======================= VOTT IF ... you could get a short, humorous, informative e-mail each week that was insightful and meaningful to your life? ======================= Valuing Ourselves There is a story about a wealthy man who took his young son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing him how poor people can be (presumably so that his son would be 'shocked' into his senses). They spent a day and a night on the farm of a very poor family. When they got back from their trip the father asked his son, "How was the trip?" "Very good Dad!" his son replied. "Did you see how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Yeah!" said his son. "And what did you learn?" The son answered, "I saw that we have a dog at home, and they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, they have a creek that has no end. Our patio reaches to the front yard, they have a whole horizon. We have imported lamps in the garden, they have the stars." His son added, "Thanks Dad, for showing me how poor we are!" What we value does depend on who we are at the moment. Though the father may disagree with his son, it is a little hard to argue against the river, the horizon and the stars. Inevitably, the best things in life are free and there really is a reason why those things are called 'priceless'. Time Tippies While it is true that a 'stitch in time saves nine', do not underestimate the legitimacy of 'never do today what you can put off till tomorrow'. Time management is usually very hard on procrastination and well it should be. However, it pays not to mindlessly do things just because it looks like they are asking to be done. In fact, when we get into the habit of always doing this and that, we lose sight of important matters because there just isn't room for them. We feel that even though we barely have time to breathe, we must be accomplishing a lot because we are always busy. Doing less, doing it better and doing what really needs to be done is what true time management is all about. Inspiration Samuel Langhorn Clemens is much better known by his pseudonym, Mark Twain, one of America's most famous writers. He was born in Missouri in 1835 and died in 1910. He left school when he was 12 and was apprenticed to a printer. He became a riverboat pilot in his early twenties and a newspaper correspondent by 27. Mark Twain came into prominence as a writer 3 years later. His stories (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Prince and the Pauper and many more, provided a social commentary of the times with a strong underlying morality. He exposed hypocracies, issues of power and greed and the like, while maintaining a gaily, irreverent sense of humour. In a preface to his work, he wrote: "Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand." We salute Mark Twain for his genius in writing and confronting difficult issues with sensitivity and great wit. Funecdotes Samuel Foote and David Garrick were both 18th century actors and both were known to be very tightfisted with money. Once when they were out socializing together, it came time to pay the bill. Foote reluctantly agreed to pay, but dropped the coin, a guinea. Both men started crawling about on the ground searching vainly for the missing money. "Where on earth is it?", Foote exclaimed in exasperation. "Gone to the devil, I suppose, " muttered Garrick. "Well you always were one for making a guinea go further than anyone else!" Foote remarked. ... with you on your journey Towards Freedom mailto:about@towardsfreedom.com (autoresponder) http://www.towardsfreedom.com (website) information, imagination, inspiration - truly a site for soaring I's ======================= If you ever wish to unsubscribe just do so at http://towardsfreedom.com/suvottif.html#subscription_handling =======================