My cousin posted the following on Facebook: “Wow!!! I decided to stop at the McDonald’s Drive Thru tonight before going bowling. As I reached for my purse to pay, the cashier said, ‘The car in front of you paid your bill.’ Thank you to whoever you were!!! I had a really tough day today and…
That’s the title of a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece written by Arthur C. Brooks. He says that while it may appear that the world today belongs to jerks, “…the best available research still clearly shows that in everyday life the nice people, not the creeps, do the best at work, in love and…
Chen Si, of Nanjing, China in many ways is an ordinary man. It’s what he does with his weekends that has earn him the labels of angel, Samaritan and hero. For the last 13 years Mr. Chen Si has patrolled the Yangtze river bridge in Nanjing every weekend either on foot or on his motor…
My wife recently sent me a link to a TED Talk presented by a courageous woman named Sarah Trimmer. During a five-year period, Ms. Trimmer lost both parents, got divorced, had both breasts removed because of breast cancer, had the cancer return two years later which necessitated chemotherapy and radiation treatments and then had her…
The recent presidential election was extremely polarizing and many people formed strong opinions for their candidate and against the other candidate. This brings up the issue of how do you deal with people who backed the other candidate at this year’s holiday gatherings. A recent article by Claire Ansberry, which appeared in The Wall Street…
International author and speaker, actor, playwrite and former railroad executive Art Fettig recently reflected in his newsletter on his 87 year-long happy, fulfilling and rewarding life. At the end, he provided some sound advice to people starting out in life. After reflecting on what Art had to say, I strongly feel that this advice applies…
My wife told me about a piece of wisdom she got from her aunt more than 50 years ago that she still uses. When she was a girl, she was stressing about something and her aunt said to her, “With all the things in the world to worry about, is that really worry-worthy?” To this…
My friend Cheryl posted a wonderful anecdote on Facebook and I’d like to share it with you. “I attended the first Michigan State University (MSU) home hockey game last night and the arena was full of MSU students. I had so much fun with the two male students seated next to me. One was from…
A year ago I wrote about Elliot Uzelac who had coached college football for 40 years with stops at Michigan, Ohio State, Colorado and Maryland. At age 74, he set aside retirement to become head football coach at Benton Harbor High School in Michigan—a crippled program that that had endured 25 straight losing seasons and…
My son Phil passed away two years ago on September 30. Yesterday would have been his 40th birthday. He was a wonderful guy with a quick wit, big heart and a great sense of humor. He has been sorely missed by everyone who knew him. I feel very fortunate that the last words spoken between…