Results for "courage"
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Dolly Parton is loved around the world for her remarkable songs, acting, enthusiasm for life, successful business ventures and all she does philanthropically. Raised in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, she was the 4th of 12 children. She has long credited her father for her business savvy, and her mother's family for her musical abilities. One of her best-known business developments is Dollywood, a beautiful family-oriented theme park in the heart of the Smokies. Worldwide she has sold over 100 million records. Known primarily as a singer/songwriter for country songs, she also has crossed into the pop and rock genres as well as film soundtracks. She has written over 3000 songs. The awards and recognitions are numerous:
In 1841, a physically imposing, twenty-three year-old Frederick Douglass leaned against the rail of a ferry headed for Nantucket. He contemplated the wake widening out behind him and second-guessed his decision to travel after 3 years of trying to remain inconspicuous as a runaway. But he had been invited by a group of abolitionists to attend a rally on Nantucket Island. The Fugitive Slave Act was still in force and Frederick risked being captured and a sure return to slavery by making the trip. The courage it took to take such a journey must have been summoned from deep within his soul.
Little did Frederick Douglass know; this was the beginning of his courageous and history-altering journey. He would go on to help shape the opinions and the words of Abraham Lincoln.
Born with Spina Bifida, 12-year-old Mitchell couldn’t walk. He longed to be with his scout troop in the outdoors but was afraid to impose on the others who would have to somehow get him to camp. When the time arrived to trek to a spot in the high desert, the scoutmaster asked the other boys how they felt about Mitchell. To a boy, they all agreed that he should go. They built a special litter of Aspen poles and carried Mitchell the 3 miles up a rugged trail. It took a lot of courage for the first boy to raise a hand in support, and courage by the others to join in. It became the journey of a lifetime for each boy as they paired off and took turns carrying Mitchell up the mountain.
There are times in each of our lives that will require us to carry more than our fair share of weight, to take courage. And times when we will certainly shrink from the call. Kate, a gregarious teenage girl was reluctant to speak up to passing comments about her race. Though made casually, and by friends, they were still hurtful. Kate could not find the courage to confront her friends until her senior year. At a community gathering to promote unity, she was asked to speak. “When we are quick to judge, or when we make false assumptions about any being, we are depriving them the chance to prove themselves as good people and from believing that there is a place where they belong,” she said pushing through her fears. “This country is built on ‘Trust in God’ and I believe that in the eyes of God, all are equal and equally loved.” There was silence as this brave girl stood and looked out at the hundreds of eyes watching her. And then, applause. Sometimes courage is as simple as saying the right thing, at the right time.
For Frederick Douglass, Kate, and a group of young boys, they each acted on something bigger than themselves, something defined as courage---a word that moves us ahead into unknown waters while leaving a wake behind much bigger than ourselves.
Courage... PassItOn.com®
Life can feel terribly unfair. And yet for some people, when life hands them the worst possible circumstance, they are at their absolute best.
Jessie Joy Rees is just such a person. The blonde-haired, California kid with the big personality as fun as a day at the beach became the voice of courage for kids with cancer. How can so much good be packaged in one so small? Athletic and outgoing, Jessie had her whole world in front of her, until she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in 2011.
Three weeks into her treatment, Jessie asked an uncharacteristically mature question for such a young girl. She looked out at the other children who were also going through cancer treatment and asked her parents: “How can we help them?” Jessie’s heart was bigger than any tumor. She wanted to comfort other kids who were going through treatment; she wanted them to be happy, no matter what. The morning after her diagnoses, Jessie was at the kitchen table assembling bags of toys for other cancer patients. “She was determined to make other cancer kids happy,” her father Erik tenderly remembers. “How could we not help?”
12-year-old Jessie had a 1% chance of beating cancer. So, she decided to make the most of her time. The packages became hospital-safe plastic jars stuffed with toys, crafts and activities to surprise children while they are in the hospital for treatment. Aptly named JoyJars® using Jessie’s middle name, JoyJars contain a little bit of fun during mundane days, but mostly they contain a little bit of Jessie’s optimism that fills the room every time one is opened. One mother sent a tender thank you: “JoyJars have helped lift our spirits during Travis’ ongoing battle with his brain tumor.”
It is a special soul who can radiate so much good in so short a time. Jessie Joy Rees passed away less than a year from her diagnosis. But her parents keep the joy alive. More than 400,000 JoyJars have been delivered to children undergoing cancer treatment in all 50 states and over 50 countries. For each, there is a bit of Joy to help them through the tough times. And to give them courage, there’s also a bracelet stamped with Jessie’s mantra: Never Ever Give Up. “Jessie would never ever give up,” says Erik. “And neither will we. Every child facing cancer should know they are loved and supported.” For more information visit www.negu.org
No matter how long or short our lives turn out to be, there is always room for a little joy.
Never Ever Give Up... PassItOn.com®
Children need heroes. They help kids cope with the world around them, providing a little bit of hope and a lot of entertainment. The classic heroes are always on the side of justice and compassion. They make things right no matter the odds. And in our world of uncertainty, our kids definitely need a bit of help keeping their balance and looking forward to a better future.
Even more, for some kids, the odds just seem to be stacked against them. They lie in hospital beds through long illnesses, away from playgrounds and classrooms where their friends can embrace them. Some kids will return to hospitals again and again as they go through treatments for cancer or kidney diseases that make them regulars. It’s a tough road, and the pandemic made it even rougher by limiting the number of visitors a child patient could see.
So imagine being a 6-year-old child in a hospital bed when Spiderman knocks on your window!
Having Spiderman close gives you the courage to face the coming days, and it certainly brightens the moment he pays you a visit. That’s why recently, for four hours, Spiderman and Captain American dangled from the roof of Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The kids were thrilled. The staff cheered. And the parents cried. It was one of those magical moments when everything that’s right with the world converges into an explosion of emotions. Kids and parents find a little more hope, a little more courage. And healthcare workers find themselves smiling, a relief that has been a long time coming.
Farther south, another team of window washers also made their appearance as superheroes at a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, and the children were ecstatic. The distraction from their pain is beneficial to their mental health and even helps them heal faster. But most importantly, it makes them happy.
We can all be somebody’s superhero for a day, an hour or just a moment. Distracting someone from the pain they are feeling with a little something to cheer them up just might make their day. And you don’t have to dangle from a rooftop to do it.
Be Super... PassItOn.com®
A cancer diagnosis can bring you to the very edge of the cliff. It did for Allie Newman. A bright, athletic 16-year-old one day and a cancer patient the next.
Osteosarcoma isn’t a word that should ever be in a high schooler’s vocabulary. Allie got very familiar with it. It’s a degenerative bone cancer that requires aggressive chemotherapy. She endured 12 months of treatment, losing her hair, her strength and her appetite but never her positive outlook.
Then came the surgeries to replace her hip, her femur, her knee. On top of those were 10 maintenance surgeries. Allie became very familiar with hospitals. The endless trauma can take a toll, rob a person of optimism.
So when Allie found herself on the cliff edge, she had already made up her mind the first day she got her diagnosis. She had decided that she would live and love life, no matter what it brought. Yes, it was hard. But Allie also discovered new friends and the courage to finish college, to travel abroad, to sing at the top of her lungs, celebrate every new year of being cancer free and, yes, jump off literal cliffs. She jumped and screamed all the way down into the cool water. Her head bobbed to the surface, and she wanted to do it all again.
As Allie has realized, life is an opportunity not only to see what we’re made of but to help others see what they are made of. “Cancer changes people,” she says. “It sculpts us into someone who understands more deeply, hurts more often, appreciates more quickly, hopes more desperately, loves more deeply and lives more passionately.”
With that passion, Allie joined Teen Cancer America, an organization founded by rockers Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend that helps hospitals treat teenage cancer patients. Most hospitals don’t have special programs or facilities for 13- to 24-year-olds. Yet youth-focused programs and facilities help teenage patients better understand procedures, recover faster and have an overall better hospital experience. To date, Teen Cancer America has positively impacted 18,000 families by consulting with 97 hospitals and partnering with 30 to award grants.
You never know where your life will lead, what courage and determination you will have to summon. But when you are facing your fears, do as Allie says: “Take a second to smile, and give yourself a minute to truly reflect on all the good in your life right now.” And, if you are so inclined, jump off a cliff into the ocean, screaming for joy that you are here, that you are alive, that you can still love.
Resilience... PassItOn.com®
If your publication uses video, we produced the following inspirational video featuring Allie Newman. You can watch it below, or download the .mp4 file from this link and the closed caption file from this link for use in your content management system. This video is also on YouTube if your system can use video published there.
“The Archer,” Paulo Coelho’s book of wisdom and parable of courageous living, has been translated into 88 languages in 170 countries. It has sold over 320 million copies. The spirit of the book is the story of us all, searching not only for joy in the small things, but meaning in our existence.
The story suggests that “living without a connection between action and soul cannot fulfill, that a life constricted by fear of rejection or failure is not a life worth living. Instead, one must take risks, build courage, and embrace the unexpected journey fate has to offer.” It is a lesson that transcends cultures and geography. And yet, Coelho decided that each translation of the book should include illustrations that reflect the culture of the language. So, when he and his publisher were looking for an illustrator for the Chinese version, they sought images with a sense of ancient wisdom, something inspired by indigenous legends.
As this concept evolved, Tanivu Nota was living in a small village tucked away in the mountains of Alishan, Taiwan. Tanivu’s creative inspiration comes from centuries of myths and dreams passed on through oral storytelling tradition. A member of the Cou (or Tsou) tribe, she grew up on the origin legends of her people, a beautiful story of how the great maple tree shook its leaves, and as they drifted down, they became the Cou people.
Tanivu is driven to capture the history of her people in art, working in her verdant yet isolated village. But word of this kind of talent spreads quickly. Tanivu’s art was shown to Irene and Corbett Wall, who were launching art and technology projects in the indigenous regions of Taiwan. They introduced the work to the Chinese Times, and the work caught the attention of Coelho’s publisher.
Like the character in “The Archer,” Tanivu summoned the courage to step into the light and share her talents with the world. Her first commission was on the largest stage. She threw herself into the project, inspired by the story and her heritage. She created 24 stunning illustrations that capture the details of life when you pay close attention. Color and deft strokes carry you through the story like wind and waves, the natural elements where wisdom begins. Her illustrated edition of “The Archer” was released in May 2022.
It is when we stay true to ourselves and honor where we came from that we find the pathway that leads us to our dreams. Tanivu now dreams of traveling the world and meeting new friends. As her art precedes her in this journey, she will find that dream fulfilled.
Dream Big... PassItOn.com®
Surgery is scary enough for any of us, but when you are a child, and everyone is bigger than you, it can feel like a nightmare. That’s why it matters so very much what happens before, during and after treatment — especially when what happens includes a bit of humor.
Modern medicine alleviates more pain and suffering for children than ever in world history — everything from removing an appendix, to hernias, to fixing broken bones and orthopedic problems, to cancer. Without these fixes, children can suffer socially and emotionally as well as physically. But it’s hard for a child to grasp the long-term benefits of surgery when confronted with bright lights and unfamiliar faces.
To help children find the courage to face these fears, a doctor in Colombia has special scrubs made for his little patients that change them from vulnerable humans to brave superheroes. He carries the patients through the hallway on his shoulder as they thrust their hands forward, parting the clouds of anxiety and soaring toward a better life, one that gives them confidence that they can overcome challenges.
Not surprisingly, the little superheroes also give their parents the courage to endure the wait while they are in the operating room. Patiently explaining a complicated surgery in medical terms does not always allay the fears. The doctor’s empathy may be felt, but building trust in the process needs more than a quick medical education. Seeing that their children trust the doctor allows parents the chance to take a deep breath, and knowing a doctor cares enough to address those fears in such a wonderful way is also a confidence-builder.
Even as modern medicine improves in dramatic ways, we humans will always need each other. Laughter is the best medicine. As Patch Adams, the real-life doctor immortalized on film by Robin Williams, says: “Laughter boosts the immune system and helps the body fight off disease, cancer cells as well as viral, bacterial and other infections. Being happy is the best cure of all diseases!”
One person, the right person, can lead a child to victory. That person doesn’t have to be a doctor or even a superhero. All one has to do is make a child feel courageous. We ensure the happiness of the world when we do so. So, let’s make superheroes of children, and heed the words of Patch Adams: “The reason adults should look as though they are having fun is to give kids a reason to want to grow up.” Be Super... PassItOn.com®
Steph Curry knows what it’s like to be overlooked. “Coming up through basketball, I didn’t pass the eye test,” he says. “I was a late bloomer.”
For Curry, being a “late bloomer” only motivated him. He developed a strong work ethic and didn’t let failure stop him from learning and getting better.
In their critical development years, kids need encouragement. They need to know that failure is only temporary and that confidence is a skill to be learned alongside physical skills. Unfortunately, many children learn too late how to turn challenges into victories.
Curry’s second children’s book, “I Am Extraordinary,” shares his approach with youngsters everywhere. Its lead character is a girl named Zoe, who is self-conscious about wearing hearing aids. The story features an animated version of Curry who offers encouragement: “There will always be obstacles in life. But those obstacles aren’t there to stop you. They’re there to challenge you,” he explains. “It’s up to you to find the courage and the strength to overcome them.”
At a time when schoolchildren are struggling to make up for classroom time lost during the pandemic, the book couldn’t be more appropriate. Many kids are discouraged with their progress. Making up for lost time takes more work than a regular school year provides.
There are also the everyday challenges of fitting in, low self-esteem and just plain feeling different. The message to believe in yourself is the mantra Curry has lived by to become one of the greatest shooters ever to play basketball.
Off the court, his mission is to change the world, saying, “I have an interest in leveraging every part of my influence for good in a way that I can.” That effort includes investing millions of dollars in literacy programs in the Bay Area, where Steph and his wife Ayesha launched their Eat.Learn.Play. Foundation in their adopted hometown of Oakland. “We focus on three vital pillars of a healthy childhood: nutrition, literacy and physical activity,” says Steph Curry.
Being overlooked or underappreciated is something we can all relate to. But with a bit of encouragement and the right mentorship, we can change directions and move forward a step at a time. Confidence is what carries us beyond our challenges and keeps us coming back, even when we lose.
Curry makes scoring points look easy. He shoots three-point shots with a grace and ease that make us forget about all the hard work he has put in. His affable smile and delightful moments with his young daughter lead us to believe that everything comes easy to the superstar.
But don’t be fooled: Curry has taken his lumps and worked his way to the top. He knows what it takes to be your best. Sometimes, it’s just a matter of finding the right question. “So, what makes you extraordinary?” Curry asks us all.
Be Extraordinary... PassItOn.com®
Forgiveness isn’t always as easy as it sounds. Sometimes we think it needs to be earned rather than freely given. As a young father, Davis was working to remodel and maintain his home. There’s nothing like the pride you take in that first home, no matter how much work it needs, it’s yours by sweat and sacrifice. So when he came home one night and caught two local teenagers breaking into his garage he was angry. They ran off, but he recognized them. And the following day confronted them and their parents. You’d expect a moment of truth, a reconciliation. But none came, only denial and character witnesses by the parents. A few weeks later Davis confronted one of the boys and threatened him. The boy confessed to some of the theft but Davis wasn’t satisfied. He stewed over the lies and the reluctant admission. Fathers of teenage boys know this feeling of incomplete restitution. It takes time for emotional maturity to develop to its completeness, so sometimes half an apology is just going to have to do. Years later Davis again ran into the now young men. They had grown up. They thanked Davis for not doing more when he caught them, like calling the police. They talked about college life, the future. For a moment, Davis was oddly unsatisfied; that is until he too apologized. He was sorry for losing his temper, and for not developing a better relationship with the boys in the first place. That’s when the tight strings around his heart loosened.
Remorse can motivate us to strengthen our character and see people differently, even seek forgiveness. But ruminating on the past will only hold us back. On the last day of Junior High School, the bell had rung and the exuberance of school ending turned into rowdiness. A shy girl had just cleaned out her locker and one of the rowdy boys kicked the books and papers out of her hands. They spilled everywhere, down the stairs and into the herd where her art projects and journals were trampled. In tears, she tried to collect a year’s worth of work. Ross watched briefly until his friends pulled him away and off to end-of-year parties he knew this girl would never get invited to. His eyes were fixed on the futility of a girl who didn’t fit in and was now cast out. He would regret not helping her the rest of his life.
Forgiveness sometimes comes slowly, a piece at a time. Sometimes it comes at unexpected moments so completely it overwhelms us. And sometimes, the hardest person to forgive is our self. Ross may never forgive his 14-year-old self. But he should. He should let the confusion of emotions he was feeling belong to his youthful lack of social courage. He should learn from it and forever be aware of other’s feelings so that he can become the person who will stand up for the unnoticed and unpopular members of his community. Because it is in those moments we all find redemption.
Forgiveness... PassItOn.com®
Nancy was suddenly a single mother. Her husband of 17 years passed away leaving her with kids to finish raising and no savings. Nancy was from a hardworking family but she lacked skills. Desperate for work she answered an ad for a housecleaner. The house turned out to be a luxury apartment, one of many properties the eccentric owner moved between as he went about his International business. The interview was short. A little paperwork and an assignment: clean the apartment. Anxious to impress, Nancy got right to work thoroughly turning over cushions, vacuuming the hidden places, scrubbing down the tiled places and not cutting corners on cleaning the windows. The first handful of change she found in the couch. The second she found under the bed. A few crumpled dollar bills and some coins could not mean much to such a rich man who seemed to be nonchalant with his spare change. But a few dollars to Nancy would mean she could come home with a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. She smoothed the paper dollars and placed them in an ashtray and stacked the coins on top. When she was done cleaning, she left the apartment and locked the door behind her.
Dr. Brené Brown, a leading authority on human behavior, outlined the Seven Elements of Trust. Integrity is at the center. “You choose courage over comfort. You choose what is right over what is fun, fast, or easy. And you choose to practice your values rather than simply professing them.”
Nancy returned home to hungry and anxious kids. She remembered the lessons taught by her immigrant father: work hard, be honest. But the words didn’t put food on the table. The next day, Nancy got the job. Turns out the scattered money was the interview. Anybody can clean but few can be trusted. Nancy made enough money to take care of her family. And she became a confidant of her eccentric employer. He soon promoted her to his bookkeeper. And as time went by, she was trusted with finding the right legal and financial counsel. In every task there are the same elements: don’t cut corners, check the details everybody else passes over. Stick to your values. Nancy became a trusted personal assistant. To her,
managing millions of dollars was like a handful of coins, something to be trusted with to the penny. It’s been over 30 years since that first job interview for Nancy. In that time she has had the financial stability she needed to raise her family. And she’s had the peace of mind that comes from being somebody who can be trusted.
Trust... PassItOn.com®
For most of us, teaching seventh-grade English would be akin to an eternal assignment teaching flying monkeys to sit still. Just thinking about it, we might feel Dorothy’s terror at being carried away. But not for Miss Smith.
For 40 years, she stood in front of her classroom, tapping the blackboard where an inspirational quote was drawn neatly in D’Nealian cursive. “Open your notebooks and write,” she would instruct. If a student was late, she would simply say: “Write about why you are tardy.” The content and style didn’t matter. It was the connection of thought to paper that was the aim.
If you scribble long enough, those thoughts will turn into feelings, and feelings on paper become visible, tangible enough to examine. The angst of seventh grade, that cusp of puberty and blender of emotions, needs an outlet. Miss Smith knew this. She knew students in the throes of adolescence needed to develop their own guidance systems, or they would be tossed about by the forces that surrounded them. Most of the quotes she carefully wrote on the chalkboard were affirmational, inspirational, and encouraged self-reflection. Most of the notebooks were filled with the kind of drivel you would expect, like looking forward to tacos for lunch and describing in detail the teacher’s desk at the head of the classroom, or worse, line after line stating I don’t know what to write today.
Regardless, Miss Smith read every entry and, in neat red handwriting, jotted notes of encouragement and praise. Some students who wandered through her class went on to become journalists and fiction writers. But those were not the ones who needed saving.
Before she passed away, she reminisced about the thousands of students she had. Most were flying monkeys, bounding off to other places. And there were the writers who made her proud; they sent her letters thanking her for getting them to think. But the ones she remembered most were those who found a way to release emotions through pen on paper. Pen because it is permanent, and you can’t change the past; you have to just move forward in a new way, with a new sentence. There were the boys who couldn’t find the courage to stand up to an abusive father but found refuge in a few words that discharge negative feelings. There were girls in angst over rejection by peers, and some who had deep traumas. The first sentence in their notebooks read, “Please don’t read this.”
These were the students, the children fighting to become adults, that Miss Smith focused on. She would read Shakespeare and ask how Romeo must’ve felt being rejected by his friends and family, how Juliet felt not being able to express love to her own mother. The archetypes in literature gave permission for emotional growth in a safe way, and the words inside those notebooks became more and more personal as the year went on.
The letter Miss Smith remembers most was from a young man named Rob, some years after he quietly wrote meaningless sentences in his notebook just to get by in her class. He told her his parents were alcoholics, that there seemed to be no future for him, that he knew he was a mistake to them. But she made him feel like he was more. He said he’d stayed alive to see what that more was going to be.
Mentors... PassItOn.com®
We like our heroes larger than life, and we like them to be uncompromising in their determination. Mary Fields was tall, and as a recently freed slave in the 1860s, she was also fearless. She was good with a gun and not above a good fight. It was said that she “had the temperament of a grizzly bear,” which is probably how she survived the lawless West with its array of characters, each looking to get the jump on greenhorns.
Mary worked her way northwest on riverboats and taking odd jobs until she reached Toledo, Ohio, where she ended up in a most unlikely place: the Sacred Heart Convent. Here she was taken in by Sister Dunne, but Mary was quick to make a stir with her hard drinking, cursing and difficult nature. Yet she worked hard and fastidiously kept the convent gardens beautiful, albeit sometimes by cursing out nuns who crossed her lawn.
When Sister Dunne caught ill in Montana after being called there to start a school, Mary was off to take care of her. Sister Dunne regained her health, thanks to Mary’s devoted care. But it wasn’t long before Mary’s temperament got her kicked out of the newly established convent. Apparently, the bishop didn’t take kindly to her cursing, drinking, wearing men’s clothing and pulling a revolver on one of the janitors during an argument.
Turns out that Mary’s temperament and skill with a gun suited her perfectly in a different job as a mail carrier. It was a dangerous and arduous job. Mailbags were unloaded from a train onto a stagecoach and driven over rocky roads into a no man’s land where it seemed there were more bandits than settlers.
Mary was an imposing figure, with a rifle across her lap and a revolver on her hip. She scared off would-be thieves with her accurate shooting and drove the stagecoach hard through barren lands, often without stopping to rest. On days when the snow was too deep for the stagecoach, Mary strapped on snowshoes and carried the bags of mail on her back. She became as legendary as Paul Bunyan, braving every obstacle and maintaining the lifeline of communication between relatives, friends, businesses and the law.
Stagecoach Mary became larger than life on the trail, but she was even bigger to the locals. Children loved her, and she was always kind and generous to them. She was often treated to free meals at restaurants and drinks at the saloon, where the regulars chatted with her until closing time.
Through her grit and steady devotion, Mary “Stagecoach” Fields forged a path into the heart of the West that many would follow. When she died, the funeral was the largest her town had ever seen.
Grit... PassItOn.com®
When Warrick Dunn was a sophomore, he led his team to the state championship. When he was a senior, his mother, who worked in law enforcement, was shot and killed, leaving Warrick to care for his five brothers and sisters.
It’s a lot of weight to put on a young man’s shoulders, but Warrick handled it well, still graduating from high school and earning a scholarship to Florida State. At the same time, Warrick had to grow up fast, take on adult responsibilities while still charting his own course. He used his mother’s life insurance to fulfill one of his mother’s dreams: to buy a house for the family. And as a freshman, he led Florida State to a national championship.
His effort paid off with an NFL contract, and in his first year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Warrick not only continued to take care of his siblings, he began Warrick Dunn Charities to help single mothers achieve first-time homeownership. He spent 12 years in the NFL, even though many thought he was too small. Perhaps being underrated drove him, or maybe it was the need to provide for his family and make his mother proud. Whatever his motivations, Warrick achieved rare greatness as an athlete and as a human being.
Adversity comes in many forms, and often to the people we least likely expect. Warrick’s drive and example not only help single mothers but also inspire them to continue their upward journey. Over 90% of them are still in their homes, working hard, getting an education, taking care of their families and thankful for the start that Warrick Dunn gave each of them.
On the field, Warrick Dunn played cornerback, quarterback and running back. Since retiring, he has been playing give-back. Since 1997 he has helped over 200 single parents and over 500 dependents achieve first-time homeownership. He works closely with Habitat for Humanity to build and furnish the homes and provide down-payment assistance. He also works with other professional athletes, guiding them to make a difference in their communities.
Perhaps most remarkable, Warrick Dunn later met with his mother’s killer and offered forgiveness. Seems life is too short to harbor hate and bitterness. For each of us, we can face our challenges, great or small, with the same courage.
Be Great... PassItOn.com®
We all hope to retire one day, enjoying a life of leisure and spending more time with family and friends. In their golden years, veterans of wars long past often reconnect with their combat pals to enjoy the forever bonds that come with military service and relax.
Not Captain Sir Thomas Moore, better known as Captain Tom. He had grown a bit bored during the COVID pandemic. His 100th birthday was approaching, and he was a little restless. So he decided to do a small walk for charity: the length of his backyard garden, 100 times a day, with the aid of a walker. He set a goal to raise a dollar for each length he walked.
As sometimes happens with remarkable events, the media picked up the simple story of a centenarian walking for charity. He appeared in his uniform for photo shoots, bedecked with medals earned in World War II. Back then, he spent most of his time in India and Burma as a member of the Royal Armoured Corps. His task was to set up a program for training army motorcyclists. In Burma, he survived dengue fever and, after recovering, worked as an instructor and technical adjutant in the Armoured Vehicle Fighting School. When the war ended, he came home, but he never forgot his comrades or his motorcycles. He raced competitively for years before settling into an ordinary life.
But when the pandemic hit, and Captain Tom was rehabilitating from a broken hip in isolation, he decided that he could cheer folks up and raise a little money for the National Health Service that was so badly needed during the crisis. He determined to walk every day, to encourage the world to keep moving forward, one labored step at a time.
He soon became a symbol of the fortitude the world needed. Each day he walked, viewers were inspired by the arduous steps that took him around and around his small garden. It was a simple act of courage, the straighten-your-back-and-carry-on message the country and the world needed. Millions of dollars poured in to provide the needed support for overtaxed health care systems. Queen Elizabeth knighted Captain Tom for his efforts, and his spoken words, along with Michael Ball singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” became a No. 1 single.
It was all quite overwhelming for Captain Tom, who said, “It has gone far beyond my wildest expectations. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart.”
Captain Tom passed away from COVID shortly after his 100th birthday, a soldier and a servant to the end.
Exceed Expectations... PassItOn.com®
Every Thursday afternoon, the food pantry at the local high school opens up to provide fresh food bags for families who can’t stretch their budgets far enough to get their meals to last through the weekend. Nearly a hundred families rely on the extra food. Some are between jobs, some got hit hard with medical bills for a few months, and some are new to the neighborhood, placed there by refugee services.
On one breezy afternoon, two young mothers walked in together, each with a toddler in tow. There was nothing different about their dress, but their manner revealed a shyness that they struggled to overcome. When they spoke, it was clear why: Their accents were thick, even though they were trying hard to make their English sound American. They were uncertain of being understood. But the pantry is run by grandmothers who are never pressed for time when it comes to conversations. So they sat for a moment and told their story while the little ones were held in arms so very familiar with children.
The two lived in apartments in the basement of the Methodist Church. They had been in the United States for one month. Their husbands were well-educated but working labor jobs to pay for food and save for more typical apartments. And they were out of diapers.
Both had fled the war in Eastern Europe, one family from Ukraine and one from Russia. They ended up in the same church basement and discovered that they needed each other. They became fast friends. Their children played together. They shared meals and navigated their new world together.
There were no bombs or soldiers or rations in their new neighborhood, only a chance to start over. Friendships are sometimes hard to come by, yet matter so much to each of us. A good friend gives us strength, love, laughter and the courage to keep trying.
These two families — worn down by uncertainty and war, thrown together in a new country, a new community with a new language — found so much in common. And isn’t that what we all need? A friend who faces the same life challenges, even if the forces above them have different political views. We are, after all, just mothers and fathers, friends and neighbors.
Friendship... PassItOn.com®
There’s a saying in the West that when things get tough, you have to cowboy up. In Wyoming, the history of cowboys braving the elements to sustain ranches during subzero weather, and fixing things on their own in the harsh landscape, is ingrained in the people. They are as independent as they are loyal; hardened physically by their labors, they still harbor hearts as big as the Wyoming sky.
In Powell, Wyoming, you’ll find a tight group of college wrestlers. After practice one autumn morning, four of them went out into the wilderness to collect the antlers shed by deer and elk. The group split into pairs to conduct their treasure hunt.
Five miles into the wilderness, Brady Lowry was attacked by a grizzly bear. The huge bear knocked him off a small ledge, breaking his arm in the attack. It happened so fast he didn’t have time to reach for his bear spray.
Teammate Kendell Cummings, who was a short distance away, charged the bear, trying to distract him.
“I grabbed and yanked him hard by the ear,” Cummings said. The bear turned from Lowry, reared up and attacked Cummings, swiftly knocking him to the ground. “I could hear when his teeth would hit my skull, I could feel when he’d bite down on my bones.”
The bear eventually left, and Cummings stood up, blood pouring from open wounds on his face and arms. He called to his teammate. “I think the bear heard me. It kind of circled around and got me again.” Cummings lay stunned and bleeding until the bear left again.
After several minutes, he got up and found Lowry, and the two bloodied young men began the arduous journey down the mountain. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, adrenaline dissipated their pain. But hiking down the steep and rocky slope soon became agonizing. Lowry used his cell phone to call their other two teammates, who met them on the trail. Cummings and Lowry were fading from loss of blood, so Orrin Jackson and August Harrison carried their teammates on their backs down the mountain to meet the Search and Rescue team that Jackson had arranged along the way.
After a cold, bumpy ATV ride, they were rushed to the hospital, and both underwent multiple surgeries. It wasn’t long before the rest of their Northwest Trapper teammates joined them in Billings, Montana, staying for two days and two nights until Cummings and Lowry were in the clear.
Lowry was emotional about the experience, and grateful that his friend and teammate had saved his life. “That’s what the wrestling team does — we go to hell and back with each other. We aren’t going to let one of us go down without helping.”
As the late autumn sun gives way to the crystallized afternoon air a week later in Wyoming, two intrepid wrestlers know it will take months to recover from their life-threatening injuries. But they also plan on returning to the team as soon as possible, maybe as soon as this season.
Courage... PassItOn.com®
Imagine growing up in New York City, dreaming of open ranges and taming wild horses. That’s exactly what Kitty Canutt did.
At 17 years old, young Kitty competed in the Wild West Celebration Rodeo in Miles City, Montana. The year was 1916. The Western states were still populated with mavericks, roustabouts, gamblers and cowboys … and, of course, the brave women who also came West.
Kitty came to compete. She was a petite, fiery young woman who was determined to prove herself on the rodeo circuit. Not only did she ride broncs, but she also rode in relays where contestants rode at breakneck speeds, unsaddled one horse and saddled up another. Kitty often finished these races perched wildly, legs flailing as they searched for the stirrups. The crowds were thrilled.
Kitty rode the circuit from summer to fall, and when she wasn’t competing, she was breaking wild horses for local ranches. It’s said that she always wanted the orneriest horses because she took pride in being the one to tame them. An outlaw horse would be blindfolded and led into the middle of the ring. Kitty would throw herself aboard, and off they’d go until either the horse or Kitty gave up. The horse always quit first.
In everything she did, Kitty was determined to be the best. At times when she ran short of money, she’d pawn the diamond mounted in her front tooth, win another contest and buy back the diamond. It wasn’t long before Kitty became the women’s world champion bronc rider.
After winning All-Around Champion Cowgirl at the Pendleton Round-Up in Pendleton, Oregon, in 1916, she soon fell in love with Enos “Yakima” Canutt, the all-around winning cowboy at the same event. They married in 1917 while at a show in Kalispell, Montana. After a move to Los Angeles, Yakima became one of Hollywood’s leading stuntmen.
At a time when it seemed refinement and manners were the only path, Diamond Kitty went her own direction, proving that with enough determination and courage, you can ride your way into the middle of your childhood dreams — an open range of possibilities with short bursts of teeth-clenching adrenaline.
Grit... PassItOn.com®
From New England’s cloudy skies to the parched fields in Arizona; from the early morning ice rinks in Minnesota to the sandy pitches along the Oregon coast, a myriad of sun-screened, whistle-blowing, down-parka-wearing, sore-footed coaches brave the weather and sacrifice their afternoons to tribes of budding athletes.
At a time when uncertainty is sure to swirl around our children’s heads, they find reassurance on the fields of play. Teamwork is the lesson we hope they learn. When a coach encourages a player, she finds courage to participate in the game of life. She learns how to overcome the voices of self-doubt, step back into the mud and find the meaning of camaraderie. Win or lose, there will be friends made and the victory of finishing a hard task.
Our growing ones need mentors and friends, teammates and coaches, opponents and opportunities. Youth sports is the place where small risks can be taken and lessons learned. If we expect our children to take over for us when we are finally sidelined, we must begin now to prepare them for the role. Give an honest effort. Play well with others. Come prepared. Adapt to the weather. Accept defeat graciously. Champion the team because a team is more than a championship.
The right coach makes all the difference to a child. As Hall of Fame Coach Pat Summit says, “Handle success like you handle failure. You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you handle it.”
Such direction is the foundation our children need. So, as another season begins, and pint-sized kids trundle like bobblehead dolls in their new football helmets or zip past in bright-colored soccer uniforms with ponytails afloat like windsocks, may we all remember that letting kids be kids means letting them play.
Here’s to the enduring patience of coaches, parent volunteers and youth sports referees. Thanks for building a world where our kids can try out for real life before they are thrown into the game for real.
Coaching... PassItOn.com®
Jesse Owens was the grandson of enslaved people and the son of Alabama sharecroppers. Luz Long studied law at the University of Leipzig and was the physical embodiment of Hitler’s nationalistic ideal. One would become a national hero. One would die in the upcoming war. Both would call out racism at a time when it could cost them everything.
Owens arrived in Berlin in 1936, torn between boycotting the Olympics on moral principles or competing in hopes the attention would further the cause of Black acceptance. Long arrived at the Olympics disenfranchised by the Nazi regime and desperate to expose the fallacy of the idea of a superior Aryan race.
The two men met at the broad jump, where Owens had inadvertently scratched his first jump, unaware it would be recorded as his first attempt, and not a trial. Unsettled, he scratched the second jump. As the story goes, Long suggested that Owens leap before the mark, ensuring that Owens would qualify to move on. In the spirit of competition, Long wanted the best from his opponent.
Owens did qualify, and the two went on to the finals. Long would beat the European record. But Owens would set a new world record that outdistanced Long. The two would best each other and the record five times before Owens finally won. What happened next is not the stuff of movie scripts but of real life.
Long took hold of Owens, and the two strode arm-in-arm for a victory lap. The crowd roared approval and shouted, “Owens! Owens!” Hitler promptly left the arena.
The friendship between the two broad jumpers would continue for years until Long stopped writing his friend in 1943. He had been conscripted into the German military and mortally wounded in the Battle of St. Pietro. He passed away in a British military hospital, but not before penning a letter to his dear friend.
“Someday, find my son,” he wrote Owens. “Tell him what times were like when we were not separated by war. Tell him how things can be between men on this earth.”
Owens honored the request and corresponded with the younger Luz for years. After the war, Owens returned to Berlin to walk arm-in-arm with Kai Long, the son of the great peacemaker and forever friend, remembering the moment in the stadium.
“It took a lot of courage for him to befriend me in front of Hitler,” Owens recalled. “I would melt down all the medals and cups I have, and they wouldn’t be a plating on the twenty-four-carat friendship that I felt for Luz Long.”
Friendship is the bond that gets us through the trials of childhood and the loneliness of our adult lives and can remind us of our shared humanity. Friendships forged in the furnace of war and inhumanity lift us all.
The Power of Friendship... PassItOn.com®
“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books, and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”
With these words, Dolly Parton encourages us not only to pursue our dreams but also to make a way for the dreams of children to come true. Her ability to inspire us through music and stories that connect us is the gift she has delivered throughout our lives and always when we needed them most.
“I Will Always Love You” reminds us that no matter how hard life can get, there is always someone who loves us. “Working 9 to 5” makes it easier for us to get through the grind of a workday. “Love is Like a Butterfly,” with its lilting melodies, encourages us to cherish each moment we experience with the person we love because you never know when it will end. And “Unlikely Angel,” about redemption and healing, is something we all need these days.
Dolly Parton is loved around the world not only for her remarkable songs but also for her acting, enthusiasm for life, successful business ventures and all she does philanthropically. Raised in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, she was the fourth of 12 children. She has long credited her father for her business savvy and her mother’s family for her musical abilities.
Worldwide, she has sold over 100 million records. Known primarily as a singer/songwriter for country songs, she also has crossed into the pop and rock genres as well as film soundtracks. She has written over 3,000 songs. She has 25 #1 hits, 44 top 10 country hits, and 10 Country Music Association Awards. She is in four music halls of fame: Nashville Songwriters, Country Music, Songwriters, and Rock & Roll. She’s been nominated for Grammy, Academy, Emmy and Tony awards, been honored by the Kennedy Center and received Jeff Bezos’ Courage and Civility award. Not bad for a young girl from Tennessee with a guitar on her shoulder and a dream in her heart.
Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over 1 million free books each month to children around the world.
The next time you feel unloved or underappreciated, listen to a little Dolly Parton and know that your dreams, along with those of young children getting a book for the first time, are taking flight, made possible by a girl from Tennessee.
Kindness... PassItOn.com®
The young James Earl Jones suffered from a debilitating stutter. Shy and self-conscious, young James was encouraged to try theater as a way to overcome it. Perhaps the teacher saw his future potential, but more likely, she saw a boy who needed a little confidence.
Jones worked hard as an actor, and the theater enhanced his social skills and ability to communicate. It even gave him a sense of direction. But he put it on hold to join the military. With a sense of duty to his country, he became a ranger and instructor in cold-weather and mountain training, achieving the rank of lieutenant.
He then returned to New York and began a prolific stage and film career. He was one of a handful of actors to win Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards, an accomplishment known as the EGOT. He received the National Medal of Arts and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Of all his brilliant work on stage and screen, James Earl Jones is most remembered for his role as Darth Vader, the father-gone-bad villain who destroys worlds and is finally overcome by his own son. The battle for good over evil in “Star Wars” reflects a universal experience in all our lives. It reminds us of the power one individual can wield when motivated by the virtues of love, forgiveness, honor and fairness for all. James Earl Jones reveled in the role, seeing the villainy as a warning to audiences. Stories of good and bad help form our young selves, help us see the consequences of bad decisions and the triumph of good ones.
When the icon of multiple generations showed up on the tiny set of “Sandlot,” the young actors were understandably in awe and intimidated. Patrick Renna, who played Ham, remembers that day well.
“He’s larger than life, and he’s famous — James Earl Jones. We’re all, like, speechless, and he was so cool.”
A huge “Star Wars” fan, Renna remembers that when he got the opportunity to meet Jones, “None of us had the guts to talk to him. Marty York goes up to him and goes, ‘Sir, I hear you’re James Earl Jones. You were Darth Vader in “Star Wars”?’ And he looked at him and said, ‘No. I am your father!’”
The moment was magical for the boys. And when the time came for his scene with them, they got to see the character Jones most embodied: Mr. Mertle. He was kind; his face lit up when talking to them. He loved sharing baseball with them in that sacred father-son rite. Perhaps, on that sunny afternoon when nostalgic boyhoods were being replayed, Jones was remembering his own childhood, back when he was a shuffling, self-conscious pre-teenager looking for a safe place to gather a little courage and receive a few kind words from a mentor, a handful of encouragement that can fill your sails and take you to places far beyond the universe you live in.
Of all the recognizable voices out there, the ones we should listen to are those away from the microphone, off-screen, whispering that we can be more. These are the same voices we should raise ourselves.
Lift Your Voice… PassItOn.com®
In 1992, the country of Yugoslavia was being torn apart. Warring factions created chaos in this otherwise beautiful city. On May 27, an explosion rocked a bakery in the city, killing 22 people and wounding 108 more who were in line to buy bread. The horrors of war were suddenly made manifest.
The following morning, as images of the war poured into living rooms around the world, Vedran Smailović put on his tuxedo, carried his cello and a chair outside, and sat in the midst of the rubble to play Albinoni’s “Adagio in G Minor” for those who had been massacred. He would return every day for 22 days. Some days, he was ducking sniper fire. But each day, each victim deserved a tribute to the life they lived and the unbearable way in which they died.
Modern war is a complex tangle of ideologies, power seizures and political maneuverings. It rarely respects the lives of the innocent. Smailović sensed that each individual in a society is worthy of respect and that, by seeking beauty through the arts, we find the language of peace. Throughout the war, he played in graveyards and at funerals, delivering hope to those caught in the machinations of power.
Artists have a unique role in our world, offering up their talents on the altars of civilization. They seek the beautiful and the honest, the truth of our souls and the courage of our hearts. In the turmoil of the American Revolution and its bloody birth, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: “I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy … geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music ….”
And lest we forget what we have freed ourselves from, we should remember the image of the single musician playing a mournful tribute to each of us from the rubble of smoldering city, a reminder that there is hope, and it is embodied in each of us, carrying it forward like a banner promoting peace to all nations.
The Peace of Music… PassItOn.com®