WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?

Hi, it's been a hectic week. I hope you find this piece by Andy Rooney interesting! Be nice this weekend, dearie!




I've learned.... That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

I've learned.... That when you're in love, it shows.

I've learned.... That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.


I've learned.... That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world.


I've learned.... That being kind is more important than being right.
I've learned.... That you should never say no to a gift from a child.

I've learned.... That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in some other way.

I've learned.... That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.

I've learned.... That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand.

I've learned.... That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult.

I've learned.... That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

I've learned... . That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for.

I've learned.... That money doesn't buy class.

I've learned.... That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular.

I've learned... That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.

I've learned.... That to ignore the facts does not change the facts.

I've learned.... That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you.

I've learned.... That love, not time, heals all wounds.

I've learned.... That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am.

I've learned.... That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile.


I've learned.. That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them.

I've learned... That life is tough, but I'm tougher.

I've learned.... That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss.

I've learned.... That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere.

I've learned.... That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away.

I've learned.... That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them.

I've learned.... That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks.

I've learned.... That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, that you're hooked for life.


I've learned.... That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.

I've learned .... That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done.

Written by Andy Rooney , a man who has the gift of saying so much with so few words.

KEEP AT IT

Hello friends, I love the spirit of being passionate about doing what you truly believe in regardless. How about some tips from Kenyon for this week's update. Remain sweet.





“How did you ever do it? I can’t see how anyone could do a thing like that.”
We were in a curio shop. On the table there was a whole army of little figures that had been whittled out by hand.
What hours of work must have been spent on them.
This friend of mine stood there, and looking at them said, “How did you ever do it?”
The man smiled and said, “I just kept at it.”
I went out of the door.
I walked the street and I heard those three words, “Kept at it, kept at it, kept at it.”
How they rang through my soul.
That man had “Kept at it.”
He had put life into it.
He had made a success.
People were coming from all parts of the country to see the effect of that cultivated, trained genius.
All that man has done was to train his mind and hand, and then whittle his dreams out of wood, of soft stone and ivory.
I was thrilled through and through at the possibilities that were wrapped up in common folk like you and me.



I heard a girl play the piano. She was not over sixteen. I know something about music. We had a music department in our institution for many years.
I looked into her face and I whispered in my own heart, “Girl, you have spent hours pounding the keys while other girls were walking the street. While others were sleeping and mother was trying to get them out of bed, you were pounding those keys.
“You have lost a heap of good times, but what a musician you are!”
She kept at it. That is why she won.
I stood with a man, overlooking a beautiful farm in Northern Maine.
I said to him, “Who cleared this land? Who stumped it?”
He answered, “Do you see that little log house down there by the creek?”
“I built that, and wife and I moved into it before there was an acre of this land cleared. I vowed that I would clear every acre of it and put it into crops, and I have done it.”
That is the spirit that conquers.
“I vowed I would do it, and I have done it.”
I stood by the loom in the factory as a boy and vowed that I would become an educator. I did not know what it meant, but I knew that within me was a teaching gift, an undeveloped thing.
I vowed I would do it. I did it.
I was handicapped as few men have been handicapped, but I did it.
I am passing it on to you to show that they cannot conquer you if you will do it.
Struggle to improve. In every effort improve the dream.
Every time you play that piece on the piano, play it better than you played it before.



Every time you sit down to that typewriter, make up your mind that you are going to be more efficient than you have ever been.
Make your brain work. It will sweat, but make it work. It will improve. It will develop until you become a wonder to those around you.
Don’t depend on an alarm clock. Don’t depend on mother’s waking you.
Make up your mind that you will have the alarm clock in your soul.
Never depend on another man’s car. Get one of your own.
Be self-reliant.
Be punctual. Be diligent.
Think through on every problem.
Conquer your difficulties as a part of the day’s job.
We are out in the fight and we will win the crown.
© Kenyon.

A HONEST CHARACTER, TODAY'S RARITY

At a time when role models are hard to come by and honesty is in fast decline in the country, a ray of hope recently came from Mr. Job Durojaiye, a student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, who was reported to have alerted the authorities of First Bank Plc to the sum of N9.3 billion inadvertently paid into his account.

According to his own account of what happened, Durojaiye, a Higher National Diploma (HND) engineering student said on August 13, he had, upon withdrawing N2, 000 from his account at the bank's branch located in the school, discovered from his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) printout that he had a balance of N9.3 billion, instead of N1000 that should remain in his account.

This development, he said, aroused his curiosity. He decided to withdraw additional N20, 000 from the huge sum found in his account to confirm whether it was real. And it was. Three days later, he went to the bank to narrate his experience. The bank official he spoke to did not believe him until he supplied evidence through the ATM printout. He quickly returned the N20, 000 already withdrawn from the 9.3 billion. The bank took the refund, but did not, according to Durojaiye, give him as much as a pat on the back.

However, the Mountain of Fire and Miracles, a church where Durojaiye worships, has fittingly acknowledged his exemplary character by giving him a car and an undisclosed sum of money, as reward, while the authorities of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, awarded him a scholarship for the remaining part of his education. All of these amply show that honesty is the best policy and truly does have its rewards.
Indeed, the conduct of Mr. Durojaiye provides a good example for our youths and all government officials to emulate. By all standards, the young man richly deserves celebration. His exemplary honesty is rare in the country.



Although some many say he has missed a lifetime chance to be a billionaire, having refused the easy, fast lane to riches, we commend Durojaiye for taking the right decision. Clearly, a life without good virtues to be remembered for is not worth living, and a society without men and women with sterling moral compass, drifts endlessly.

On this score, Durojaiye could be a model for rebranding Nigeria. Coming at a time Nigeria is still savouring its Golden Jubilee celebration, the outstanding conduct ought to serve as a veritable platform to celebrate some of the excellent virtues of Nigerians.

In this era that icons have become a rarity in our country, we urge governments at all levels to hold out exemplary conduct such as that exhibited by Durojaiye for their officials to emulate. One of the ways that the government can prove that governance, indeed, is a human enterprise, is to accord due recognition to citizens who demonstrate uncommon character.

It is regrettable that often, we celebrate frivolities and scoff at good virtues such as honesty, trustworthiness, integrity and fear of God. These qualities are the essence of humanity. Had we, as a nation, prioritized celebration of notable acts of honesty and transparency, perhaps, our search for good leadership would have been much easier, and our country a much better place.



Let’s have your view, God bless you as you do. Shalom

CADAVER

The long decay now prevalent
In a system void of resuscitation
Of evil wrought ever evince
The sickness of hearts
Devoid of hope longed for
A holocaust of a stable bed for growth
And now….






Neglected societal scums
Now avaricious in sudden wealth
the aftermath of unasked for opportunities
the uncomfortable haves
clothed with supposed integrity;
a mask for the gentle pen swindlers
smiling promises and plundering spoils.
The irony of deep-seated ravens
Who to care is to create care-needs,
Seemingly holy in circle of concerns
An acceptable norm now adulterated;
A deception to the lower leveled yokel
still crispy to the undeciphering loyalists
till deprived of burial rites
reality becomes too late because dead;
a closure of history for goodly lucidity
an evidence for evil continuum
What hope lies in man, O heaven?






The study of the dead for living rectifications
Is preemption unto deathly witchcraft
Say, these gloomy drooling eyes
Littered clinical pictures of illusive hope ever
Yet, the cozy desentivity of heads
Disconnected from necks and bodies
For the due cocoon, unopen'd, festers smells…..
Or so, the disenchanted body
Seeking hope in unpromised promises
Of a tomorrow never conceived
To a today, shockingly attired
Reeding round our gods in intertwining semblances
Of ourselves in few instances
Of accusations to thieves but one
Four fingering back our hearts
But we must cry; we are not them
We are receivers, not leaders
We are responsibly frustrated
Uneducated to responsible frustrations
So we must cry
On the slab flat
At the mercy of the surgeon's
But the saviour of a people
Born in a palace or a ghetto
Is, thru' the repulsive processes,
Only hardened and beautifully segregated
Savingly active-
At last, then, hope;
A living hope would emerge.