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In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency, told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker (Marilyn Monroe), "You'd better learn secretarial work or else get married.” 


In 1889, Rudyard Kipling - an author won the Literature Nobel Prize in 1907 received the following rejection letter from the San Francisco Examiner. "I'm sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don't know how to use the English language.” 


Winston Churchill failed sixth grade. He did not become Prime Minister of England until he was 62, and then only after a lifetime of defeats and setbacks. His greatest contributions came when he was a "senior citizen.” 

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn't read until he was seven. His teacher described him as "mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams." He was expelled and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. 


Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 in chemistry. 

General Douglas MacArthur was turned down for admission to West Point not once but twice. But he tried a third time, was accepted and marched into the history books. 


While turning down the British rock group called The Beatles, one executive of Decca Recording Company said, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” 


 In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere... son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck.” 


When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers. President Rutherford Hayes said, "That's an amazing invention, but who would ever want to use one of them?” 


When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2,000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, "I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2,000-step process.” 


After years of progressive hearing loss, by age 46 German composer Ludwig van Beethoven had become completely deaf. Nevertheless, he wrote his greatest music - including five symphonies - during his later years.

Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
- Henry Ford

Consider this

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 Imagine you are on the road to your dream house.

1. The road you are walking on is:

 Wide and spacious, with cool trees on both sides.
 It is a road in the middle of a bumpy ravine, but the mountain scenery is very attractive.
 The trail goes through a mountain. The field is empty, the sun is shining overhead.

2. You walk while listening to music, waving a bunch of keys in your hand. That is:

 Old key.
 New key.

3. At the end of the road, you go into the forest. Suddenly a tiger jumps out to threaten you. You will:

 When in a pinch, the best course of action is to flee.
 Seeing a tree log around, you grab it and throw it at the tiger. No matter what, you're about to be attacked, so it's better to fight heroically.
 You climb a very high tree, tie yourself to the tree and take a nap, waiting for the tiger to go away.

4. After escaping the tiger, you will continue your journey to the house. That is the inheritance you receive. That house:

 Big, beautiful, majestic, comfortable.
 Ordinary, nothing special.
 Ancient, full of strange mysteries.

5. How many windows do you want that house to have?

 Less, you don't want to have to close and open windows all day.
 Just enough.
 The more the better. You really like the window frames.


Road to dream house

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Bright electric lights, full of funny or warm colors, flashing or pensive, are all signs of human life. On special occasions such as Christmas or New Year, the lights are even more meaningful to signal the joy of gathering or show the bustling atmosphere that surrounds everyone. You are sitting at home waiting for your best friend coming and hanging out on Christmas Eve. You rest your chin and dreamily think about the meaning of the lights in your life. 

Close your eyes for a few seconds, and what kind of lights do you think of?

 Street lights
 Table lamp
 Mount ceiling lights
 Chandeliers


Lights

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They huddled inside the storm door - two children in ragged outgrown coats.
"Any old papers, lady?”
I was busy. I wanted to say no - until I looked down at their feet. Thin little sandals, sopped with sleet.
"Come in and I'll make you a cup of hot cocoa." There was no conversation. Their soggy sandals left marks upon the hearthstone.

Cocoa and toast with jam to fortify against the chill outside. I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget...
The silence in the front room struck through to me. I looked in.
The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in flat voice, "Lady... are you rich?”
"Am I rich? Mercy, no!" I looked at my shabby slipcovers.
The girl put her cup back in its saucer - carefully. "Your cups match your saucers." Her voice was old with a hunger that was not of the stomach.
They left then, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn't said thank you. They didn't need to. They had done more than that. Plain blue pottery cups and saucers. But they matched. I tested the potatoes and stirred the gravy. Potatoes and brown gravy - a roof over our heads - my man with a good steady job - these things matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and tidied the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my hearth. I let them be. I want them there in case I ever forget again how very rich I am.

- Marion Doolan

Lady, are you rich?

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A few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with the relish to run the race to the finish and win.

All, that is, except one boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and paused. Then they all turned around and went back. Every one of them. One girl with Down's syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line.

Everyone in the stadium stood and the cheering went on for ten minutes.

- Bob French

What's really important?

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We who lived in the concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they
offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: The last of his freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

- Viktor E. Frankl


 

Obstacles

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For a young child, the first trip to summer camp can be exciting, but it can also be a very frightening experience. The first day, everyone else seems to know what they’re doing, to belong to a circle of friends, and to have decided already which bunk they’re going to sleep in. But with the help of the counselors and a few newfound friends, most kids seem to make it through that adjustment period without suffering any permanent damage, and it isn’t unusual for a child who screamed, “I wanna go home!” on day one to cry, “I never wanna leave!” when the summer finally ends. 

Imagine you’re a counselor at a summer camp. A young first-timer knocks on your cabin door one night after lights-out and, with tears in his eyes, tells you he wants to go home. What do you say to the child?

 
Source: Kokology - The Game of Self-Discovery

A Shoulder to Cry On

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A lesson in "heart" is my little, 10-year-old daughter, Sarah, who was born with a muscle missing in her foot and wears a brace all the time. She came home one beautiful spring day to tell me she had competed in "field day" - that's where they have lots of races and other competitive events.

 

Because of her leg support, my mind raced as I tried to think of encouragement for my Sarah, things I could say to her about not letting this get her down - but before I could get a word out, she said, "Daddy, I won two of the races!”

I couldn't believe it! And then Sarah said, "I had an advantage.”

Ahh! I knew it. I thought she must have been given a head start... some kind of physical advantage. But again, before I could say anything, she said, "Daddy, I didn't get a head start... my advantage was I had to try harder!”

- Stan Frager


A lesson in heart

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The Brooklyn Bridge that spans the river between Manhattan and Brooklyn is simply an engineering miracle. 

In 1883, a creative engineer, John Roebling, was inspired by an idea for this spectacular bridge project. However, bridge-building experts told him to forget it, it just was not possible. Roebling convinced his son, Washington, an upandcoming engineer, that the bridge could be built. The two of them conceived the concept of how it could be accomplished, and how to overcome the obstacles. Somehow they convinced bankers to finance the project. Now with unharnessed excitement and energy, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.

The project was only a few months under way when a tragic on-site accident killed John Roebling and severely injured his son. Washington was severely brain-damaged, unable to talk or walk. Everyone thought that the project would have been scrapped since the Roeblings were the only ones who understood how the bridge could be built.
Though Washington Roebling was unable to move or talk, his mind was as sharp as ever. One day, as he lay in his hospital bed, an idea flashed in his mind as to how to develop a communication code. All he could move was one finger, so he touched the arm of his wife with that finger. He tapped out the code to communicate to her what she was to tell the engineers who continued building the bridge. For 13 years, Washington tapped out his instructions with one finger until the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge was
finally completed.

The miracle bridge

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A little boy was overheard talking to himself as he strode through his backyard, baseball cap in place and toting ball and bat. 

"I'm the greatest baseball player in the world," he said proudly. 

Then he tossed the ball in the air, swung and missed. Undaunted, he picked up the ball, threw it into the air and said to himself, "I'm the greatest baseball player ever!" He swung at the ball again, and again he missed. He paused a moment to examine the bat and ball carefully. Then once again he threw the ball into the air and said, "I'm the greatest baseball player who ever lived." He swung the bat hard and again missed the ball.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "What a pitcher!”

Covering all the bases

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