When
growing up in Tennessee I can recall three dogs we had.
Pete
(a mixed breed hound)
Pluto
(half Great Dane-half Boxer)
Tiger
(German Shepherd)
We
loved those dogs and think of them often at family reunions with great fondness.
In
the grand scheme of things, however, those are so-so names as dogs go.
My
grand-kids – Adia and Eliot – just got a Labrador puppy. They named her Quinn. Now that is a great name.
I heard
a parent once talking in front of her seven-year-old daughter and she was
saying in effect, “Sarah is the clumsy one.”
Ouch. I felt for that small girl. She did not need to hear her mother refer to
her in those terms. She just named her
daughter “clumsy”.
When
I lived in Albuquerque, it was once said of me, “You’re an accident waiting to
happen.” That hurt. And I still wince every time I recall that
comment.
A month
ago I was in a meeting with my publisher and three new members of our
team. Bryan was going around the table
introducing each of us and as he came to me he said, “Michael is a writer’s
writer.’
Oh
my goodness. He built me up in front of
my peers. He gave me a reputation to which
to live up. I've wanted to be a “writer”
for over thirty years, and now that I've published three books I’m coming to
accept that handle. On this day Bryan
put wind in my sails. He saw me as a
writer, and helped me embrace the reality of achieving my life’s dream.
Can
you see the value of giving someone a destiny of value and worth to
embrace? Any fool can tell you what is
wrong with you. A builder of people will
forecast your possibilities and remind you often of your own great potential.
Do
you want better kids, a better spouse, and better employees? Dale Carnegie reminds us of this:
Give the
other person
a fine reputation
to live up to.
~How to Win Friends and Influence People
Dale Carnegie
Always
remember this:
P Michael Biggs
Offering
Hope
Encouragement
Inspiration
One Word
at a Time
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