A Masterpiece Of Emotion...

YouTube Music Video: "Angel" By Sarah McLachlan

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance,
for a break that would make it okay.
There's always one reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day.
I need some distraction.
Oh, beautiful release,
memory seeps from my veins.
Let me be empty
and weightless and maybe,
I'll find some peace tonight.

In the arms of an angel
fly away from here.
From this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear.
You are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie.
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find some comfort there.

So tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn,
there's vultures and thieves at your back.
And the storm keeps on twisting.
You keep on building the lie
that you make up for all that you lack.
It don't make no difference,
escaping one last time.
It's easier to believe in this sweet madness,
oh, this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees.

In the arms of an angel
fly away from here.
From this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear.
You are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie.
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find some comfort there.
You're in the arms of the angel,
may you find some comfort here.

ESDS "WALK WITH ME" IS COMING TO PHILLY!

Walk for Autism...
Walk for Cerebral Palsy...
Walk for Down Syndrome...
Walk for all disabilities...

Saturday, June 12, 2010
Philadelphia Art Museum
Check-in/Registration 8:00am
5K USATF Sanctioned Run 9:00am
1 or 2 mile Family Fun Walk 9:35am

National Sponsors:
CVS Caremark, Century 21, Amway Global

Local Sponsors:
Century 21, First Financial Group, Metro Philadelphia,

PhRMA, Kreischer Miller, Hatfield, Ride-Away

For more information and online registration:
Visit WALKWITH ME.ORG or call 610-565-2353

Philadelphia Event Manager:
Contact Liz Graham by phone or email at
484-234-8007 or lgraham@easterseals-sepa.org.

I'm registered for this event:
Click here to see my personal "Walk With Me" page

Spread the word!

Retrospective: The 25th Anniversary Of "MOVE"

When he left office in 1992, W. Wilson Goode, Sr. set about putting what he called his "real feelings" about the MOVE tragedy into writing. "Sadly I realized that the police had killed two birds with one stone, MOVE and me," Goode wrote in his autobiography, "In Goode Faith".

But today, at 71 years old, with two more decades of perspective, a doctorate from a Baptist seminary, and a distinguished gray goatee, the Philadelphia's first black mayor says he has moved on from such a harsh assessment of the significance of May 13, 1985. "It's just one day in the life," he said in a recent interview in his sixth-floor office at 2000 Market Street, where he acts as Executive Director of Amachi, a nationally recognized program that matches children of incarcerated parents with mentors.

"I view it as an aberration in my life," Goode said. "I don't view it as part of a continuum in my life. Mistakes were made. You put it in perspective. You don't let it paralyze you. You don't let enemies or anyone define you by it. "I have no explanation as to why it happened or how it happened," he said. "It is something that should never have happened."

MOVE Bombing: 6200 block of Osage Avenue, May 13, 1985

Goode said he has never discussed MOVE with his wife, Velma, or his three children, including City Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr., who himself refused to discuss even the idea that the family did not talk about the subject. In recent weeks, though, Goode resigned himself to a series of interviews, on camera and off, to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the MOVE assault, in which a botched police plan left 11 people dead, including 5 children, and 250 people homeless. But he stressed that in 25 years, the only people to ever bring up MOVE have been Philadelphia journalists.

Goode said, "I have to say I don't see it as the media sees it, as the darkest day in the history of the city. In the last 25 years, I've been to 46 out of 50 states, and the issue of MOVE has never been raised with me. I've never been confronted by anyone about the issue. People who have known me by my reputation see it as an aberration, and see it as something that happened one day in my life and not a pattern. I do not believe that people think about it any more. Keep in mind, that people who are now 30 years old were 5 years old. People in the city under 25 or 30 years old, that's a whole lot of people in the city."

Indeed, at a recent appearance at the Fels School of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, no student asked about MOVE, nor did Goode himself bring it up. He has personally become "spiritually stronger" as a result of the tragedy. He serves as the minister of administration at the First Baptist Church of Paschall in Southwest Philadelphia, and said he had always felt a special relationship with God that only intensified after such a severe testing in 1985. "I did not feel like I was in a spiritual wasteland," he said of the immediate aftermath of MOVE. "When I did my devotions this morning, I read where it says, 'In life there would be joy and tribulations.' And so bad things happen to good people despite their best efforts. And sometimes with God's permission."

Goode said he is not suggesting there is nothing to be learned from the tragedy. And, as the mayor who authorized the police to pursue arrest warrants of MOVE members that day, he says he was never told they planned to use a bomb to dislodge the bunker built atop the house, and was as stunned as anyone to see police and fire officials allowing the fire to burn uncontrolled for 45 minutes. But, he says he takes full responsibility.

The MOVE Commission investigating the events of May 13th was critical in its findings. "The plan to bomb the MOVE house was reckless, ill-conceived, and hastily approved. Dropping a bomb on an occupied rowhouse was unconscionable and should have been rejected out of hand . . ." by the mayor, the managing director, the police commissioner, and the fire commissioner.

Charles W. Bowser, a member of the MOVE Commission, wrote separately that "Mayor Goode cannot be held responsible for the dark tragedy of May 13th for the worst reason of all: He was not leading when it counted the most." But, Goode is not interested in second-guessing. Instead, he has distilled the MOVE catastrophe into a handful of lessons.

First: "Make sure you understood what the total plan is before authorization to do it," he said. Goode was criticized for delegating too much authority to Police Commissioner Gregor J. Sambor and for being in the dark about details of the plan.

Second: "If you want to negotiate with people holed up inside a facility, don't send police officers. Send trained negotiators. And, don't allow the police officers to be in charge of what happens at the scene. Make sure someone else is there at the scene." Goode remained at his home and then his office for much of the day, discouraged from being on site or at the command center by threats against him and by his conviction that the confrontation was a police operation the mayor should not direct.

Third: "The third lesson is all life is important. Any loss of life is tragic, especially when it did not have to happen."

Fourth: "You need not be a bad person to have bad things happen on your watch." While not dwelling on that day, Goode said, he does think about it daily. "Daily, I drive by the block where it occurred," he said. "Every week, I talk with people who live there who were hurt by what happened." However, he says the MOVE experience was so unique that its lasting lessons and impact are limited. "Keep in mind that no other mayor, no other city, at any point in time ever had an issue like this. That's why it must be viewed as an aberration."

He said the experience informs some of his preaching these days, but not all. "It is present as a revelation from God to use it as a context to make a point," he said. "That point could be, tragic things happen in the lives of cities. Sometimes things happen to leaders, and it's a test of what they're made of. That's the context. The testing of one's ability to continue to stay focused. "I take full responsibility for it," he said. "I try to make up for it every day."

Goode said he raised the issue of MOVE himself in a recent lecture on crisis leadership at the Center for Urban Theology, as one of three cases where management strategies and what God demands of leaders could be gauged. The other two were Three-Mile Island, which took place while he was chairman of the Pennsylvania Utility Commission, and the 1986 trash strike. "God expects us to stay focused, not to get pulled to the left or to the right. How do leaders act? What they do is, they keep on leading, they keep their eye on important things."

Goode believes he succeeded in doing just that in his remaining time as mayor, in which he says he spearheaded the renaissance of Center City and began the city's homeless and anti-graffiti agencies, and in the decades since, serving with the U.S. Department of Education before taking over the Amachi program. "I empowered by God felt every step of the way to do the best job I could to help this city. I woke up every morning for eight years with excitement."

Goode said he focused on trying to mitigate the lasting damage done to the neighbors whose houses burned, but he acknowledged that the badly deteriorated block even 25 years later shows that neither he nor subsequent city administrations have succeeded in that. "One would not be human if one would not see that as a monument to what happened," he said, of the 6200 block of Osage Avenue.

Now a grandfather of two girls with whom he texts back and forth on a daily basis, Goode says he was not worried that his legacy would be burdened by that one day. "I don't have any worry in my mind that people will define me by that one day," he said. "My accomplishments are too numerous to simply define me, and say 'That's who he is.' "

Philadelphia's Finest???

Sgt. Robert Ralston

I remember the night that this incident happened. I was awakened out of my sleep in the wee-hours of the morning because helicopters were circulating the neighborhood for several hours. I got very little sleep that night and I was not a happy camper when I got up in the morning. I heard the next day that the police was scouring the neighborhood looking for someone who had shot a police officer.

Sometime after 4:00am on April 5th, after Sgt. Robert Ralston was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania with a shoulder wound, the department's top brass rushed to his side, including Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey, who was sick with a stomach virus. Ralston's injury turned out to be minor, but when he started telling the tale of his brush with disaster, the story raised red flags almost immediately.

Ralston, 46 years old, said he had been shot in West Philadelphia by a black man who pointed a revolver at his head, then grazed him in the shoulder when he knocked the gun away from the man. He said he had returned fire and hit the man in the chest, but no gunshot victim turned up in any hospital. When Ralston called his children to report what happened, one police officer at the hospital noticed Ralston seemed very eager to appear heroic. Within hours of the shooting, Ralston got out of his hospital bed, picked up his bloodied shirt, and put it back on. He then returned to the scene to help with the investigation. "It was strange," said Deputy Commissioner William Blackburn. "His reactions didn't add up."

Over the next few weeks, as police searched the scene and the neighborhood for clues, Ralston's tale continued to unravel. Gunpowder residue found on Ralston's shirt matched the ammunition in his own service weapon and suggested he'd been shot at point-blank range. Ralston made mistakes when describing the layout of the area where the shooting took place. And, although Ralston was adamant that he shot the assailant, no blood was found at the scene.

Around 4:00am on Tuesday, after four hours of questioning by detectives at Police Headquarters, Ralston admitted that he had shot himself, fabricated the story, and made a false report. Ramsey, who announced the officer's admission five hours later at a news conference, called the incident "a terrible and embarrassing chapter in our history." John McNesby, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 5, who also raced to the hospital to meet with Ralston when he was shot last month, expressed his disgust. "The community has supported this city's police officers through so much, every time we lose an officer," McNesby said. "To have something like this come along that could possibly tear that down is a disgrace."

Ralston, a married father of five and a 21-year veteran of the department, was suspended Tuesday with the intent to dismiss. He will officially be off the force in a month and his badge number will be retired so no officer will ever share the number with him. Ralston will not face criminal charges because he was offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for his confession, which means he will more than likely receive his pension, Ramsey said. "It was the only way we could tie this up," Ramsey said of the arrangement. Ralston's pension has not yet been calculated, but a city official estimated that he would collect about $24,000 annually if he took his pension now. However, some of that may be used to recoup the expense of the massive manhunt that was sparked by his lies, Ramsey said.

Police spent hours combing the West Philadelphia neighborhood for possible suspects in the shooting, and the department has not yet calculated how much the investigation cost. Rumors had circulated in the department for weeks that Ralston made up the story. Some sources speculated that he wanted attention, a commendation from the department, or a transfer to another district. Ramsey said he did not know why Ralston had made up the story. "The big question in everybody's minds is why," said Chief Inspector Anthony DiLacqua, of the Internal Affairs division. "There's only one person who knows the answer to that question." Ralston could not be reached for comment. There was no answer at the door of his home in the Northeast.

Ralston was hired in March 1989. He was promoted to made sergeant in 2007 and last year, he earned a salary of $65,424. He spent much of his career working in the 25th District in North Philadelphia. In 1995, after he was named in a complaint, an investigator found that Ralston had hit a suspect on the head while arresting him and that he had mishandled other aspects of the arrest. Sometime after 2003, Ralston went to the relatively quiet 4th District, which covers part of South Philadelphia. He recently was transferred to the much busier, West Philadelphia-based 19th District, a move that police sources said Ralston was very unhappy about.

Ralston was patrolling near 56th Street and Lancaster Avenue, in the city's Overbrook section, early the morning of April 5th. Police were investigating a string of burglaries at a strip mall in the area, and Ralston told police he was on the lookout for anything suspicious. He said he saw two men on the railroad tracks and tried to stop them, but one ran and the other drew a silver revolver and put it to Ralston's head. Ralston told police he had smacked the gun out of the way, but it went off and grazed him. At the time, officials said Ralston's quick reaction might have saved his life. Ralston told police the assailant was a black man with his hair in corn rows and he had a mark or tattoo under his left eye.

Ramsey said Ralston apparently described his assailant as black because the area where the shooting took place is predominantly African American. "It's troubling in a lot of ways," Ramsey said. "It inflames racial tensions in our community and that's certainly something we don't need." Ramsey said it was fortunate that officers never stopped or arrested anyone matching Ralston's description of the gunman. Officers with dogs searched along the tracks and woods at 52d Street and Lancaster Avenue and knocked on doors in the neighborhood, looking for people who might have heard or seen something. The FOP posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the suspect's arrest.

From the start, police said, the facts of Ralston's story didn't add up. But there was little evidence found that could disprove his story, either. No one witnessed the shooting. There were no surveillance cameras close by, and the incident took place in an area that is relatively desolate even in daylight hours. "Putting the truth together took a great deal of effort," DiLacqua said. In the end, police concluded they could not charge Ralston unless he confessed. District Attorney Seth Williams praised Ramsey's swift move to fire Ralston. "We took a badge and a gun from a person whose actions proved him unfit for either. Ultimately, our goal was to get to the truth," Williams said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we could only arrive at the truth through his statement given to the police and that statement cannot be used against him."

Now that the entire incident has turned out to be completely bogus, I would like to say that I'm appalled at the actions of this police officer but the reality is, I'm not. My family has had personal experiences in the past with needing the assistance of the police at the 19th District and I gotta tell you, we were not impressed with their performance in the least. In fact, they were next to NO HELP at all. Anyone who is supposed to uphold the law and would do what he did should be dismissed, without question.

My Mother's Day Gifts...

A photo collage of my grandkids and dinner out!

All About Mother's Day

Did Mother's Day begin in the United States?

No. Long, long, ago, in ancient Greece, the people paid tribute to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods, each spring. A little later in history it is noted that England paid homage to mothers on "Mothering Sunday," the fourth Sunday of Lent.

In 1872, Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) suggested the idea of Mother's Day, but it was Miss Anna M. Jarvis (1864-1948), of Philadelphia, who began a letter-writing campaign to a variety of influential people that made Mother's Day a national holiday.

Why did Miss Jarvis think it was so important to have Mother's Day?

Miss Jarvis was very close to her mother Mrs. Anna Reese Jarvis. Anna's mother died in May of 1905, when Anna was 41 years of age. Anna was not married and from the time of her mother's death cared for her blind sister, Ellsinore. Anna missed her mother very much and felt that children should appreciate their mother's more while they're still alive. Anna hoped Mother's Day would increase respect and love and strengthen family bonds.

So when was the first Mother's Day?

In 1907 Anna persuaded her mother's church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother's Day on the second anniversary of her mother's death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year, 1908, Mother's Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia. In 1910 the first Mother's Day proclamation was issued by the governor of West Virginia. Oklahoma celebrated Mother's Day that year also. By 1911 every state observed Mother's Day. The Mother's Day International Association was incorporated on December 12, 1912, with the purpose of furthering meaningful observations of Mother's Day.

When did Mother's Day become official?

In May, 1913, The House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution requesting the President, his Cabinet, members of Congress, and all officials of the federal government to wear a white carnation on Mother's Day. Congress passed another Joint Resolution May 8, 1914, designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. On Mother's Day the U.S. flag is to be displayed on government buildings and at people's homes "as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country." President Woodrow Wilson issued the first proclamation making Mother's Day an official national holiday.

Many people give roses on Valentines Day, is there a particular flower I should give my mom on Mother's Day?

Miss Anna Jarvis's mother's favorite flower was the white carnation. This flower was chosen to represent the sweetness, purity and endurance of mother love. However, the red carnation has since become the symbol of a living mother while white signifies that one's mother has died.

Do other countries celebrate Mother's Day?

You bet they do! Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as the United States. Other countries celebrate Mother's Day as well, though not on the same day.
Enjoy your special day!

I Believe In The Power Of Prayer...

May 6, 2010

TO: My Granddaughter...

I saw you walking today... You go, girl!

Love Always, Grammy

TO: A Very Special Lady

My mother is 78 years young today... I love you!

100 Things That Make You Go, Hmmm...

1. Why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways?

2. Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?

3. Can we yell "movie" in a crowded firehouse?

4. Can you be a closet claustrophobic?

5. How do a fool and his money get together?

6. Why does Hawaii have interstate highways?

7. How is it that a building burns up as it burns down?

8. If a train station is where the train stops, what is a workstation?

9. If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they make Teflon stick to the pan?

10. If the pen is mightier than the sword, and a picture is worth a thousand words, how dangerous is a fax?

11. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?

12. What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

13. What was the best thing before sliced bread?

14. Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds" fee on money they already know you don't have?

15. If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?

16. If you get cheated by the Better Business Bureau, who do you complain to about them?

17. What are Preparation A through Preparation G?

18. In a country of free speech, why are there phone bills?

19. Did Washington flash a quarter when asked for ID?

20. How come there are no B batteries?

21. How do "Do not walk on the grass" signs get there?

22. Why do black olives come in cans and green olives come in jars?

23. Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

24. How is it possible to have a civil war?

25. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

26. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

27. If the #2 pencil is so popular, why is it still #2?

28. Why is the alphabet in that order? Is it because of that song?

29. If you melt dry ice, can you take a bath without getting wet?

30. Crime doesn't pay... does that mean that my job is a crime?

31. How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?

32. How do you know that honesty is the best policy until you have tried some of the others?

33. How do you throw away a garbage can?

34. How does a thermos know if the drink should be hot or cold?

35. How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings?

36. Do you realize how many holes there could be if people would just take the time to take the dirt out of them?

37. If a word in the dictionary were misspelled, how would we know?

38. If you're in a vehicle going at the speed of light, what happens when you turn on the headlights?

39. What happens to an 18 hour bra after 18 hours?

40. Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

41. Why do hot dogs come 10 to a package and hot dog buns only come 8 to a package?

42. Why do tourists go to the tops of tall buildings and then put money into telescopes so they can see things on the ground close-up?

43. Why is it that bullets ricochet off of Superman's chest, but he ducks when the gun is thrown at him?

44. Why is it that night falls but day breaks?

45. Why is it that you must wait until night to call it a day?

46. What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it's all about?

47. When your pet bird sees you reading the newspaper, does he wonder why you're just sitting there, staring at carpeting?

48. What happened to the first 6 "ups"?

49. If the funeral procession is at night, do folks drive with their lights off?

50. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

51. Why is the word abbreviation so long?

52. When companies ship styrofoam, what do they pack it in?

53. Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

54. Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?

55. If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?

56. Why is it that when you transport something by car, it's called shipment but when you transport something by ship it's called cargo?

57. You know that little indestructible black box that is used on planes -- why
can't they make the whole plane out of the same substance?

58. Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn the radio down?

59. Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

60. Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

61. What does Geronimo say when he jumps out of a plane?

62. If fire fighters fight fire and crime fighters fight crime, what do freedom fighters fight?

63. If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

64. If olive oil comes from olives, where does baby oil come from?

65. Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?

66. If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?

67. What do you do when you see an endangered animal that eats only endangered plants?

68. What's another word for thesaurus?

69. If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
Would a fly without wings be called a walk?

70. Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?

71. Why do people who know the least know it the loudest?

72. If someone thinks you're superficial, what's the big deal? It's just on the surface!

73. On one hand, be indecisive; but on the other hand, don't.

74. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's intolerance.

75. The world's full of apathy, but I don't care.

76. Perspective is in the eye of the beholder.

77. What is the probability that something will happen according to the odds?

78. How do you understand ambiguity?

79. Always be on the lookout for conspicuousness (or, it's hard to tell if someone is inconspicuous).

80. There's no such thing as nonexistance.

81. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

82. One should never generalize.

83. Avoid cliches like the plague.

84. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.

85. Always try to do things in chronological order.

86. A plateau is the highest form of flattery.

87. An oral contract isn't worth the paper it's written on.

88. Don't chew or eat with your mouth full.

89. It's Deja Vu all over again.

90. If we do not succeed, we run the risk of failure.

91. Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

92. Why are they called stairs inside but steps outside?

93. If you want people to know where you stand, wear the same socks for two weeks.

94. The shortest distance between two points is how far apart they are.

95. Don't be redundant by repeating yourself.

96. Grammar has gots to be one of the most importantest things ever?

97. When all is said and done, much more is said than done.

98. Free advice is worth what you paid for it.

99. There are only three kinds of people... people who can count and people who can't.

100. What do people in China call their good plates?

When The Going Gets Tough...

This is a collection of inspirational quotes for difficult times. Life is hard and unpredictable... just when we think we've got the hang of how it all works, it changes. When we are feeling down and out, many times, one thought or idea can turn it all around for us. Some quotes make so much sense that, at times, it seems as if they were written just for you. A word of encouragement can always lift us out of our misery by putting things into perspective, and that is because they come from the depths of experience and wisdom. Further, they come from people who have already been where we are now...

Inspirational Quotes - Various Authors

1. "Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time." - Thomas Edison

2. "Tough times never last, but tough people do." - Robert Schuller

3. "Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached." - Swami Vivekananda

4. "I walk slowly, but I never walk backward." - Abraham Lincoln

5. "It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." - Edmund Hillary

6. "Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul." - Ezra Taft Benson

7. "To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." - Bertrand Russell

8. "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

9. "Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

10. "What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

11. "Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

12. "Start where you are with what you have. Make something of it and never be satisfied. - George Washington Carver

13. "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan

14. "When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." - Henry Ford

15. "The only thing that overcomes hard luck is hard work." - Harry Golden

16. "Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." - Michael Jordan

17. "My attitude is that, if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength." - Michael Jordan

18. "The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places." - Ernest Hemingway

19. "If you're feeling low, don't despair. The sun has a sinking spell every night, but it comes back up every morning. - Anonymous

20. "Challenges and difficult times aren't just things that occur to someone else. The secret is in learning to turn problems into positives and attacking each issue with action, not inaction." - Byron Pulsifer

Live One Day At A Time And Make It A Masterpiece:
A To Zen Of Life - Dalai Lama

A void negative sources, people, places, and habits.
B elieve in yourself.
C onsider things from every angle.
D on't give up and don't give in.
E everything you're looking for lies beyond the mask you wear.
F amily and friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their riches.
G ive more than you planned to someone.
H ang on to your dreams
I f opportunity doesn't knock, build a door.
J udge your success by what you have to give up in order to get it.
K eep trying no matter how hard it seems.
L ove yourself.
M ake it happen.
N ever lie, steal, or cheat.
O pen your mind to change, but don't let go of your values.
P ractice makes perfect.
Q uality not quantity in everything you do.
R emember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
S top procrastinating.
T ake control of your own destiny.
U nderstand yourself in order to better understand others.
V isualize it.
W hen you lose, don't lose the lesson.
X cellence in all your efforts.
Y ou are unique, nothing can replace you.
Z ero in on your target and for it.

😇 Happy Easter & Resurrection Sunday!

"And He Rose" By Unknown Artist

✝️ Good Friday

The Crucifixion By Anthony Armstrong
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do..." (Luke 23:34)

Tens Of Millions Strong & Growing...

On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139, tabled by the State of Qatar, which declares April 2nd as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in perpetuity. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, Consort of His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, supported the campaign for a World Autism Awareness Day through the current 62nd UN General Assembly Session, garnering consensus support from all United Nations Member States.

This UN resolution is one of only three official disease-specific United Nations Days and will bring the world's attention to autism, a pervasive disorder that affects tens of millions. The World Autism Awareness Day resolution encourages all Member States to take measures to raise awareness about autism throughout society and to encourage early diagnosis and early intervention. It further expresses deep concern at the prevalence and high rate of autism in children in all regions of the world and the consequent developmental challenges.

World Autism Awareness Day shines a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities help to increase and develop world knowledge of the autism epidemic and impart information regarding the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention. Additionally, WAAD celebrates the unique talents and skills of persons with autism and is a day when individuals with autism are warmly welcomed and embraced in community events around the globe.

By bringing together autism organizations all around the world, we will give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood, and looking for help. Click here to visit the World Autism Awareness Day website for more information, a world-wide schedule of events, and autism media/resources.