tim Clauss 



			My Own Personal Hero
 


   
    Uncle Gordyn had always been my own personal hero. When I was six 
years old, he scraped the mud off my dress shoes so I wouldn't get in 
trouble. During my freshman year, Mom and I constantly battled over 
whether I had to wear to school her old, outgrown nylons with ugly 
seams. The subject was never mentioned again after my uncle sided with 
me. When my parents bought my younger brother, but not me, a car, he 
righted that injustice, too.
    But what I loved most about him was how he always had the 
ability to make me feel like I was the most precious being in the 
entire world. When my parents were planning their 50th wedding 
anniversary, he told them that he wouldn't attend. Although it had been 
20 years since he and my aunt divorced, the thought of facing the entire 
family and their disapproval was too much for him. Even though he always 
said no, Mom kept asking if he would come. Finally, he told her not to 
ask again. When he did show up at the party, I told him that every time 
I called Mom, I asked if he was coming. "I know, honey," he said, 
"that's why I came." I would forever be his little princess.
    When he passed away, I thought, "I'm sad because I'll never have 
another Christmas with him." But somehow my grief went deeper than 
that. In one swift and profound insight, it came to me that although 
the grown-up me had many loving, accepting friends, the six-year-old 
inside me, who had felt rejected and unloved as a child, no longer had 
anyone who saw her a princess, and I desperately needed that.
    One night in a dream, I saw Uncle Gordyn swinging the six-year-old 
in his arms. "I did both," he said to the grown-up me. "Now it's your 
turn." I told him I didn't understand. "All these years you didn't love 
yourself," he said, "so I had to love you enough for me and for you. I 
did both. Now it's your turn.." And in my heart, I gathered little Nancy 
in my arms and whispered, "You're my little princess." The look in her 
eyes was one I had seen before - it's the look a little girl gives to 
her own personal hero.
   
              By Nancy Richard-Guilford
         from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul 
           Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark 
              Victor Hansen & Barry Spilchuk 
  


 			A Father's Love




     
                 Fathers seldom say "I love you"
                 Though the feeling's always there,
                 But somehow those three little words
                 Are the hardest ones to share.
    
                 And fathers say "I love you"
                 In ways that words can't match -
                 With tender bedtime stories -
                 Or a friendly game of catch!
    
                 You can see the words "I love you"
                 In a father's boyish eyes
                 When he runs home, all excited,
                 With a poorly wrapped surprise.
    
                 A father says "I love you"
                 With his strong helping hands -
                 With a smile when you're in trouble
                 With the way he understands.
                 He says "I love you" haltingly,
                 With awkward tenderness -
                (It's hard to help a four-year-old into a
   		   party dress!)
    
                                  
		 He speaks his love unselfishly
                 By giving all he can
                 To make some secret dream come true,
                 Or follow through a plan.
    
                 A father's seldom-spoken love
                 Sounds clearly through the years -
                 Sometimes in peals of laughter,
                 Sometimes through happy tears.
    
                 Perhaps they have to speak their love
                 In a fashion all their own.
                 Because the love that fathers feel
                 Is too big for words alone!
    
                       By Author Unknown
               from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul 
  Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & Barry Spilchuk 
  
  
   


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