Water In A Glass

My Dad was a survivor of the Depression. He was a survivor of a fatal disease that claimed the life of his Dad when he was merely a teenager. Then, that same disease struck him & put him in a sanitorium where he was isolated from the rest of humanity until a cure was found for tuberculosis. His grandfather raised him along with his mother, who also had 3 other boys and one lone girl to boot to take care of as well. And do you think he had a dim view on life? Not on your life. He always looked at the proverbial glass of water as "half-full". He went on to start his own accounting business, which lasted over 40 years under his ownership before he sold it upon his retirement. It's still in business, as of today.

Dad was also one who drank in words of wisdom from other successful men. Men who were motivated by their internal "drive" to look at life the same way he did. One of his early influences was a man by the name of Earl Nightingale. I remember watching Dad early in the morning as he was getting ready to go to work, in the bathroom shaving & blasting Earl Nightingale cassettes at the same time. Here is some of what Dad learned from this visionary:

Learn to enjoy every minute of your
life. Be happy now. Don't wait for something outside of yourself to make you
happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend,
whether it's at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and
savored.

Our attitude towards others
determines their attitude towards us.

People are where they are because
that is exactly where they really want to be - whether they will admit that or
not.

The biggest mistake that you can
make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone.
The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are
owned by the company, you own your career.

Wherever there is danger, there
lurks opportunity; whenever there is opportunity, there lurks danger. The two
are inseparable. They go together.

Nightingale began early in life looking for the answer to this question: “How can a person, starting from scratch, who has no particular advantage in the world, reach the goals that he feels are important to him, and by so doing, make a major contribution to others?” Now, do you wonder if everyone asked this same question today, if there would be any "social victims" left?

Dad also read books by Dale Carnagie. Here are a few good pointers from the man who gave us the book, How to Win Friends And Influence People:

It just amazes me when I am around those who just can't seem to find one positve thing about the situation they're in. I realize sometimes life may resemble an ugly, smelly old jackass...but you do have a choice in whether or not you want to look at the front or the back end of it.

I've read a few of Dale's books, as I also did from Norman Vincent Peale (of the Guideposts Magazine fame) & his classic The Power of Positive Thinking. These books & philosophy have revolutionized the way I approach life.

My Dad died in 2002 from complications of Alzheimer's Disease at the age of 70 having sold his accounting practices in two different towns in Arkansas. He also was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International, a former Director for First Western Bank in my hometown, and a former Jaycee member. Oh, and not too many folks in town had never heard of my Dad, either. And they all knew him fondly as, "good ol' Billy Dale".

Not too bad for a fellow who was raised in southwest Arkansas on a poor farm eating so much poke salat & turnip greens that his mother had to put coal oil around his ankles at night to keep the cutworms from getting him.