DON'T Give Up, DON'T Ever Give Up

Part of an ongoing series about Do's and Don't's 

"we are starting the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. And it's motto is 'Don't give up, don't ever give up.' That's what I'm going to try to do every minute that I have left. I will thank God for the day and the moment I have. If you see me, smile and give me a hug. That's important to me too. "  - Jim Valvano, ESPY'S 1993

This is an excerpt from one of the most influential and famous speeches in the history of athletics which can be seen here. Jim Valvano in this speech knows he is dying from cancer. However, he provides one key line that is the motto of his foundation and should be the motto of most of our lives.

DON'T Give Up, DON'T Ever Give Up

To often in life, it's much easier to give up than to keep pressing on. I have often noticed though that the people who refuse to give up are the people going through the most. I spoke with a lady recently who almost died from breast cancer. She lost one half of her chest and had a prosthetic "bra" designed as to not draw attention in public. This lady, who had the world against her, said sometimes she doesn't wear it, apparently it's a cumbersome process, but had a phenomenal attitude about it. Even saying she wanted to get a shirt that said "My hair's going to grow back but this won't." She was joking and in good spirits and all because she refused to give up on life no matter how bad it was. Too often, we give up on the little things when people with monsters staring them in the face refuse to give up. That's the only reason we live our lives in such comfort.

DO Keep Trying

Just watch the story of Arthur here. He was told to give up by people who "should" know what's the best for him. The doctors said he would never walk unassisted again. 



Shows what they know. He had given up, and he would've never walked unassisted again. However, when he stopped feeling sorry for himself, and stopped giving up, he not only started walking but started running. He changed his life because he refused to let other people tell him what he couldn't do and focused on what he knew he could.

Don't Give Up, Don't Ever Give up

BGann

DON'T Be a Bad Tipper

A few days back I came across this post on Reddit. It's a picture of a receipt from an Applebee's by a waitress (the poster was actually not the waitress stiffed by this Pastor). Immediately on seeing it, I realized one thing that we should not do:

DON'T Be a Bad Tipper

Being a bad tipper has several negative outcomes. First of all, your nice and caring waiter/waitress makes most of their income by tips and no by their low hourly pay. Second, they are working their tails off so that you can go somewhere and eat without working hard. Most of all, tipping is a direct reflection on you. If you are a bad tipper you give a bad impression on:

• Yourself
• Employer
• Family
• God

You misrepresent all of these if you are stingy with your tips. I know people who work in the industry that say that church people are the worst tippers. Shouldn't it be the other way around.

DO Be a Generous Tipper

Go over the top, don't just tip nothing or a buck. But also, don't tip out of some misguided obligation. We should want to be generous. Think of a tip as saying "thank you" when you get your check. So next time you get your check, say "I appreciate you for working you butt off so I can sit here and enjoy a wonderful meal." That's how we show the love of Christ and how we lead people to see we are good people.

Give more.

BGann

DON'T Assume "It'll Work for You"

The first in a series of Do's and Don't's: Check on more info and posts here.

So, a couple of days ago I am scouring the internet getting ready for the Super.... I mean the Big Game. I come across this story about Colin Kaepernick (who I mysteriously can't read enough about) done by Rick Reilly (who I've read too much by). 

SOURCE: http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8897116/colin-kaepernick-birth-mom

So, this article is basically saying, "Colin Kaepernick should reunite with his birth mother, because it worked for my daughter." That's where this is going. 

DON'T assume "It'll work for you"

Rick Reilly made the arrogant assumption that his and his adopted daughters lives were a valid testing ground to figure out what Kaepernick should do. Quite frankly, it's a completely different scenario, with different players, different feelings, and different attitudes. Quite frankly, if Colin Kaepernick has no desire to ever see the woman who birthed him in favor of seeing the woman who raised him, that's his prerogative.

We usually do the same thing though. We often look at someone else's situations or hardships and offer our advice with a phrase similar to "It worked for me, it'll work for you." That's where we have to stop. People will turn your off and never listen to a word if you are arrogant enough to assume you know what's right for them.

DO Offer your story as a possible outcome

Now this wouldn't apply to Rick Reilly because he really should've never used the public form of ESPN.com to call out Kaepernick. However, in our situations, it IS perfectly acceptable to tell someone your story. If someone goes through something or has something that you went through, you can tell them what happened to you and how you worked through it. This gives them an opportunity to evaluate the possibilities and take in what you said. It also leaves them under no obligation to actually do what you did.

All Rick Reilly needed to do was say to Kaepernick, "Hey, let me tell you about the time my daughter got to meet her birth mother." Instead, he hit him with questions on why he hadn't met her and then wrote an article discussing on why it was bad for Colin to not meet using the thinly veiled reasoning, it worked for us, it'll work for you.

Hope this blog works for you

BGann

Do's and Don't's : A New Mini-Series

I have been reading some blogs on my days that I don't blog on here, and I have noticed a theme. Even the most random blogs still have their "series" type posts. So here's my first go at it:

Do's and Don't's

The idea here is to find examples of Do's and Don't's of stories and show that example and post an alternative to what happened. These are designed to be shorter and simpler blogs with quick nuggets of truth. This page will stay a landing page that will show a list of them as they come up.

• DON'T Assume "It'll Work for You"
• DON'T Be a Bad Tipper
• DON'T Give Up, DON'T Ever Give Up