Larry,

Thanks for sharing this today. It hits too close to home. Most statistics show the broken home is fathers who abandon the mother and children. Rare is the opposite. I have a close friend who’s very aggressive/abusive wife left with the children and never returned. His vigilant efforts to make a resolve fell on deaf ears. This is greatly impacting the children’s social economic situation. I believe we become what we learn from our environment which puts these teens at risk of repeating the behaviors of their parents or mother. While I believe a new pattern of behavior can be formed with great effort, most don’t pursue that because of the effort it requires. I think these learned behaviors is why the statistics you shared continue downward. Sad! Family is important. I believe there is great importance in having a father and mother in a home to nurture, strengthen, teach and guide these teenagers. It really takes two to successfully do it. My heart goes out to those mothers who’s challenge and burden it is to raise the children alone.

I can personally relate to this story! I was raised by a prescription drug addicted mom alone from age 5 until she died when I was 14-15 & soon after I found myself homeless for a short time. I can look back at my life and the influencers were there! There were men who stepped out of their lives at different times and helped me to hope for more and they helped me accomplish some things to give me confidence in my abilities early on. There were men who didn’t stay long, some were drunks who taught me how to fight & defend my mom because they were abusers, some were good men & they showed me that good men don’t stay with unpredictable & unstable women. I received some wisdom from all of them along the way! The best help I ever received was from those who were not Involved in our family. Men who gave me part time work washing cars or mowing lawns. There was a guy by the name of Herb Johnson that not only gave me a job but taught me step by step how he liked things done. This guy helped me learn be a detail oriented high quality service minded person. He told me when I started that “you and me will always be friends as long as you don’t ever lie to me or steal from me!” He also held me accountable for high standards. Young men need a roll model today and honestly most of them don’t get even if mom or dad are together in the home. I Believe that by God’s grace and work in my life before & after having a relationship with Christ Jesus, helped me to overcome the statistics listed above! My deepest question in the last few months has been; Who am I helping that is in need of a mentor or friend & will I inspire greatness in them. Who are we influencing toward a different future! Your past does not determine your future!

Change your thinking Whatever you focus on you make bigger Thanks Larry Have a great day

Our imagination is what makes us who we are today. With that said; Everyone that has a child/childre, take away those video games for one day a week and do something fun with them. It doesn’t need to cost money. We need some old fashioned fun!

Thank you Larry for allowing me to begin my day on a good note!

This requires a consistent amount of effort, especially durring the most challenging circumstances. There is a sweet spot I like to call active peace. I work as if it were all up to Me & I pray as if it were all up to God. I also look at my business from the perspective of a steward and not just an owner. If I were honest & I am being honest, I have often chosen the mindset for failure or limited success for more than 1/2 the 16 years I’ve been in business & I’m struggling with some wrong beliefs right now!
Thanks Larry for today’s encouragement!

The very term “fair share” is someone’s judgment. Who gets to make that judgment? In whose hands do we put that decision? Stalin put it in the hands of “the Party”? Is that what we want in America?

What happens when the payers can’t pay enough to cover the non-payers? When to the payers stop paying? Is that when we reach “fair share”?

I wish there were another 100 people like you who actually get it! People live in a dream world who keep telling people that work their butts off trying to make a good living not only for their own families, but their employees and their families, that we need to continue to pay more to the government, so they can turn around and hand it to way to many people who have their hands out who choose not to work harder or at all, so this administration will just take care of everything for them and steal the money from the many who continue to work the hardest! Thank you for telling it straight.

It’s not about “fair”. That assumes a predetermined need or order. Children need food,education and health care. Taking care of veterans, folks who’ve contributed all their lives or truly disabled, who deserves help? If employers took more responsibility for health care and sharing in the profitability of their ventures we probably wouldn’t be looking for government to solve it. How much do we as individuals need in the way of wealth? When do we decide “I’ve got more than I can possibly use, I’ll share with those not as fortunate”? Who decides? Employers? Government? God? Life is short, don’t worry about what you can get but what you can contribute. Just because you can buy multiple homes, cars etc., should you? We are not the center of creation or of time.

Great … were building a kingdom by being part of BasementSystems. There is a plan we must dig in deep with are fellow man and woman and see what else there is to complete. We simply just have to plan the work and work the plan. We should all be promoting understanding between thee aware and unaware by facilitating communication in our everyday environments. Thinkdaily does this very well on a much larger scale. Thank you for your continued work in excellent facilitation of communication.

I think our very existence causes the world to be a little different, so yes, we are all here for a special reason. We change the dynamics of the world by whatever we do each and every day. Some make dramatic changes, some more subtle. Changes can be positive or negative. Just think, what if the parents of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln didn’t exist? What about Adolf Hitler’s parents? Whatever we do makes the world different. I think you are special if you practice justice and compassion, respect the inherent worth and dignity of every person, seek peace and liberty, and respect the inter-dependent web of all existence.

Thanks for bringing things into perspective Larry. Can’t wait to listen to the new audio!

I love the famous experiment with small children where they leave the child alone in a room with a marshmallow. The children are told they could eat it right a way, or, if they can wait five minutes, they will get two marshmallows. The ensuing videos are priceless. Some can’t wait and eat their marshmallow as soon as the interviewer leaves the room. Others fidget around and eat it in a few minutes. But those that can wait were followed for many years, and turned out to be the most successful of all the children studied.