Here are more excerpts from my latest book, Simple Realities (The pathway to happiness and success), which is now available at Amazon.com and on Kindle.
ALCOHOL
As a very young boy I idolized him. He had so much ability. He was a good baseball and football player and a great hockey player. He could sing and play the guitar good enough to perform professionally. He was a gifted graphic artist. And he always had the highest marks in his class. The only question, it seemed, was in which of the various fields open to him he would become a huge success. Regrettably, the answer was “none.” He started drinking at age fourteen, dropped out of high school at age sixteen, was an alcoholic at age eighteen, and died far too young.
That pretty well sums up what happens when alcohol takes over one’s life. Here are a couple of more observations.
Alcohol doesn’t help anyone do anything better; it just makes them less ashamed of doing things badly.
A major disadvantage of drinking too much is that words get mistaken for thoughts.
EVIL
As with the temperature, there are degrees of evil. And just as the sun and the wind can affect the temperature on any given day, there are forces, such as drugs and alcohol, greed and selfishness, that affect the level of evil in given circumstances. To conquer evil we must defeat the forces.
The surest way to encourage evil is to give in to it.
We destroy what’s good by sparing evil.
No one becomes evil all at once.
When faced with evil, people of character don’t stay neutral.
REVENGE
Trying to get revenge is about the most useless and counter-productive activity imaginable. If you don’t believe me, read some of the tales about the famous feuds between families in the southern states.
Taking time to suck out the venom is much more productive than chasing the snake.
It’s normal to want revenge but it’s silly to try to get it.
Revenge is like biting a dog because it bit you.
You can’t get ahead of people by getting even with them.
To cure your hurt, forget it.