topics: |  self-help | fable | anthology

Uplifting stories from two inspirational speakers

Excerpt

	[In the distance, on a Mexican beach at sunset, A man] was
picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a
time, he was throwing them into the water. "It's low tide now. If I
don't throw them back into the sea, they will die up here."
	"But there are simply too many ... can't you see that you can't
possibly make a difference?"
	The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another
starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea he replied, "Made a
difference to that one."   - p.22

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[COURAGE:]
p.27: [Liza needed a blood transfusion to survive. Only her five-year
old brother, who had the same illness and survived, with antibodies,
can help. Doctor: would he be willing to give his blood to his
sister. After a moments hesitation he says:]
   "Yes, I'll do it if it will save Liza."
   As the transfusion progressed, he lay in a bed next to his sister and
smiled ... then his face grew pale ... "Will I start to die right away?"
   Being young, the boy had misunderstood the doctor. He thought he
was going to have to give her all his blood.

Living your dreams

p.46: Dead Poet's Society, Robin Williams as John Keating:
In front of a trophy case with earlier graduating classes.
"Look at these pictures, boys. The young men you behold had the same
fire in their eyes that you do. They planned to take the world by storm
and make something magnificient of their lives. That was 70 years
ago. Now they are all pushing up daisies. How many of them really
lived out their dreams? Did they do what they set out to accomplish?"
Then John Keating leans into the cluster of preppies and whispers
audibly. "Carpe Diem! Seize the day!"

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[SCHOOL CIRRICULUM]
p.95:
Once upon a time the animals decided ... to organize a school. They
adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing,
swimming, and flying. To make it eassier to administer the curriculum,
all the animals took all the subjects.

  The duck was excellent in swimming, in fact better than his
instructor, but made only passing grades in flying and was very poor
in running. He had to stay after school and also drop swimming in
order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were
badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was
acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.

  ... Squirrel was excellent in climbing but developed frustration in
the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up
instead of from the treetop down. ... got a C in climbing and a D in
running. ... an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well, and
also run, climb, and fly a little, had the highest average and was
valedictorian.

   The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy
because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the
curriculum. They apprenticed their children to a badger and later
joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private
school.

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p.269:
I asked for riches, that I might be happy.
I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

I asked for all things, that I may enjoy life.
I was given life, that I may enjoy all things.

- Roy Campanella, atrributed to unknown Confederate soldier.
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p.250
The difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior
takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes
everything as either a curse or a blessing. - Don Juan

p.242
To see things in the seed, that is genius. - Lao-Tzu

[INITIAL FAILURE]
p.228:
- After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing
  director of MGM, dated 1933, said, "Can't act! Slightly bald! Can
  dance a little." Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his
  Beverly Hills home.
- Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four and didn't read
  until he was seven. His teacher described him as "mentally slow,
  unsociable, and adrift forever in his foolish dreams." He was
  expelled and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic
  School.
- Tolstoy flunked out of college. He was described as "both unable and
  unwilling to learn."