Stuff I found on my dad’s desk – an old roll-top desk which he had for many years. When he saw something in a newspaper or magazine that he liked he would tape it to the desk.

—

On this day –

Mend a quarrel,

Search out a forgotten friend,

Dismiss a suspicion and replace it with trust,

Write a letter to someone who misses you,

Encourage a youth who has lost faith,

Keep a promise,

Forget an old grudge,

Examine your demands on others and vow to reduce them,

Fight for a principle,

Express your gratitude,

Overcome an old fear,

Take two minutes to appreciate the beauty of nature,

Tell someone you love him,

Tell him again,

And again,

And again.

—

“I have always held,” he wrote, “that, where the teaching of basic concepts and procedures is concerned, no distinction should be made between the so-called ‘elementary’ and ‘advanced’ methods. We refer to things as being ‘advanced’ only so long as we understand them insufficiently well ourselves to be able to make them clear in simple terms… [The student] will not be able to distinguish when we are teaching him the ‘elementary’ methods and when the ‘advanced.’ Such a distinction will only reside in the teacher’s mind…

Ernst A. Guillemin

—

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair; In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, so long are we young.”

Douglas MacArthur

—

“The great disease of the world is the belief that everybody is always doing something to you and it’s not your fault.” 

Robert Hutchins

—

“Only he who attempts the ridiculous may achieve the impossible.”

Miguel Unamuno

—

As Hawthorne put it: “Happiness is a butterfly which, when pursued is just beyond your grasp… but if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.”—

—

ENGINEERING:

The science by which the properties of matter and the sources of energy in nature are made useful to man.

—

“Chance favors the prepared mind.”

Louis Pasteur

—

Senator EDWARD KENNEDY

Mount Holyoke

A silent majority is unacceptable. In these times to do nothing, to be silent, not to inquire, not to challenge, is to abdicate citizen responsibility. It is no excuse for an informed and literate citizen to claim that leaders have better or secret information, and thus forgo the right to hold a different opinion. In the first place, it is just not so. On most issues all the relevant information is public. In the second place, the issues today really are issues of values, standards and ideals.

—

was written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Here is my definition for maturity.

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction.

Maturity is patience, the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of the long-term gain.

Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of opposition and discouraging setbacks.

Maturity is unselfishness—responding to the needs of others, often at the expense of one’s own desires or wishes.

Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse.

Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, “I was wrong.” And, when right, the mature person need not say “I told you so.”

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities, then do nothing.

Maturity means dependability, keeping one’s word, coming through in the crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi—confused and disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business, and good intentions which never materialize.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that we cannot change – ANN LANDERS

—

What is a boy?

He is the person who is going to carry on what you have started.

He is to sit right where you are sitting and attend to those things you think are so important when you are gone.

You may adopt all the policies you please, t how they will be carried on depends on him.

He is going to sit at your desk in the Senate and occupy your place on the supreme bench.

He is going to move and take over your prisons, churches, universities, banks, and corporations.

When you get done, all your work is going to be judged and praised or condemned by him.

Your reputation and your fortune are in his hands.

He will read the books you write or sell them to the second-hand man.

He will assume control of your cities.

Right now the future President is playing marbles, and the most famous actor of his day is complaining because he does not want to go to bed.

Not your contemporaries and fellow citizens, but the boys out there in the school yard, are going to say whether after all you were a grand and noble hero or a blatherskite.

It is the boy who will amend your rules, alter your creeds, laugh at your mistakes.

He may think kindly of you, and say you did the best you could, or he may not.

All your work is for him, and the fate of the nation and of humanity is in his hands.

COMPLIMENTS OF R. F. MEYERS

—

Twelve Rules for Raising Children (Copyright 1971)

DEAR ANN LANDERS: Several years ago you printed Twelve Rules for Raising Children. I carried the column in my wallet until it became so dog-eared and yellowed with age that it is no longer legible. Please print it again, Ann. It is worth a repeat.

SAN ANTONIO MOTHER

DEAR MOTHER: Here it is. Thanks for asking:

1. Remember that a child is a gift from God, the richest of all blessings. Do not attempt to mold him in the image of yourself, your father, your brother or your neighbor. Each child is an individual and should be permitted to be himself.
2. Don’t crush a child’s spirit when he fails. And never compare him with others who have outshone him.
3. Remember that anger and hostility are natural emotions. Help your child to find socially acceptable outlets for these normal feelings or they may be turned inward and erupt in the form of physical or mental illness.
4. Discipline your child with firmness and reason. Don’t let your anger throw you off balance. If he knows you are fair you will not lose his self respect or his love. And make sure the punishment fits the crime. Even the youngest child has a keen sense of justice.
5. Remember that each child needs two parents. Present a united front. Never join with your child against your mate. This can create in your child (as well as in yourself) emotional conflicts.  It can also create feelings of guilt, confusion and insecurity.
6. Do not hand your child everything his little heart desires. Permit him to know the thrill of earning and the joy of achieving. Grant him the greatest of all satisfactions—the pleasure that comes with personal accomplishment.
7. Do not set yourself up as the epitome of perfection. This is a difficult role to play 24 hours a day. You will find it easier to communicate with your child if you let him know that Mom and Dad can err, too.
8. Don‘t make threats in anger, or impossible promises when you are in a generous mood. Threaten or promise only that which you can live up to. To a child, a parent’s word means everything. The child who has lost faith in his parents has difficulty believing in anything.
9. Do not smother your child with superficial manifestations of “love.” The purest and healthiest love expresses itself in day-in, day-out training which breeds self-confidence and independence.
10. Teach your child there is dignity in hard work, whether it is performed with callused hands that shovel coal or skilled fingers that manipulate surgical instruments. Let him know a useful life is a blessed one and a life of ease and pleasure-seeking is empty and meaningless.
11. Do not try to protect your child against every small blow and disappointment. Adversity strengthens character and makes us compassionate. Trouble is the great equalizer. Let him learn it.
12. Teach your child to love God and to love his fellow men. DON’T SEND your child to a place of worship—TAKE him there. Children learn from example. Telling him something is not teaching him. If you give your child a deep and abiding faith in God it can be his strength and his light when all else fails.