Successful stories come from fears and failures
I got a strong dose of motivation and inspiration over the weekend. It happens every year around this time, which is when our Toastmasters District holds its Spring Convention. A highlight of the convention is the International Speech Contest, which brings together the winners of ten Division contests. These are people who have already won at three levels of competition, so you can imagine how polished and persuasive their speeches are by the time they reach the District level. What [...]
Where were you when you heard?
“Where were you when you heard the news?” Only a few historical events evoke that question, events of such magnitude that people remember exactly where they were and what they were doing at the time. The bombing of Pearl Harbor. The assassination of JFK. The attack on the Twin Towers. And now there’s another one. The death of Prince won’t be in the history books in the same way as those other events, but – especially for Minnesotans, and in [...]
Hidden stories contain powerful lessons
It is our most debilitating weakness that often turns into our greatest strength. Our most shameful secrets that bring about our most lasting peace. And our deepest sorrows that lead to our greatest joys. But not until we share them. For most of us, this goes against every instinct we have. The awful experiences in our past – whether they are things we’ve done, things others have done to us, or devastating and embarrassing events that just happened – the [...]
Safety is a concern for us all
I laughed as I read the email, which began, “Dear Secretary of Nice.” The email was from a friend who’s also a regular reader of my column, and her salutation was a reference to a column I wrote a month ago, in which I suggested we could do with a “Department of Nice” in the federal government. And I assigned myself to be in charge of it. That idea came from a recent conversation with my husband and daughter. We [...]
Watch out for April snow and April fools
“Guess what? It’s snowing outside!” When I was young, that’s the greeting my sisters and I woke up to every year on April 1st. Mom would come into our bedrooms with the exciting news, but before we could jump out of bed and race to the window to see for ourselves, she’d add, “April Fool!” By then we were awake enough to realize for ourselves that we were now in the month of April. And it never snowed in April. [...]
A stormy anniversary brings a timely reminder
“Do you know what today is?” my sister asked when she called me Sunday evening. “Besides Easter, I mean.” Did I forget someone’s birthday, or another special occasion? I immediately ran through my mental list. March 27. Nothing rang a bell. “The tornado,” she said. “Today is the 25th anniversary of the tornado.” She didn’t need to say any more than that. I immediately recalled the day, 25 years ago, when the town we lived in was devastated by a [...]