Intercom Insights

One Liners

Funny Stuff

Games, Activities and Clips

Defining Virtue

The Need for Virtue

The Importance of Virtue

How to Acquire Virtue

Avoid "Virtue Busters":

• Drugs and Drinking
  
• Peer Pressure

• TV, Media, Pornography and Mind Pollution
  
• Pride

Rosa's Virtue Allows Her to Make Her Mark

On November 2, 2005, nearly 7,000  people packed the Greater Grace Temple for the funeral of a little woman who had a great heart - Rosa Parks. Attendees included government officials and celebrities. During her lifetime she received almost countless awards and honors. Why all the honors?  What can we learn from her?

The Background

Fifty years ago, as a 42-year-old tailor's assistant in a Montgomery, Alabama department store, Rosa made her stand against segregation by staying seated in her bus seat after being ordered to give up her seat. She was black; the new arrivals were white. At the time, laws allowed for the separation of whites and blacks in public places such as city buses. Blacks had to sit toward the back. If the white section filled, blacks had to sit further back. The laws were wrong, and she knew it. 

It would have been easy for her to take the easy road and go with the flow like most people. But segregation was wrong. She'd experienced it in many ways. As a child, she'd see white kids ride by her in the school bus, while she had to walk to school. She remembered, all too vividly, hearing a lynching by the Klu Klux Klan outside of her house, fearing that they would burn her house down. As an adult, she'd step up to the front of the bus to pay the fare, only to have to walk back out of the bus to enter further back on the bus. Sometimes the bus would take off before she could get back in. It was wrong. Someone had to do something about it. 

As an adult, she fought discrimination through her work with the local chapter of the NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), devoting her time to support the rights of Afro-Americans. 

Rosa Makes Her Stand...By Sitting!

So it was no surprise that when Rosa and three others were asked to give up their seats, although the others complied, she politely refused. She sat alone. She wasn't physically tired. She was tired of discrimination. Somebody needed to make a stand. She made her stand by sitting. 

Here are the blow by blow details, according to Rosa: 

The bus driver demands, "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats." 

Rosa comments: "The driver wanted us to stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't." Rosa simply moved over to the window seat and stayed put. 

The bus driver continues: "Why don't you stand up?" 

Rosa replies, "I said I don't think I should have to stand up." 

Bus Driver: "Well, if you don't stand up, I'm going to have to call the police and have you arrested."

Rosa: "You may do that." 

The bus driver proceeded to call the police, who promptly arrested her.   

The Price She Paid

The ensuing arrest, detainment and fine were small stuff compared to the later harassment and death threats to her and her husband. They also lost their jobs. 

Was It Worth It? 

As a result of Rosa's stand, many people rallied around her cause. A new minister in town, Dr. Martin Luther King, took up the cause and led a boycott of the bus system for 381 days. Since 2/3 of the bus riders in Montgomery were black, they got the system's attention. 

After she was convicted of breaking the law, she appealed her decision until in November 1956, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation on buses.

Very few people can say that their actions caused positive change on a national scale, but Rosa could. She was able to live the rest of her life knowing that she'd faced her fears, stood up for something significant, and made a difference. 

How Did Character Help?

Many of us have heard the story of Rosa Parks, but may have never thought through just how her character was necessary to make her mark on the nation. 

First, she needed courage and determination to make her stand. In her own words:

"When that white driver stepped back toward us, when he waved his hand and ordered us up and out of our seats, I felt a determination cover my body like a quilt on a winter night."

Second, she was neither violent nor hot-tempered.  Had she been either of these, the press and lawyers might have swayed public opinion and juries by arguing that she was simply an argumentative rabble-rouser who deserved to be moved to another seat. 

Third, she had built a great reputation. The NAACP needed a person who could stand up to public scrutiny and represent Afro-Americans well. Rosa had completed school and studied to be a teacher. She had a job. She was faithful to her husband. She had developed not only a quiet fortitude, but an understanding of the political system.  

According to Dr. Martin Luther King, "Mrs. Parks...was regarded as one of the finest citizens of Montgomery—not one of the finest Negro citizens—but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery." 

Her character not only motivated her to make a stand, but allowed her stand to shake the nation. 

Debriefing

1. What did Rosa Parks do that changed the country?
2. What did she risk by refusing to move from her seat?
3. How is our country better because of her stand?
4. Do you think she felt good because of her actions?
5. Are there issues today where we might have to take a stand?
6. How can we become a person who can stand against the crowd and make a difference?

(Written by Steve Miller, Copyright November 2, 2005, all rights reserved. Sources: CBS News, Final Tributes For Rosa Parks, Detroit, Nov. 2, 2005; Pioneer of Civil Rights, Rosa Parks www.achievement.org ; Civil Rights Leader Dies (Scholastic News) by Ezra Billinkoff; The Time 100, Rosa Parks, Her simple act of protest galvanized America's civil rights revolution, by RITA DOVE; Wikipedia)

**********************

Minority Report: What If We Could Prevent Future Crimes?

What if we could stop crimes before they happened? Someone's about to commit murder, but somehow you foresee it, enabling you to get to the scene of the crime before it happens. You stop the murder and arrest the murderer for his future crime.  Just think how many innocent victims you could save!

That's the theme of Steven Spielberg's action-adventure movie, ''Minority Report,'' starring Tom Cruise. It's the year 2050 and the police have virtually wiped out murder in the Washington DC area. How do they do it? Three people (called ''precogs'', for ''pre-cognition'') with psychic powers are able to ''see'' future murders. Computers take the images generated by the psychics and the chief of the elite crime unit, John Anderton (played by Tom Cruise) sifts through the details to discover where the crime will take place. Knowing the location, the elite unit parachutes into the scene to arrest the murderer for his future crime. The crime is prevented; the victim saved.

(A great clip would be of the time, toward the beginning of the movie, where Cruise sifts through the images, with majestic music playing in the background. It's a pretty cool scene.)

Imagine the sense of importance you'd feel if you could regularly stop crimes before they happened! Well…we can! If you think about it, each of us has the potential to positively impact those around us. By helping a fellow student with a difficult subject or encouraging someone who's down, or accepting someone who feels left out, you've let a person know that someone cares. Without that positive input, some people grow cynical, withdraw and eventually get vengeful, lashing out at people and hurting many throughout their lives. By encouraging them, we could very well change their future, stopping the future, harmful acts they would have committed. 

Has it ever occurred to you that if someone had been able to get through to Klebold and Harris before their shooting spree left many dead at Columbine High School, that many would be alive today? This week, let's try to look outside of our selves - our fun, our grades, our popularity - and look for someone who might be needing some help along the way. Just like Tom Cruise in "Minority Report," we might be able to avert future crimes simply by showing a fellow student that somebody cares. (Written by Steve Miller, copyright Nov. 12, 2002.)

Discussion Questions:

1) In "Minority Report," Tom Cruise was able to stop future murders. How do you think this made him feel? (Important, like he's doing something worthwhile with his life.)
2) How can positively impacting other people help prevent "future crimes?"
3) Can you remember any times in your life that fellow students positively impacted your life? Could you tell us about one of them?
4) What are some practical things we could do this week to make a positive difference in someone's life?

**********************

Math Whiz Fails in Character 

Some people seem to think that the sole answer to youth's problems is: ''Get a good education.'' But education solely in academics isn't enough. Let me tell you about a guy named Ted.

You'd think that Ted had a bright future. He was so brilliant that he was able to skip two grades, graduate from Harvard University (one of the top schools in the world), and win a prize for his doctoral thesis. So it was no surprise that he landed a job teaching math at prestigious Berkeley University. But before you take him on as a role model, hear out the rest of the story. He became famous in 1996, not as a Math whiz, but as the infamous "Unabomber," who had been mailing pipe bombs to people over a period of 18 years, wounding 23 people and killing three. (Newsweek, April 22, 1996, ''Blood Brother,'' by Evan Thomas, pp. 28ff.)

You see, although we're big on good grades around here, we know that if we take students with flawed character and give them powerful academic skills, we're just turning out smarter criminals. This week, lets try to be more concerned about our C.Q. - our Character Quotient than our I.Q. Our Character Quotient will probably have much more impact on our future success and happiness than anything else we can teach. 

Discussion Questions:

1) Why did Ted seem to have so much potential?
2) Do you think that some of his fellow students wished they had his aptitude for Math?
3) What caused his downfall?
4) How much of our education is centered on character as opposed to academics?
5) What are some ways that we can motivate students toward good character?
6) What's something we can do this week to work on our character? 

**********************

The Sears Tower and The Importance of Foundations

Have you ever visited the Sears Tower in Chicago? It's one of the tallest buildings in the world. The first glimpse of that dark tower of glass scraping the sky causes many tourists to crane their necks to attempt to see to the top. From the ground, it's impossible to understand the scope and breadth of the building. For that experience, it's well worth the trip to the top of the tower, from which you can see three states.   

It stands 1707 feet tall. Every day over 12,000 people call it home, which is more people than a lot of entire cities! People who work in the Sears Tower know that it was built to move in the strong winds that buffet Chicago. They're used to the sway. But they're also secure in the fact that the architects knew what they were doing when they built the Tower.  

Everyone knows that huge skyscrapers require huge foundations. It's what's hidden underground that  makes possible what you see above the ground.  For the Sears tower, construction workers spent a great amount of their time preparing the base on a full acre of land. The foundation includes 114 rock caissons - get this - each sunk as deep as the Statue of Liberty is tall, securely sunk into bedrock. 

So what's my point? To build a large building, you can't be only concerned about the externals that everyone sees above the ground; you've got to build on a stable foundation. In the same way, to have a successful life, we can't just have good looking externals, like a decent grade point average or a successful high school athletic career. Newspapers are filled with stories of people with great academic potential who lost their scholarships or athletic careers due to poor character. Their grades were under control but their temper was out of control. They could pass a football but couldn't pass a drug test. This week, let's examine our moral lives, one of the major foundations upon which our future success is built. 

Discussion Questions:

1) What's the tallest building you've ever been in?
2) Do you remember how deep the foundation to the Sears Tower is sunk?
3) Why is the foundation so important?
4) In what way is our character foundational to our future success?
5) Write down on a sheet of paper (You won't turn it in!) an area of character that you feel is a weakness for you (examples: honesty, personal discipline, self-control, anger, etc.).
6) Write down one thing you could do this week to try to work on this area.

**********************

College Football and Character

The 2002 University of Georgia Freshman football team has a new signal. One team member taps another on the shoulder pad. They know what it means: Stop cursing. It wasn't instituted by the coaches. The team members decided in a breakfast meeting that they swore too much and needed to do something about it.

So when did character become a priority to this team? And is there some connection between their emphasis on character and their outstanding 11-1 record (at the time of writing) and their No. 3 ranking in the Bowl Championship Series standings?

Following their 6:00 A.M. weightlifting, the youngest players take a required 15-minute class called ''Men of Character Between the Hedges.'' A local sheriff talks about the penalties for drinking and using drugs. Another session focuses on losing with dignity. A former teammate acquitted of rape, warned players of the dangers of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Players say that the sessions help. They are staying out of trouble. According to a defensive lineman, ''People think they know what's right and wrong, but until you put it out in the open, they don't think about it.''

Instructors challenge them to think ''beyond the image of dumb guys trying to punch a ticket to the NFL.'' They emphasize that football players can be smart - and influential. One coach says that it means little to win with players who lack integrity and honor. Besides, players with character have a better chance of winning. ''If you have a good character, you're a diligent worker and you do what people tell you to do.'' ''Everyone's talented, but that extra baggage of being in trouble academically, socially or something else, that's what makes you not good enough.''

''In 10 years from now, if all these men are better men because they went to Georgia, I'm more interested in that than national championships and public opinion,'' he said. ''If a guy comes back and says he is a better man or better husband or father, or better person because of going through our program, that would be more gratifying to me.''

The freshman players voted on three top values and three top beliefs, which each carry with them, etched on a laminated card. 

**********************

**********************

**********************

Ever notice how much less immoral something seems after we discover how much fun it is? (George E. Scherer)

**********************

**********************

**********************

William Barclay wrote, ''No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline.'' (The Gospel of Matthew, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975, p. 280)

**********************

Old habits cannot be thrown out the upstairs window. They have to be coaxed down the stairs one step at a time. (Mark Twain)

**********************

You can't stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest there. (So don't dwell on those evil thoughts!)

**********************

Thoughts can crystallize into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance. ( Steve Sjogren)

**********************

**********************

Question: What is the difference between boogers and spinach?
Answer: You can't get your kids to eat spinach.

**********************

Answering, he heard his wife's voice urgently warning him, ''Herman, I just heard on the news that there's a car going the wrong way on I-75. Please be careful!''

''Hell,'' said Herman, ''It's not just one car... It's HUNDREDS of them!''

**********************

Predicting the Future (Discussion)

Divide into small groups and discuss the following questions about your future. Imagine that you're 29 years old. 

1. Where are you living?
2. What are you doing for a living?
3. Will you be married? Have kids? How many?
4. What's important to students today that won't seem important then?  
5. What will you do for fun?
6. How will self-control (or whatever your current character trait is) be important to your happiness and fulfillment? 
7. How can you begin to develop self-control now? 

Debriefing: What did some of you have in common about your future predictions? Tell us some of your group's ideas on how virtue might be important to your future happiness and fulfillment. (Write them on the board.) What were some of your ideas on how to develop endurance? (After their ideas, add some of your own, if needed.)

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

A writer for the Chicago Tribune recently interviewed a man who helps people who've lost their jobs, usually because of addictions. The interview brought out the importance of having the right friends:

''As one recovering addict put it, 'I don't just have to avoid using, I have to avoid using behavior. That means giving up all my old friends.' Misery doesn't just love company, it has an active recruiting program. Rather than refusing to fail, the successful refuse to stay with failure.'' (© Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved, Source: Chicago Tribune, 12/30/01)

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

On TV, children see 8000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence by the time they leave the 5th grade. Does 8000 murders accurately reflect real life? How can we keep these images from negatively impacting us? 

**********************

A Michigan State University study followed the TV and Movie viewing habits of 1,200 high-school students. The result? They found girls watching ''an average of 5.6 hours of TV daily; boys, 5.2 hours. During a typical year the girls were exposed to 1,500 sexual acts or references annually; boys, 1,300. Both sexes viewed an average of 18 sexually oriented R-rated movies per year, either in theaters, home VCRs, or cable. Though a much smaller dose, the movies are far more influential than TV, the data shows. A few hours of intense film sex has a much greater influence than a daily dose of television, the professor believes, because TV sex tends to be more talk than action. R-rated films, however are very explicit.'' With explicit language and behavior demonstrations, with teens as the lead characters, the behavior is very easily modeled. ''By far the most common sexual activity in films is between unmarried people--and the prevailing attitude is ''overtly positive or neutral.'' Seldom is film sex between married partners, the study shows. (Reported in Winnipeg Free Press)

**********************

A large poll showed in 1990 that 80% of Americans object to the amount of foul language; 82% to the violence; 72% to the explicit sex. So, don't say that American TV and Movies are just showing life as it is in America. [Hollywood's Poison Factory: Making It the Dream Factory Again'' by Michael Medved, (Imprimis, Nov. 1992, Vol. 21, No. 11)] 

**********************

The average number of sexual innuendoes broadcast on television each hour during prime time: 9. (from Harper¡¦s Magazine). Now I don't know about you, but I don't need more motivation to think about sex. MTV was found to have six sexual references per video (not per hour). So if you watch an hour of MTV every day, add 1,500 more sex images per year.

**********************

On TV, sex outside of marriage is portrayed five times as often as sex in marriage. One guy studied sixteen strong box office films, rated R for sexual content, which especially appealed to the young. Over half of the 9th and 10th graders had seen nine of them. Sex between married couples happened only one in thirty one instances!! What's the message that's going out here? 

Yet, studies show that the best sex in real life goes on within the context of a strong marriage. Again, the media presents a picture that's out of touch with reality. By watching TV you would think that premarital sex among teens is totally acceptable practice. But in a recent survey of almost a quarter of a million US teens, the great majority said that when they find out that a girl has had sex, it hurts her reputation at school. (USA Today Weekend, Sept. 6-8, 1996)

**********************

Soft Pornography often leads to hard pornography. Scientists have found chemicals, sort of like adrenaline, which our bodies release when we see shocking materials. But as time goes on, the same material doesn't produce as satisfying a buzz, so that we crave increasingly more shocking materials. This is how people get into weird stuff, like enjoying watching videos containing violent rape. Believe it or not, things that would make you throw up if you saw it now, just give yourself several years of exposure to pornography and you could end up craving it. 

**********************

U.S. News and World Report published a February 10, 1997 cover story which documented the U.S. as the world's leading producer and consumer of pornographic materials. Hard-core video rentals rose from 75 million in 1985 to 490 million in 1992 and to an all-time high of 665 million in 1996. Since 1991 the number of new hard-core titles released each year has increased by 500%. There are now approximately 25,000 video stores that rent or sell hard-core films. Last year Americans spent more than $8 billion on pornographic materials and sex entertainments, an amount much larger than Hollywood's domestic box office receipts, and larger than all revenues generated by rock and country music recordings.

**********************

Some students say that no matter how bad the lyrics are to some of their favorite songs, it doesn't really matter, because they're just listening to the music. Yet, a Fall, 2001 survey (USA Weekend Magazine's Teens & Music survey of 60,000 teens ) found that 69% of teens know more than 75% of the lyrics of songs they listen to. 

Found at: http://www.usaweekend.com/02_issues/020505/020505teenmusicresults.html [Respondents = 67% female, 33% male, 77% white, 11% black, 5% Hispanic, 2% Asian, 3% multiracial, 2% other; 43% suburban, 39% rural, 18% urban]

**********************

The ancestor of every action is a thought. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

**********************

Forensic Psychologist Park Elliott Dietz, MD said, ''If a mad scientist wanted to find a way to raise a generation of sexual sadists in America, he could hardly do better, at our present state of knowledge, than to try to expose a generation of teen-age boys to films showing women mutilated in the midst of a sexy scene.''

**********************

Fifteen-year-old Rod Matthews beat a classmate to death with a baseball bat. In another town, Nineteen-year-old Mark Branch repeatedly stabbed to death eighteen-year-old Sharon Gregory. Why did they do it? Jealousy? Revenge? No. It's scarier than that. They each were curious to know what it felt like to kill someone. They both drew inspiration from videos that showed people dying. Mark's friends said he was especially fascinated with Jason, the slasher in the Friday the 13th series. Authorities found a stack of the videos in his bedroom.. (Learn To Discern, p. 8) In other words, what started as an idea eventually translated into action. (© Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved)

**********************

Want less satisfaction in your future sex life? Then watch more sexually explicit movies, one study suggests. A five year study by two professors (Jennings Bryant of the U. of Houston and Dolf Zillmann of Indiana U.) exposed one group of people to ''soft core'' films and another group to innocuous films. Over a period of six weeks they found that the subjects who were massively exposed to X-rated movies 1) came to see rape as a reasonably trivial offense, 2) were less satisfied with their marriage partner's appearance and bedroom techniques. (AP, reported in Daily Citizen News, Dalton, GA, 1985)

**********************

Good introduction to a talk...

In the movie ''Mission Impossible'' Tom Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, a CIA agent who finds himself accused of treason. To prove his innocence, he must obtain a highly classified list, which reveals the identities and whereabouts of America's spies. So Hunt and his team proceed to pull off a spectacular penetration into the heart of CIA headquarters in order to access its meticulously protected computer. Get the picture: Only one man is allowed to access the computer. Only his unique handprint and voice can unlock the entrance to the room. Upon his departure, lasers crisscross the room, the disturbance of which will set off an alarm. So much as a slight change in temperature, a noise above a certain decibel level, or even a drop of sweat on the floor would signal a foreign presence, setting off the alarm system.

Now, think with me for a minute about this computer. Why do you think it is so heavily guarded? (Because the spies' very lives depend upon their anonymity.) So what would you think of the CIA if they allowed just any hacker to come in and repair, reprogram and tamper with this computer? (They would be irresponsible idiots.)

**********************

Movie critic Michael Medved, co-host of TV's ''Sneak Previews,'' says that ''No movie is morally neutral, no movie fails to send a message, no movie doesn't change you to some extent when you see it. Movies have a cumulative, potent and lasting impact.'' (''Hollywood's Poison Factory'' Imprimis, Nov., 1992, p. 4.)

**********************

Average number of sexual innuendos broadcast on television each hour during prime time: 9. (From Harper's Magazine)

**********************

Defining Virtue

Integrity is keeping my commitments even if the circumstances when I made those commitments have changed. (David Jeremiah)

**********************

The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he would never be found out.'' (Lord Macaulay)

Thomas Aquinas said that courage consists of two parts: patient endurance and the willingness to risk. Risk without endurance is foolhardy. Endurance without risk is to become a door mat. Courage is not possible without the wisdom to know when to ''hunker down'' and when to ''step up.'' In all cases, courage is the willingness to stand against that which would seek to destroy you.

**********************

The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back. (Abigail Van Buren)

**********************

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death. [Thomas Paine (1737-1809)]

**********************

**********************

**********************

Truth never plays false roles of any kind, which is why people are so surprised when meeting it. Everyone must decide whether he wants the uncompromising truth or a counterfeit version of truth. Real wisdom consists of recommending the truth to yourself at every opportunity. (Vernon Howard)

**********************

Involves motives, not just actions. 

Resist the urge to judge someone's character by one incident. It's easy to misjudge a person's hidden motives. This story shows how it can happen... 

''That should be obvious,'' he responded, ''the first thing we're gonna do is get the brakes fixed on that fire truck.''

**********************

T.S. Eliot once said, ''The greatest treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason.''

**********************

Facts came out of your head. Truth comes out of your hands and feet.

**********************

Whom, then, do I call educated? First, those who control circumstances instead of being mastered by them; those who meet all occasions manfully and act in accordance with intelligent thinking; those who are honorable in all dealings, who treat good-naturedly persons and things that are disagreeable; and furthermore, those who hold their pleasure under control and are not overcome by misfortune; finally, those who are not spoiled by success.  (Socrates)

**********************

Warren Buffett, America's most successful investor, on the primacy of character in choosing a business partner: ''I think you'll probably start looking for the person that you can always depend on; the person whose ego does not get in his way; the person who's perfectly willing to let someone else take the credit for an idea as long as it worked; the person who essentially won't let you down, who thought straight as opposed to brilliantly.'' (Quoted by Andrew Kilpatrick in ''Of Permanent Value'')

**********************

**********************

The Need for Virtue

“Successful people maintain high standards in their personal conduct. They know that honesty is one of the main ingredients in the character of a good person.” (Urban, Hal, Life’s Greatest Lessons or 20 Things I Want My Kids to Know, Great Lessons Press, Redwood City, CA, 1997, pp.  5,6)

**********************

You must act as you believe, for you will eventually believe as you act.

**********************

**********************

**********************

Although it's commendable to improve Math and Reading scores, if we fail to address foundational character issues, we'll just be producing smarter criminals. This story illustrates the importance of looking to the foundations. 

Josh McDowell writes of a friend who wanted to purchase the house next door as an investment. The reason? The house had not been kept up and was occasionally rented to drug dealers and users. By purchasing it, he could fix it up and control who rented it. So, he got a relative with experience in construction to look over the house. As they looked at the rooms, the builder noted that although it needed some repair, it was fixable. But the basement revealed a greater problem. The support structure sagged and major cracks were in the foundation. The builder pronounced:

''This place is falling down,'' his companion told him. ''Nothing you fix up there'' -- he pointed his index finger to the upper floors -- ''will be worth a dime because of what's wrong down here.''

There was no use fixing up the living area of the house since the foundation was crumbling. (Right from Wrong, by Josh McDowell, from the collection of Barry St. Clair)

**********************

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, "America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great!" (See full quote under "Faith Based Virtue")

**********************

The problem with most leaders today is they don't stand for anything. Leadership implies movement toward something, and convictions provide that direction. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.'' (Coach Don Shula)

**********************

There are only three rules of sound administration: pick good men, tell them not to cut corners, and back them to the limit; and picking good men is the most important. (American political leader Adlai Stevenson)

**********************

**********************

Howard Hughes was one of the wealthiest men of his time. Yet, his self-centeredness kept him from getting close to people. He was more interested in money and the gadgets that made money for him. Although he could travel anywhere and have almost anything imaginable, he lived a lonely, isolated, joyless life. His associates despised him. In his later years, those few who saw him reported that his beard grew out to his waist and his hair to the middle of his back. His untrimmed toenails resembled corkscrews.

With so much wealth available to him, why was he so miserable? I'd suggest that instead of using things and loving people, he loved things and used people. That leads to a miserable life, no matter how much money you have. (Source: The Friendship Factor, by Alan Loy McGinnis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1979, pp. 20,21)

**********************

**********************

**********************

**********************

Sow an act, and you reap a habit.

Sow a habit, and you reap a character.

Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.

(Charles Reade)

**********************

A young sentry, on guard duty for the first time, had orders not to admit any car unless it had a special identification seal. The first unmarked car the sentry stopped contained a general. When the officer told his driver to go right on through, the sentry politely said, ''I'm new at this sir. Who do I shoot first, you or the driver?'' (Source: Joe Griffith, Speaker's Library of Business Quotes)

**********************

Everyone can look good in the good times. When things go wrong you see what people are really made of. As Warren Buffett, America's greatest investor says, ''It's only when the tide goes out that you learn who's been swimming naked.'' (Quoted by Andrew Kilpatrick, Of Permanent Value)

**********************

The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man. (Albert Einstein)

**********************

I heard that in Borneo they sprayed poison to get rid of the mosquitoes. It killed mosquitoes, but also poisoned the flies. The lizards ate the flies. The cats ate the lizards, which killed the cats. When the cats died, the rats multiplied unchecked, so much so that they had to parachute in crates of cats to kill the rats.

The point? Poisonous words and actions don't just affect the people we are with at the time. They poison others down the line. (From the collection of Barry St. Clair)

**********************

The Importance of Virtue

(The truth of this story, in a similar form, has been questioned. Since its authenticity is questioned and we don't have a source, I'd introduce it as, ''I heard a story about…)

I heard someone tell about an incident one night at sea, when a ship's captain saw what he thought were the lights of another ship heading toward him. He had his signalman blink to the other ship. ''Change your course 10 degrees south.''

The reply came back, ''Change your course 10 degrees north.''

The ship's captain answered, ''I am a captain. Change your course south.''

Another reply came back, ''Well, I'm a seaman first class. Change your course north.''

The captain was mad now. ''I said change your course south. I'm on a battleship.''

To which the reply came back, ''And I say change your course north. I'm in a lighthouse.''

The Point? Your thought through convictions are the lighthouse, an unchanging absolute. Unfortunately, most people try to argue from their own limited perspective that their circumstance is the exception.

**********************

''The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. … To make this a living force and bring it to clear consciousness is perhaps the foremost task of education.'' (Found in Albert Einstein: The Human Side, Selected and edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, Princeton University Press, 1979, p. 95)

**********************

''Since most of us would rather be admired for what we do, rather than for what we are, we are normally willing to sacrifice character for conduct, and integrity for achievement.'' [Sydney J. Harris, columnist, Chicago Sun-Times (From the collection of Barry St. Clair)]

**********************

''When men speak evil of you, live so nobody will believe them.'' (Plato)

**********************

''To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.'' (Former President Theodore Roosevelt)

**********************

Too many in the church are like straight pins. They point one way but head the other. (Heard from John Wesley White.)

**********************

Private victories precede public victories. (Stephen R. Covey)

**********************

To put the world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right. (Confucius)

**********************

''Universities are turning out highly skilled barbarians because we don't provide a framework of values to young people who more and more are searching for it.'' (Steven Mueller, president of Johns Hopkins University)

**********************

''My whole philosophy is that we build men. Incidentally, we move freight.'' (Arthur Imperatore, president of A-P-A Transport, a company that rose to the top of its industry)

**********************

"To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society." (Theodore Roosevelt)

**********************

One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. (Elbert Hubbard)

**********************

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

**********************

Honesty is the single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product. (Famous American TV celebrity Ed McMahon)

**********************

On the football program at the University of Georgia, which has a full-time assistant coach for character and leadership. ''In 10 years from now, if all these men are better men because they went to Georgia, I'm more interested in that than national championships and public opinion. If a guy comes back and says he is a better man or better husband or father, or better person because of going through our program, that would be more gratifying to me.'' (University of Georgia coach Mark Richt: ''Bulldog Course Teaches Team Class,'' by Michelle Hiskey, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 5, 2002, pp. A1 & A20)

**********************

''After over thirty years on Wall Street, I have seen many firms who thirty or even twenty years ago occupied the front rank, recede into positions of comparative unimportance, and I have seen other firms, who two or three decades ago were quite unimportant, come to the front and become leaders in domestic and international finance. The reason is they had been more honest than those who were the leaders at one time.'' (Jacob Schiff, who led the investment firm Kuhn, Loeb & Company to an industry leader.)

**********************

''Somebody once said that in looking for people to hire, you look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don't have the first, the other two will kill you.'' (Warren Buffett, who became the 2nd wealthiest man in the USA by understanding and investing in great companies. From Omaha World Herald, February 1, 1994)

**********************

Happy relationships depend not on finding the right person, but on being the right person. (Eric Butterworth)

**********************

How to Acquire Virtue

Pay Attention to the Little Things

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why
the little decisions you and I make every day are of such
infinite importance. (C. S. Lewis)

Develop Good Habits

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” (Aristotle)

**********************

“We don’t succeed by doing something right one time; we succeed in doing things right on a regular basis. Habits are the key to all success.” (Hal Urban)

**********************

“Some psychologists believe that up to ninety-five percent of our behavior is formed through habit.” (Hal Urban)

**********************

“We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.” (English poet John Dryden)

**********************

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeeded lies in the difference of their habits. (Og Mandino)

Think for Yourself 

Think for Yourself!

A few years ago a 9th grade science teacher in Toledo, Ohio told his students that the USA was switching to a metric time system. Students could send their watches and calendars to the state capital to be converted. Clocks would have 10 hours of 100 minutes. Each year would have 10 months. July and August would be dropped and students with birthdays then would have them cancelled, reducing the summer vacation to 20 days. (From newspaper source)

Now, imagine that you're in the class. What questions could you ask to see if the teacher is shooting straight with you? (If they fail to think of these questions, mention: Where can I read more on this? What is the name of the government agency? Hey, if each day had 10 hours of 100 minutes each, then each day would have 1,000 minutes instead of 60x24=1440 minutes. After a few days, we would be going to school at night instead of during the day!)

Interested in how the actual class responded? The teacher just wanted to teach his students to think for themselves. So mid week, the teacher admitted that he was fibbing. But not before some parents had called in to ask when the metric time would begin! Not even one student objected or asked questions. No one sat down with a pencil and figured out that it couldn't work.

Don't ever blindly follow the supposed authorities of your day. Learn to think for yourself. Look how these great authorities of their time missed it.

(For over 300 pages of such ''expert advise,'' see The Experts Speak: The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation, by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, 1984.)

"Education has for its object the formation of character.'' (Philosopher Herbert Spencer)

Education commences at the mother's knee, and every word spoken within the hearing of little children tends towards the formation of character.

It's easier to learn good behavior by watching it than by hearing about it. (Frank A. Clark)

**********************

In the year 1723, a seventeen year-old boy arrived in Philadelphia without a penny to his name. At age 42, he retired, wealthy. Few men before or since have ever been as successful as Benjamin Franklin. He gave credit for his many inventions and business successes to this list of 13 principles. While today's ambitious people concentrate solely on developing their marketable skills, Benjamin Franklin took his character development seriously. While young, he wrote a list of virtues, and a strategy for obtaining them. (When using this as an illustration, you may wish to mention a couple from his list as examples.)  In order to progress in these virtues, he made a book, allotting a page for each virtue. He worked on a virtue each week, keeping score of the failures in that area. 

1. Temperance: Eat not dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself, avoid trifling conversation.

3. Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. Frugality: Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; waste nothing.

6. Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. Sincerity: Use no harmful deceit; think innocently and justly; and if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. Justice: wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. Moderation: Avoid extremes; forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. Cleanliness: Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes or habitation.

11. Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, nor at accidents.

12. Chastity: Be chaste in matters with the opposite sex.

13. Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Franklin lived out many of these virtues, especially early in his life, when his frugal, industrious life allowed him to retire early and devote himself to inventions and public works. But he eventually gave up working on his pride, assuming after so much failure in this area that it was unconquerable. Also, he failed in his moderation in later life, become rather obese. Perhaps this shows that some virtues can only be obtained through a close attention to God, who seemed to be more on the periphery of his life than the center. (Source: Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, pp. 91,92, © Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved.)

**********************

The virtue you would like to have, assume it as already yours, appropriate it, enter into the part and live the character just as the great actor is absorbed in the character of the part he plays. Ralph Waldo Emerson

**********************

Keep from trying bad things the first time. '''Tis easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow it.'' (Benjamin Franklin, from Autobiography, p. 222)

**********************

"Youth is the age of temptation and the greatest temptation of all is to do what the rest of the gang are doing, right or wrong. Too often it is wrong, for wisdom comes only with maturity, and the road to the maturity of self-understanding and self-discipline is long and hard and there are those who never reach the end of that road.'' (Pearl S. Buck)

**********************

Honesty

Before the revolution which overturned the Communist government in Czechoslovakia, Father Vaclav Maly was taught by his parents, ''Speak freely. If anyone asks you what we speak about at home, tell them. We don't say one thing at home, and another at school. Always speak the truth. That's where you'll find real freedom.'' This stubborn stand for absolute truth led to his involvement with ''Charter 77'' and his part in the Czechoslovakian revolution. Today, Czechs and Slovaks live in freedom, thanks to those who refused to compromise the truth under Communism. (Source: Bud Bultman, Revolution by Candlelight, p. 25, © Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved)

**********************

It's easier to learn good behavior by watching it than by hearing about it. (Frank A. Clark)

"Fame can be very disruptive. It can be like a drug. It gives you the feeling that you're happy, it gives you the feeling of self-importance, it gives you the feeling of fulfillment... but it can distract you from what is really important." (Madonna, in MTV interview, 1998)