Charlie Ward died when he was 73 years of age, but oh, what a life he lived. When I read this true story of Charlie Ward in the excellent book “The 25 Most Common Problems in Business” by Jim Zabloski, I knew it was a story that I had to share with you. The reason I wanted to share his story is because it represents thousands, perhaps millions, of people across America who started out on the wrong side of the tracks but became an exemplary model of what a…

The famous anthropologist Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” In case you don’t know, anthropology is “the study of human behavior and why we do the things we do.” I hope you will read and listen with both ears today, as I have something really important to share with you. I am only one of millions of Americans who are sick and tired of the direction our country has…

Have you ever read or heard something that would have been funny if it were not so close to the truth? Sometime back a faithful reader, Dorothy Kuhn from the great state of Kentucky, sent me something that certainly qualifies. It is an article titled, “What if Noah Tried to Build the Ark Today?” We all know the story of Noah and the Ark in the Bible, so please allow me to share this article with you. It begins: “And the Lord spoke to Noah and said, ‘In one year,…

Back in the early 1970s, I got to know a man by the name of Bill Rosa. At the time he was superintendent of schools in Mountain View, Arkansas. If you have never been to Mountain View, I can truthfully say that you have really missed something. This is a fantastic community where folk music is played, weather permitting, almost every Saturday in front of the Stone County Courthouse. A trip to Mountain View will certainly take you back in time, and it’s also home to the Ozark Folk Center and…

Someone once said, “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.” When it comes to our personal success in life, attitude is everything. A truth that I have passed along many times goes like this, “It’s your attitude and not your aptitude that will determine your altitude.” Unless you are talking about a brain surgeon, in most any endeavor you can name, give me a “C” student with a great attitude over an “A” student with a bad attitude every time.…

Several years ago, when I had more time, I loved to go trout fishing. We have a great trout fishing stream in North Arkansas known as the White River. The White River has a large dam that creates Bull Shoals Lake, a great fishing place in its own right, with anglers coming from all over the nation to fish there. I don’t know how many feet, but the dam is high, really high, and when water is released from the bottom, it is cold and swift as the water snakes…

          When a human being is born and comes into the world, one of the most precious gifts he is given is something we call time. The American poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, once said, “Time is the shadow on the dial, the striking of the clock, these are but arbitrary and outward signs, the measure of time, but not time itself. Time is the life of the soul.” Unless we have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to death, the amount of time we each have is not ours to know.…

          My Fellow American: If you are sick and tired of reading, hearing about, or even being involved in the rancor in Washington, riots, lootings, burning businesses, mass shootings reported on almost every newscasts, and other terrible things taking place in our society, I want to share AN IDEA WHO’S TIME HAS COME.  I grew up back in the 1950’s and we never had any of this stuff back then, NEVER. If enough people are willing to get involved in what I want to share with you in this column, over…