Half A Dozen Ponder Points On Integrity

Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D studied self-made millionaires to find out what attributes helped them to get where they are. In his book The Millionaire Mind he identified over thirty traits that all of the individuals had in common. The number one trait that 100 percent of these self-made weathy people had in common was a "fanatical level of integrity". If you are interested in finding out more about Professor Staney's book, a review of it is at http://www.bainvestor.com/The-Millionaire-Mind-Book-Review.html. Here are a few words of wisdom on the subject:


“The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Think only on those things that are in line with your principles and can bear the full light of day. The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny…it is the light that guides your way.” – Heraclitus Greek Poet, Philosopher

"Confidence on the outside begins by living with integrity on the inside." -- Brian Tracy

"The most important persuasion tool you have in your entire arsenal is integrity." -- Zig Ziglar

"Integrity is not a conditional word. It doesn't blow in the wind or change with the weather. It is your inner image of yourself, and if you look in there and see a man who won't cheat, then you know he never will". -- John D. MacDonald

"Integrity is what we do, what we say, and what we say we do". --Don Galer

"Integrity is not a 90 percent thing, not a 95 percent thing; either you have it or you don't". --Peter Scotese

A Half Dozen Ponder Points On Freedom

Ironic. Cowards use freedom of speech to denounce those who have the courage to defend it. - Unknown

Freedom without accountability makes us prisoners of chaos. - Unknown

If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth. And this idea that government is beholden to the people, that it has no other source of power except to sovereign people, is still the newest and most unique idea in all the long history of man's relation to man. This is the issue of this election. Whether we believe in our capacity for self-government or whether we abandon the American revolution and confess that a little intellectual elite in a far-distant capital can plan our lives for us better than we can plan them ourselves. - Ronald Reagan

History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

I have walked that long road to freedom. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities; and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.— Nelson Mandela

Everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labor in freedom. - Albert Einstein

Link worth checking out: http://www.jontzen.com/tribute.htm

Life - Lessons From A Butterfly

Lessons from a Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours. It struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily, BUT, it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly. He expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and the body would contract. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.

The man acted with well-intentioned kindness but he didn't understand the consequences. The restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get through the tiny opening, were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly once it achieved it's freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been and we could never fly. Have a great day, great life, and struggle a little. Then fly!

Author Unknown

Always Faithful

Being a former Marine myself and having a son who is a Marine currently serving in Iraq, I have an addiction to all things Marine Corps. So my readers will just have to bear with me from time to time when I post these kinds of things. They strike close to my heart. This poem was written by Master Sergeant Bill F. Dial, USMC and was in the latest issue of Leatherneck magazine. The Marine Corps Motto is Semper Fidelis which means Always Faithful.

Always Faithful

He is part of the finest fighting force
The world has ever seen.
All know his reputation;
He is a United States Marine.

He is the kid from New York City.
The farm boy from Tennessee
Now he is a member of the chosen few -
Not the young kid he used to be.

He's called on to do our country's bid.
In the air, on land and sea,
And pay the price he has to pay
To keep our nation free.

He wishes no ill toward any man,
Yet he will firmly stand his ground
For his God, his country, his family.
To these he is duty-bound.

In wars he has grown weary;
In peacetime he has grown gray.
He has guarded our homeland for many years,
And he is still here today.

As the world gets more confusing,
One thing on which you can depend;
There will always be the U.S. Marines,
And our way of life they'll defend.

Should you get the chance to thank them
And look them in the eye,
Dont't be surprised if they return your thanks,
And tell you humbly, "Semper Fi".
MSgt Billy F. Dial, USMC

Plato's Argument For The Immortality Of The Soul

As I look at the titles of my past posts, I see quite a range of topics. Compared to most blogs that seem to deal with a specific subject, it might appear that I am unfocused and wandering around with the little animals in the forest of ideas. The theme of this blog is to put forward thoughts and ideas that are worthy, at least in my view, of thoughtful consideration or pondering. My interests are wide ranging and I read incessantly and enjoy discussing just about any subject with anyone.

That said, the subject of this post is whether or not the soul is immortal. The following excerpt is from an article by Professor Peter Kreeft published in The Truth Journal entitled "The Case for Life After Death" http://www.leaderu.com/truth/1truth28.html. The professor makes some compelling arguments from several different perspectives. In this excerpt he is quoting from the Republic by Plato:

"One last argument for immortality from the present experience of what soul is, comes from Plato. It is put so perfectly in the Republic that I quote it in its original form, adding only numbers to distinguish the steps of the argument:

1. Evil is all that which destroys and corrupts. . .

2. Each thing has its evil . . . for instance, ophthalmia for the eye, and disease for the whole body, mildew for corn and for wood, rust for iron . . .

3. The natural evil of each thing . . . destroys it, and if this does not destroy it, nothing else can . .
(a) for I don't suppose good can ever destroy anything,
(b) nor can what is neither good nor evil,
(c) and it is certainly unreasonable . . . that the evil of something else would destroy anything when its own evil does not.

4. Then if we find something in existence which has its own evil but which can only do it harm yet cannot dissolve or destroy it, we shall know at once that there is no destruction for such a nature. . . .

5. the soul has something which makes it evil . . . injustice, intemperance, cowardice, ignorance. Now does any one of these dissolve and destroy it? . . .

6. Then, since it is not destroyed by any evil at all, neither its own evil nor foreign evil, it is clear that the soul must of necessity be . . . immortal. "

Hard Lessons

"An easy life doesn't teach us anything. In the end it's learning that matters what we've learned and how we've grown." Richard Bach