In retrospect, when I first preached this message in 1993, the world’s problems were much less aggravating, but predictably indicating of worst things to come. How precisely true when we look at today’s chaos everywhere! Is there any nook & corner of the world that is not plagued with problems?
Someone once said, “Jerusalem is a golden basin full of scorpions.” Three major religions of the world, Christianity, Islam & Judaism all have a claim over this holiest of cities. Yet, unbelievably & ironically, all its holiness pales in significance when compared to all the religious & political killings & conflict since time memorial. So much violence, atrocities, grief, misery . . . where is love and peace as preached?
Logically, since there is but one God, there should be but one religion. But mankind through its ingenuity & human intelligence rationalised & justified by instituting a ramification of religions to suit its convenience & concept. Such is the nature of mankind. Just like a man that is born of a woman has but a short life to live with its fill of misery, what else is there to be said of man’s other institutions & artefacts? Man-made misery is rampant & widespread. No one continent is free from conflict & warfare. The question is, will it ever end?
Unlike civilisations of old, our present civilisation is materialistic in nature, breeding greed, discontent & all sorts of immoral objectives. The moral, philosophical, cultural & non-materialistic aspect of civilisation is overwhelmed largely by economic consideration. Capitalism captivates & transcends all levels of society & invades the hearts & minds of all without exception. There is no global territorial restriction as evidenced by the crumbled communist walls with their iron or bamboo curtains.
Nationalistically, power & world supremacy reign supreme. Individually, the same applies. Western civilisation started to flourish with the rapid organisation of church activities. Church leaders wield tremendous power & influence over the nation & its people. The best example being the Pope & the Vatican. The Pope is without doubt easily the most powerful figure in the world . . . his followers transcend all national boundaries.
Mankind may be Christian in name, but barbaric in deeds. It’s apparent everywhere. Like Prophet Mohammed who conquered with a sword in one hand & the Koran in the other, Popes of the previous era had conquered with sword in one hand & the Bible in the other. The calamities & atrocities arising out of wars are unforgivable.
The Asian crisis of the 90s was not confined just to the economic frontier, but with civil unrest in Indonesia & India testing out its nuclear might threatening its immediate neighbour of Pakistan, Asia & the world.
The present global financial crisis is even more threatening, coupled with wars raging all over. Over & above all these, natural disasters & catastrophe are more rampant & pronounced. Sovereign debt crisis bringing Eurozone to its knees. Could all these signal the coming of the end?
In the 90s, there was on TV of a Japanese sect claiming that the true Jesus Christ came to Japan. He married & lived to a ripe old age of 105 and was buried in Japan. The person that hung on the cross was in fact His own brother, who was mistaken to be Him. Jesus’ coming to Japan was His Second Coming. His first was when He was aged 21 when he learnt a great deal from the Shinto before going back to Israel to preach. Believe it?
You only have to look at the Australian society to be alarmed at the abominable happenings . . . church condoning homosexuality . . . allowing non-Christian to be minister . . . pastor welcoming Freemasons into their midst in Church & being struck dead upon sitting down . . . police, politicians, church people marching together with the Mardi Gras celebration . . . the list goes on & on. It’s inevitable we are heading towards the days of Sodom & Gomorrah. In Matthew 10:125, it is said: “I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom & Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for . . .”.
The scenario in the United States of America, all too familiar, is far worst than the above . . .
When you look at today’s world . . . financial crisis, sovereign debt crisis, double-digit unemployment, wars & atrocities, natural disasters & calamities, human sufferings, social unrest . . . there is nothing positively right!
Are the final days upon us? Is mankind so blind as to be wiped out by the twin perils of Armageddon and a doomsday comet? Signs are everywhere of Jesus’ Second Coming and God will establish Heaven on Earth, creating a virtual paradise for true believers everywhere. The righteous will inherit life eternal in all its glories. Unless the unrighteous repent eternal condemnation is a certainty. Just like the days of old, as with the people of Sodom & Gomorrah unconcerned & believing not, the present generation of people will face judgement in a much more drastic way!
This is indeed food for thought . . . serious matter to be taken to heart, mind & soul. Our days on earth are naturally numbered as they are . . . what more with such swift & cataclysmic changes. In the present era of instant communication and super electronic highway, adverse happenings are instantly relayed on the small screen. Some of these present day happenings are really scary.
No more hearsay . . . more like near-say!
To be forewarned is to be forearmed. Repent & be prepared for the Judgement Day is upon us. We would not be caught with “wine, women & song” in more atrocious ways than the days of Sodom & Gomorrah! The final crunch will affect us all globally!
God is gracious and forever faithful to His promises. His arms are wide open. Let Him receive us in the comfort of His arms. Amen.
Perhaps it’s not too lowly to think & act like animals . . . you’d be surprised what you can learn from them. We humans who pride ourselves as masters & superior beings over the earth are lacking in the many good qualities possessed by the wolves . . .
Australians may not know as much about the wolves as their American counterparts since wolves do not inhabit the “great down-under”.This ancestor of the domestic dog that lives throughout the forest regions of North America is a fascinating creature. It’s kind of a “utopian” society where teamwork, loyalty and communication are the norm rather than the exception. In a wolf pack, wolves exist for each other. They always work as a team.
Humans on the contrary are focused on individualism & self-centredness. It’s the “I” factor that rules the life – where “I” is appropriately represented by Individualism, Importance & Independence, even to the extent of feeling the sense of being Indispensable.
To add credence to what I say, let’s refer this matter to what Dr Yahya al-Yahya wrote in his book “Understanding The Nature Of The Human Being”:
“It is necessary to understand the fundamental nature of a human being, that he is: weak, hasty, ignorant and unjust. He is also unappreciative, anxious, obstructive, fearful, mean, stingy, and miserly. He loves to argue, arrogantly ignores and turns away from his Lord in wealth and health, and despairs when in poverty and sickness. He also rejoices and boasts when in wealth to other slaves of Allah. He is never fed up or bored of asking for wealth.
These characteristics are always present in one; however, they increase or decrease, surface or fade away according to the upbringing and the amendment of the spirit . . . He is also afflicted with hardships, works industriously, and struggles diligently all his life. ”
Twyman Towery, Ph.D., a professional speaker and consultant who studied the lessons of leadership in nature, has captured them in a new book for Simple Truths called Wisdom of Wolves. Twyman shares the parallels between the wolf pack and human behaviour . . . in business life, family life, and personal life.
Briefly, below is an introduction to Towery’s writing:
“The attitude of the wolf can be summed up simply: it is a constant visualisation of success. The collective wisdom of wolves has been progressively programmed into their genetic makeup throughout the centuries. Wolves have mastered the technique of focusing their energies toward the activities that will lead to the accomplishment of their goals.
Wolves do not aimlessly run around their intended victims, yipping and yapping. They have a strategic plan and execute it through constant communication. When the moment of truth arrives, each understands his role and understands exactly what the pack expects of him.
The wolf does not depend on luck. The cohesion, teamwork and training of the pack determines whether the pack lives or dies.
There is a silly maxim in some organisations that everyone, to be a valuable member, must aspire to be the leader. This is personified by the misguided CEO who says he only hires people who say they want to take his job. Evidently, this is supposed to ensure that the person has ambition, courage, spunk, honesty, drive – whatever. In reality, it is simply a contrived situation, with the interviewee jumping through the boss’s hoops. It sends warnings of competition and one-upmanship throughout the organisation rather than signals of cooperation, teamwork and loyalty.
Everyone does not strive to be the leader in the wolf pack. Some are consummate hunters or caregivers or jokesters, but each seems to gravitate to the role he does best. This is not to say there are not challenges to authority, position and status – there are. But each wolf’s role begins emerging from playtime as a pup and refines itself through the rest of its years. The wolf’s attitude is always based upon the question, “What is best for the pack?” This is in marked contrast to us humans, who will often sabotage our organisations, families or businesses, if we do not get what we want.
Wolves are seldom truly threatened by other animals. By constantly engaging their senses and skills, they are practically unassailable. They are masters of planning for the moment of opportunity to present itself, and when it does, they are ready to act.
Because of training, preparation, planning, communication and a preference for action, the wolf’s expectation is always to be victorious. While in actuality this is true only 10 percent of the time or less, the wolf’s attitude is always that success will come-and it does.”
Image Source: kptv.com . . . Likewise, never underestimate a 99-year old lady using an iPad
An elderly lady actually wrote this letter to her bank manager who thought it amusing enough to have it published in The Times. Was that all the manager could think of as being amusing? The old lady had been most gracious, polite & subtle in her well-written letter . . . short of reprimanding the bank for the lack of service. To say the least, banks generally lack personal service, let alone to expect the human touch of understanding & compassion or even just an iota gesture of goodwill.
Biblically, we are reminded of “doing unto others what we would expect others to do unto us.” Read on to see what scheme this old lady devised to hit back at the bank.
Dear Sir,
I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations, three ‘nanoseconds’ must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement which, I admit, has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account £30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.
My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.
I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal, overcharging, re-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.
From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person. My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.
Be aware that it is an offense under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope.
Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.
In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:
1 ~ To make an appointment to see me.
2 ~ To query a missing payment.
3 ~ To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.
4 ~ To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.
5 ~ To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.
6 ~ To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.
7 ~ To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorized Contact.)
8 ~ To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 8
9 ~ To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering service. While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.
Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.
May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year.
Your Humble Client
Addendum from The Editor:
IMPORTANT to REMEMBER that this letter was written by a lady who is a 98 year old woman.
DOESN’T SHE MAKE YOU PROUD!!!?
She may be old, but there’s still a lot of wisdom & fight in her!
Let the bank knows that she’s not a faceless entity or a mere statistic, but a human person.
Believe you me when I say that we adults can learn a lot from children in the things they say so naturally. Be amazed how wonderfully gifted they are with the kind of wisdom that is so lacking in grown-ups. For instance, love to the adult is a complicated emotion, but to an innocent child he has a way of defining it in simple words. Kids have a way of expressing themselves in the most natural & simplest of ways.
For the adults, their perceptions of love differ from individual to individual, all shaped & defined by such circumstances as birth & death, marriage & divorce, friendship, separation among others.
When this question “What does love mean?” was posed to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, the answers obtained by a group of professionals were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. Below are some of the most astounding examples:
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” Rebecca – age 8
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.” Billy – age 4
“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” Karl – age 5
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” Chrissy – age 6
“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Terri – age 4
“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” Danny – age 7
“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss” Emily – age 8
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen,” Bobby – age 7 (Wow!)
“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” Nikka – age 6
“There are two kinds of love. Our love. God’s love. But God makes both kinds of them.” Jenny – age 8
“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” Noelle – age 7
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” Tommy – age 6
“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore,” Cindy – age 8
“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” Clare – age 6
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” Elaine -age 5
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.” Chris – age 7
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” Mary Ann – age 4
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” Lauren – age 4
“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” Karen – age 7
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” Mark – age 6
“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget,” Jessica – age 8
Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia was once judging a contest to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”
Kids really know how to make you feel loved & capture every fibre of your emotion!
No parents taught them but they instinctively say the nicest things you can ever imagine! They say what comes naturally!! Nothing complex or complicated!!!
“Hear and you forget; see and you remember; do and you understand . . .”
So when a kindergarten teacher wanted to impart a valuable lesson in life, she chose the “doing” method to let her class play a game.
The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing a few potatoes.
Each potato would be given a name of a person that the child hates. So the number of potatoes that a child would put in his/her plastic bag would depend on the number of people he/she hates.
So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while others up to 5 potatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry with them in the plastic bag wherever they go (even to the toilet) for 1 week.
Days passed, and the children started to complain due to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having 5 potatoes in the plastic bag also had to carry heavier bags. After 1 week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended . . .
The teacher asked: “How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?” The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble they had to go through having to carry the heavy & smelly potatoes wherever they went.
Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. The teacher said: “This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just one week, can you imagine what it is like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for a lifetime???”
Moral of the story:
Throw away any hatred for anyone from your heart so that you will not carry sins for a lifetime. Forgive others is the best attitude to take!
True love is not loving a perfect person but loving
A friend of mine told me a story about when he was a kid he was in the hospital & nearly dying. His grandmother came to the hospital & told a family member to go buy her a large onion & a new pair of white cotton socks. She sliced the onion open then put a slice on the bottom of each of his feet & put the white cotton socks on him. In the morning when he awoke they removed the socks. The slices of onion were black & his fever was gone.
In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu. Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.
The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy. When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then). The doctor couldn’t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.
Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ. She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers. The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop. To her surprise, none of her staff got sick. It must work.. (And no, she is not in the onion business.)
The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home. If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere. Try it and see what happens. We did it last year and we never got the flu.
For flu cure : cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar…placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs…sure enough it happened just like that…the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.
Onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.
From the above testimonies, it is evident that the humble onion has that magic touch!
One more thing, never store cut onions
and consume the next day.
In view of our highly urbanized & consumer lifestyles, we have largely become detached from mother earth living like astronauts stuck in outer space. Consequently, our basic survival & daily needs like food, water including medicines & drugs are collected, packaged & plastic-wrapped for our convenient consumption through the courtesy & benefits of the corporations.
Life has become superficial, futile & vain – absolutely!
Why so superficial & artificial when everything we see around us springs naturally from Mother Earth?
Milton Friedman (late economist) said: “only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes politically inevitable.”
In other words, catastrophes and crises, according to Friedman and his ilk, are golden opportunities for imposing ideas that would otherwise be rejected under normal conditions.
One World Order
According to a report from Weiss Research Inc. on 10 May 2010, America is stepping in to bail out the European debtor nations – with “unbacked dollars out of thin air” – more correctly with “debt-based dollars”!
Fed Chief Ben Bernanke announced that the Federal Reserve will print UNLIMITED amount of U.S. dollars and then use them to buy bonds offered by failing European governments.
First, the Fed printed billions to bail out Fannie and Freddie … billions more to bail out failed bankers . . . and billions more to bail out failed automakers . . . AIG . . .
Now, Bernanke plans to print an UNLIMITED amount of dollars to bail out Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Spain . . . the entire European Union!
This blank-check scheme, recently worked out with European leaders, assures them that the Fed will create “dollars out of thin air” and then use those greenbacks to buy European bonds — many of them are junk bonds.
On top of this sheer madness, consider this: Over the weekend, Bernanke and the Fed also agreed to create unlimited amount of debt-based dollars to bail out Japan (its financial saviour, how ironic) . . . plus up to $30 billion to bail out Canada . . . plus billions more to bail out the government of Switzerland.
Lest it be forgotten, The United States of America is indebted to China & Japan (Supposedly in trouble too) to a tune of trillion of dollars!
This is utterly & totally insane! Already the American ship is in deep waters & yet it is speeding towards rescuing their sinking Europeans & others. Is this an act of guilt conscience? No . . . not really . . . but it’s revealing one massive hidden agenda . . . a global conspiracy game . . . the emergence of one global financial system!!!
“There is no other way to say it: The Federal Reserve has just lit the fuse on one of the greatest explosions of paper money in history . . . an explosion in the supply of dollars that can only gut the value of every other dollar in circulation.” (Weiss Research)
Let’s fast-track into the future: it’s going to be a world, though politically & territorially apart, of one “central financial system” controlled by the Wall Street “Financial Mafia”.
With the world’s delinquent nations spinning out of control generating a strong centrifugal force & engulfing others one by one, the “Financial Mafia” of IMF, an institution linked to Wall Street, is grappling the force & settling it into one fully integrated financial system. Obviously, henceforth where will the power of control be?
The fact that Greece is in turmoil with civil uprising & rioting is attributed to the Greeks’ hatred & resentment of the stringent conditions imposed by IMF (international Monetary Fund).
“This is nothing more than highway robbery: It can only deplete the value — the buying power — of every dollar the Americans earn, save, invest and plan to live on in retirement.”(Weiss Research)
Meanwhile, European investors, not fully aware of the hidden danger & implication of all this, are laughing all the way to the bank. The news that the Americans are picking up the tab for their out-of-control spending has triggered massive stock market gains all across the Continent.
All that glitters is not gold!
Is this some sort of political game?
What is US really up to, bailing out the European delinquent nations with money they don’t have?
This is so noble of the Americans sacrificing their own buying power & financial security so that European debtor nations can avoid default and continue to giving bonuses & luxury pensions to their workers!
“Capitalism creates a rational frame of mind which, having destroyed the moral authority of so many other institutions, in the end turns against its own.” – Joseph A. Schumpeter
As it is, the Eurozone is coming up with an exigency plan of their own to secure a value of one trillion exigency fund.
CAUTION!
New World Order
Everybody needs to have a rethink & think straight about all these debt-based dollars being created!
The world’s financial system is undergoing massive upheavals & what’s emerging will be a one-world financial system.
Bits of puzzle are falling into place to reveal the Big Picture!
Just think of the hidden agenda & global conspiracy of the coming of one-world system or government as biblically predicted.
There is an underlying sinister agenda to bring about globally every nation under one “Financial Empire System”.
“Some people stockpile canned goods and water in preparation for major disasters,” Naomi Klein, an investigative journalist in her book ‘The Shock Doctrine,’ writes. “Friedmanites stockpile free-market ideas. And once a crisis has struck…it was crucial to act swiftly, to impose rapid and irreversible change before the crisis-racked society slipped back into the ‘tyranny of the status quo’.”
With qualitative & quantitative service, it’s not a rule, but more so it’s a choice . . . for nobody can make you serve customers well.
It’s up to you!
Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt with a blue outer fit, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey. What a refreshing taxi driver! Harvey was impressed.
He handed Harvey a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’
Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment . . .
This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’ My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’ Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem.. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice…’ Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’
Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.’
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
‘Tell me, Wally,’ Harvey amazingly asked the driver, ‘Have you always served customers like this?’
Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard a personal growth expert on the radio one day. He had just written a book and said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’
‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.
‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.’
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. This story has been related to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Most of the cab drivers quacked like ducks and would keep on complaining or justifying for their lack of attention & service.
Success is by choice
Mediocrity is also by choice.
Wally the Cab Driver made the right choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and start soaring like an eagle.
Image: nocaptionneeded.com
Paul Chong's Blog 