Thought of the Day for July 31, 2011

July 31, 2011 under Thought of the Day

The Gratitude List
by Jim Manney

A friend of mine was stuck in traffic in New York City late on a summer Friday afternoon.  He was really stuck—sitting in his car on a narrow east-west cross street in Manhattan, going nowhere.  He grew impatient, then angry.  After a while, he started to think about how pitiful his life was.  His friends were smarter, wealthier, happier than he was.  He hadn’t accomplished anything significant.  He was stuck in life, just as he was stuck in traffic.

Then he called a friend and asked for help. The guy said, “if you’re just sitting there in traffic, make a gratitude list.”  So my friend pulled out a notebook and pen and made a list of all the things he was grateful for. A few were big things—family, friends, job—but most of them were little things.  The weekend coming up.  An excellent novel he was reading. A compliment from his boss the previous day.  An exhilarating jog along the East River that morning.  His comfortable car.  Soon his mood lifted.  The exercise in gratitude restored balance to his thinking.  It wasn’t a trick.  My friend saw that his life really was full of good things.  Gratitude was the truth.

I recently ran across a comment on gratitude by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  “We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts,” he said.  We strive for the grand spiritual adventure, which we haven’t had, and neglect the many gifts from God that we do have.  Bonhoeffer urges us to “be satisfied with the small measure of spiritual knowledge, experience, and love that has been given us.”  

Make a gratitude list.

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 30, 2011

July 30, 2011 under Thought of the Day

"Please don’t squeeze the Charmin."
- John Chervokas (1937-2011)

"Observe (and learn) a lot by just watching
(people and their habits.)"
- Yogi Berra

John Chervokas

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) – John Chervokas, an advertising man and wordsmith
who was credited with introducing a toilet paper slogan into popular culture
with his "Please Don’t Squeeze the Charmin" campaign, has died at age 74.

Chervokas, who lived in Briarcliff Manor, died Saturday of a stroke at a
Manhattan hospital, said his son, journalist Jason Chervokas. He had battled
Parkinson’s disease for five years.

Chervokas was a junior copywriter at Benton & Bowles in 1964 when, he said,
the image of housewives squeezing fruit in a supermarket inspired the toilet
tissue campaign.

"What does mom do in the super-market? She squeezes the melons," he wrote
years later in Advertising Age. "And the tomatoes. And the bread. To see if
they’re soft. … Why not use the same test for Charmin?"

The campaign featured television commercials in which a supermarket employee,
Mr. Whipple, was assigned to keep shoppers from squeezing the Charmin.
Whipple, played by actor Dick Wilson, became one of TV’s best-known
characters. And Charmin became the best-selling toilet paper by 1969, Procter
& Gamble Co. said. Advertising Age said it was among the top 100 campaigns of
the 20th century.

In 2007, another man, Norman Schaut, said "Please don’t squeeze the Charmin"
was his creation, but Advertising Age and The New York Times have credited
Chervokas. There was no telephone listing for Schaut in Ocean City, N.J.,
where he lived when he made the claim.

Chervokas had a long career in advertising, including a stint as editor in
chief of Madison Avenue magazine. He retired in 1994.

His son said he was never bothered by his link to the famous toilet paper
slogan.

"Embarrassed? Never," Jason Chervokas said. "To know him was to know he was
proud of it."

His son said Chervokas was "a believer in the power of words" and wrote for
hours each day – "poetry, prayers, an unpublished novel, he created crossword
puzzles, everything."

In 2000, The New York Times invited readers to submit poems in a form it said
Chervokas invented: nine lines, 45 syllables, with the first line having nine
syllables, the second eight syllables and so on. One submission started:
"Please/don’t squeeze/the Charmin …"

After retiring from advertising, Chervokas was elected town supervisor of
Ossining, N.Y., in 1997 and re-elected five times. He suggested a museum at
the famous Sing Sing prison.

Chervokas was born in Norwood, Mass., and graduated from Fordham University.
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Roseanna; sons Jason and Joshua; and
daughter Jessica Hoyer.

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 29, 2011

July 29, 2011 under Thought of the Day

"Age does not diminish the extreme disappointment of
having a scoop of ice cream fall from the cone."
- Cynthia Keating

"Life is uncertain – eat your ice cream first!"  
- Elizabeth Gallagher

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 28, 2011

July 28, 2011 under Thought of the Day

"There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people."
- Muhammad Ali

"Make today more pleasant for others and your day will be more pleasant."  
- John Vogel

comments: 0 »

Francis DeSales Deanery Catholic Men’s Fellowship Event

July 27, 2011 under Events

We would like to invite YOU to a morning of Men’s Fellowship with:

Bill Staun (deacon candidate) graduated in 1970 with a B.A. from the Athenaeum of Ohio. “I first applied for the Permanent Diaconate right after my mother died, I was 35. I was rejected. In 2000 I started the LPMP Program and again applied for the Permanent Diaconate. This time I was accepted.”

and

Jim Romanello (seminarian), from Cincinnati, Ohio where he has lived his whole life. “I am the eleventh of fourteen children, seven boys and seven girls. I grew up in a traditional Catholic Italian family. I am beginning my seventh year in seminary formation. It is a long process, but well worth the time and effort.”

 

Who will speak about their calling to which the Lord is working in their lives.

We will follow with a fellowship discussion on the variety of men’s callings and hear personal stories of discernment and the paths of discovery.

 

At Holy Trinity Church (Norwood), Montgomery Road and Drex Ave (2420 Drex)

Park in lot north of church, enter via the stairs to the Undercroft

ON July 30, 2011

From 7:30 to 10:30 AM.

7:30-8:00 Breakfast

8:00–8:15 Song, Prayer and Petitions

8:15–9:30 Speakers

9:30-9:45 Q&A

9:45–10:15 Table Discussions

10:15–10:30 Wrap up, final prayers and blessing

Breakfast, Donuts, Coffee and Prayers, Add in a little song.

Cost: FREE WILL DONATIONS ACCEPTED

As this is a first meeting of this sort, we would like to get a head count.

So if you could please contact

Rick Sammons at themiddleson@fuse.net or

Tony Daniel at tonydaniel38@yahoo.com

to make your reservation (or at least a gallant effort), it would be appreciated.

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 27, 2011

July 27, 2011 under Thought of the Day

"Every path has its puddle."
- English Proverb

It happens – now get up, clean yourself off and move forward.

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 26, 2011

July 26, 2011 under Thought of the Day

"The smart ones ask when they don’t know,
and sometimes when they do know."
- Malcolm Forbes
Don’t be afraid to ask questions – you can always learn more,
you can never learn less."
- Friar Telly, II

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 25, 2011

July 25, 2011 under Thought of the Day

Monday’s recycled Thought of the Day favorites…
"There are worse crimes than burning books.
One of them is not reading them."
- Ray Bradbury
"The person who doesn’t read books has no advantage
over the person who can’t read them."
- Mark Twain

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 24, 2011

July 24, 2011 under Thought of the Day

Terrific truths about time:

Nobody can manage time. But you can manage those things that take up your time.

Time is expensive. As a matter of fact, 80 percent of our day is spent on those things
or those people that only bring us two percent of our results.

Time is perishable. It cannot be saved for later use.

Time is measurable. Everybody has the same amount of time…pauper or king. It is not
how much time you have; it is how much you use.

Time is irreplaceable. We never make back time once it is gone.

Time is a priority. You have enough time for anything in the world, so long as it ranks
high enough among your priorities.

comments: 0 »

Thought of the Day for July 23, 2011

July 23, 2011 under Thought of the Day

Promise yourself:

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something great in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the
best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your
own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements
of the future.

To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature
you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to
criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear and too
happy to permit the presence of trouble.

– Christian D. Larson

comments: 0 »
« Previous