Here you have the image from SeanBarnette.com 
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Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Ugly Duckling by Orrin Woodward
My youngest son loves soccer. He watches, plays, and talks about it daily. For many years he was just an average player, but over the last six month he has blossomed. He average nearly three goals per game during his spring league and is making even more rapid gains since being in Michigan. What happened you ask? The best example to explain it is the Ugly Duckling story, where the goose mis-labeled himself and needed time to realize how special he was.
In the same way, many people in the world have special talents and skills, but no avenue in which to reveal them. This is where LIFE enters the picture, giving people the opportunity to display their special gifts to the greater community. Read the Ugly Duckling story and share how this story relates in your life.
Sincerely,
Orrin Woodward
The Ugly Duckling
Once upon a time down on an old farm, lived a duck family, and Mother Duck had been sitting on a clutch of new eggs. One nice morning, the eggs hatched and out popped six chirpy ducklings. But one egg was bigger than the rest, and it didn't hatch. Mother Duck couldn't recall laying that seventh egg. How did it get there? TOCK! TOCK! The little prisoner was pecking inside his shell.
"Did I count the eggs wrongly?" Mother Duck wondered. But before she had time to think about it, the last egg finally hatched. A strange looking duckling with gray feathers that should have been yellow gazed at a worried mother. The ducklings grew quickly, but Mother Duck had a secret worry.
"I can't understand how this ugly duckling can be one of mine!" she said to herself, shaking her head as she looked at her last born. Well, the gray duckling certainly wasn't pretty, and since he ate far more than his brothers, he was outgrowing them. As the days went by, the poor ugly duckling became more and more unhappy. His brothers didn't want to play with him, he was so
clumsy, and all the farmyard folks simply laughed at him. He felt sad and lonely, while Mother Duck did her best to console him.
"Poor little ugly duckling!" she would say. "Why are you so different from the others?" And the ugly duckling felt worse than ever. He secretly wept at night. He felt nobody wanted him.
"Nobody loves me, they all tease me! Why am I different from my brothers?"
Then one day, at sunrise, he ran away from the farmyard. He stopped at a pond and began to question all the other birds. "Do you know of any ducklings with gray feathers like mine?" But everyone shook their heads in scorn.
"We don't know anyone as ugly as you." The ugly duckling did not lose heart, however, and kept on making inquiries. He went to another pond, where a pair of large geese gave him the same answer to his question. What's more, they warned him: "Don't stay here! Go away! It's dangerous. There are men with guns around here!" The duckling was sorry he had ever left the farmyard.
Then one day, his travels took him near an old countrywoman's cottage. Thinking he was a stray goose, she caught him.
"I'll put this in a hutch. I hope it's a female and lays plenty of eggs!" said the old woman, whose eyesight was poor. But the ugly duckling laid not a single egg. The hen kept frightening him.
"Just wait! If you don't lay eggs, the old woman will wring your neck and pop you into the pot!" And the cat chipped in: "Hee! Hee! I hope the woman cooks you, then I can gnaw at your bones!" The poor ugly duckling was so scared that he lost his appetite, though the old woman kept stuffing him with food and grumbling: "If you won't lay eggs, at least hurry up and get plump!"
"Oh, dear me!" moaned the now terrified duckling. "I'll die of fright first! And I did so hope someone would love me!"
Then one night, finding the hutch door ajar, he escaped. Once again he was all alone. He fled as far away as he could, and at dawn, he found himself in a thick bed of reeds. "If nobody wants me, I'll hid here forever." There was plenty a food, and the duckling began to feel a little happier, though he was lonely. One day at sunrise, he saw a flight of beautiful birds wing overhead. White, with long slender necks, yellow beaks and large wings, they were migrating south.
"If only I could look like them, just for a day!" said the duckling, admiringly. Winter came and the water in the reed bed froze. The poor duckling left home to seek food in the snow. He dropped exhausted to the ground, but a farmer found him and put him in his big jacket pocket.
"I'll take him home to my children. They'll look after him. Poor thing, he's frozen!" The duckling was showered with kindly care at the farmer's house. In this way, the ugly duckling was able to survive the bitterly cold winter.
However, by springtime, he had grown so big that the farmer decided: "I'll set him free by the pond!" That was when the duckling saw himself mirrored in the water.
"Goodness! How I've changed! I hardly recognize myself!" The flight of swans winged north again and glided on to the pond. When the duckling saw them, he realized he was one of their kind, and soon made friends.
"We're swans like you!" they said, warmly. "Where have you been hiding?"
"It's a long story," replied the young swan, still astounded. Now, he swam majestically with his fellow swans. One day, he heard children on the river bank exclaim: "Look at that young swan! He's the finest of them all!"
And he almost burst with happiness.
Orrin Woodward | June 25, 2012 at 1:35 pm | Categories
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Thursday, June 14, 2012
via Oliver DeMille
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In the book Multipliers, Liz Wiseman teaches that great leaders do the following: 1) look for talent everywhere, 2) find people's natural strengths, 3) utilize people at their fullest, 4) remove blocks to success. These are an excellent guide to picking executives at all levels of government. Leaders who are good at doing these four things are going to be good presidents, governors and mayors. Too often we elect on the basis of ideology rather than leadership. Both are important. When considering who to vote for, look at how the person did these four things in past leadership roles. |
Elections & Leadership by Oliver DeMille
In the book Multipliers, Liz Wiseman teaches that great leaders do the following: 1) look for talent everywhere, 2) find people's natural strengths, 3) utilize people at their fullest, 4) remove blocks to success.
These are an excellent guide to picking executives at all levels of government.
Leaders who are good at doing these four things are going to be good presidents, governors and mayors.
Too often we elect on the basis of ideology rather than leadership.
Both are important.
When considering who to vote for, look at how the person did these four things in past leadership roles.
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Hut 1 Hut 2 Power Player!!
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Friday, June 8, 2012
The Battle of the 21st Century by Oliver DeMille
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Once, science and religion and art were the same thing--the search for, and attempt to live, truth. Then came the rise of dominant government and its attempts to control all. In the Western world, religion and science were seen as the tools of power. Sides were taken, and conflicts ensued. Left out of the battle, art developed in the shadows. In the Orient, a different reality evolved. Art and religion were considered the great centers of power, and so the lines were drawn and battles came. Science, once at the forefront of Eastern culture, took a back seat. It grew, but behind the scenes. By the early 21st Century, at least from the perspective of government power, science had become technology and art had become symbol. Today the globe is increasingly divided between East and West... |
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Monday, June 4, 2012
He looks alot like Emperor Palpatine
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It has become a truism that many liberals and also conservatives in American politics now tend to isolate themselves in groups of like-minded thinkers and refuse to listen to the ideas and arguments of people from the other side. This is true of political leaders and also of many regular citizens. Too few Americans allow themselves to carefully and sincerely listen to the views of those who disagree with their politics. We have, for the most part, become a nation that refused to learn from the "other side" of the political divide. Many, perhaps most, Americans now actually believe that the "other" political side is all wrong and nothing of value to teach us. Harold J. Laski of the London School of Economics and Political Science wrote of one political leader:
If we arrive at this point, our freedom will be in jeopardy. Too many Americans today would likely respond to this quote with the question: "Which side is he on? If he's on the right side, it's good that opposition voices are shut down. If he's on the wrong side, this is a tragedy." Freedom can only exist when all sides are allowed a free voice. Note that the person Laski was talking about in this quote was Mussolini |
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