It’s been said that if we want to know a lot about a person’s character, just watch how he or she acts. But I’m here to tell you, if we really want to know about their character, watch how they react, because this is the real test. In these days of shades and pastels, it’s the best way on earth for us to see a person’s true colors. Sometime ago, I ran across a terrific article that was printed in the Readers Digest way back in 1960 titled “Do You…

There is a little six-letter word in the English language that has far more impact on people’s lives than most of us ever realize. The word is “mentor” and means “a wise and trusted teacher or guide.” This truth was brought home to me some time ago when my good friend Coach Dale Brown sent me some excerpts from a book by Joey Green titled, “Famous Failures.” Coach Brown and I have a wonderful relationship because we have a common bond: we both want to encourage others to be the…

While it is much too late to tell him in person, I am thankful and truly indebted to the late Dale Carnegie. This “icon” of the public speaking profession passed away back in 1955 in Queens, New York, but while he was here on earth for 66 years, he made a difference in the lives of thousands and thousands of people who took his famous Dale Carnegie Course. Born into poverty in 1888 in Maryville, Missouri, he overcame an unbelievably harsh childhood and early life to discover that success comes…

Our local CBS television affiliate station in Little Rock has a terrific theme. It’s called “We are better together.” Each time I watch this I am truly inspired, especially when my friend Craig O’Neill has the closing line and employs that tremendously expressive face of his to end the jingle with the words “we are better together.” As I thought about this, I realized that this is not only a “theme” but also a principle that any of us can use to make things better in our homes, our businesses,…

There is an old saying that goes, “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” Well, what if it IS broke? Sad to say, this is the case in our society today. The mass shootings, parents who pay big money to get their kids into prestigious colleges, newscasts that are dominated by horrific crimes, television shows featuring violence and bloodshed, and the list is endless. In our country we have always had crime and always will, but we can take action to slow it down. Perhaps we could even return to…

While there may be some argument from fans of other sports because of large television viewing audiences, I believe baseball is America’s favorite pastime. This is because baseball is the sport that generations have grown up playing. From the Industrial Revolution to the Cold War to our present day, baseball has survived countless economic endeavors and national hardships. To say it very simply, baseball has survived the test of time. One of the reasons this is true is because of American Legion Baseball, which began in 1925 in the most…

Here is something about as close to a sure thing as you can get: the vast majority of American parents love their children and would do most anything they could to protect them from harm, injury and certainly death. Yet many of these same parents do not take the time to talk with -- and certainly educate -- their children who are old enough to drive an automobile about the dangers of texting or talking on a cell phone while driving. And it is also a sure thing that many…

In my column today I want to talk with you about a topic that was not even around when most of us were growing up: Internet safety for children. I wish it were not even necessary to write this column, but sadly it is, because there are some bad people in this world today. As a result of what I am going to say, if you have not already done so, please talk with your children and grandchildren about it and how they can keep from being a victim. If…

If you are a small business owner and have one or more teenagers, there are a plethora of reasons why you should hire them to work for you. For clarity’s sake, rather than using him/her from this point forward, I have opted to use the female gender. There are a number of jobs she can do, including filing, database work, typing, cleaning, maintenance, warehousing and countless others. What follows are six good reasons why both you and your child can benefit from hiring her. No. 1: She can develop a…

The other day I received an e-mail from a good friend, and it really got me to thinking. The title of the e-mail was “Do we live in such a dumb country?” The text of the e-mail was all about the laws that politicians have made, and how the rest of us have to live with these laws. Here is a sample of the text that will give you a good idea of what I am talking about. The article begins: “If you can get arrested for hunting and fishing…