When I was 12, my father had me memorize the statement “YOU CANNOT THINK ANY DEEPER THAN YOUR VOCABULARY WIll ALLOW YOU TO.”
It took many years for the wisdom of that sentence to sink in. There are just over 340,000 words in the english language. Winston Churchill had the largest working vocabulary of any english speaking person that we know of. His vocabulary was over 25,000 words. Recent studies have shown that the average business person in America has a working vocabulary of about 13,000 words. The average high school student has a working vocabulary of about 2700 words. The math here is sobering.

Between 1986 and 1989 I accompanied the US Attorney from Utah, Brent Ward, to 148 Middle and High Schools in the state of Utah. We put on an assembly for each of these schools trying to talk the young people in this state out of drugs and alcohol. Each time we arrived at these schools, we would have to walk through the halls with the students on the way to the assembly. I started listening to the words being used by the students. What do you think I heard??

I was stunned, alarmed, saddened and discouraged. the thought that keeps haunting me is this: Are these the words that our young people are thinking with???

In every study ever done on successful people on this planet, in all walks of life, the one common denominator that came out of every study was this. These successful people had large working vocabularies. They knew their language and how to use it.

There is only one way to build a decent vocabulary and that is to read. READ, READ, READ.

Our young people aren’t reading any more. Why?, they don’t have to. They watch TV, play with mindless electronic games, spend hours texting on their phones.

The young people that will lead this country and the world will be the kids who decide to build their vocabularies by reading good literature.

WISDOM IS KNOWLEDGE RIGHTLY APPLIED. I have just passed on some knowledge, I wonder if anyone will do anything with it?????

Hyrum Smith, Founder of Franklin Quest Company 1981

As a culture we have come to love heroes.  They inspire us.  They motivate us.  They give us hope.  And there are not enough of them.

Armando Galarraga is an unlikely hero.  He’s 28 years old, just called up from the Triple-A Toledo “Mud Hens” on May 16th to pitch for the Detroit Tigers.  In last night’s game between the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers he was within one pitch of throwing “a perfect game”.  Two outs, ninth-inning, last batter.  Chopping hit between 1st and 2nd base…throw to first in plenty of time and umpire Jim Joyce calls the runner… “safe” thus robbing Armando Galarraga of a perfect game. Later the umpire acknowledged he “blew the call” and apologized to Armando.  Despite repeated video reviews and confirmation that the wrong call was made it would not be changed.  There is no “instant replay” in baseball.

In a magnificent show of graciousness when the umpire, Jim Joyce in tears, offered an apology to Armando for missing the call that cost him the “perfect game”  Armando Galrraga responded, “He feel really bad. He probably feel more bad than me,…Nobody’s perfect, everybody’s human.”

- You’re right Armando, nobody is perfect…but on June 2, 2010 you were pretty darn close to perfect in the way that counts the most.  You are my hero!

The ultimately inspiring story of a Christian family who sheltered Jews during the Nazi occupation in Holland. Because of this, they suffered the worst consequences imaginable ~ incarceration and death in the concentration camps. Corrie ten Boom is my example of extreme courage and extreme forgiveness, because after miraculously surviving, she became even stronger in her faith, faced those who killed her family, and forgave them completely.

Practical Application-Do something every day this week to improve your self-worth.
Decide what your values are. A personal value system is what we should live by. Unfortunately, many times our values are clouded by the busy activities going on around us. The closer we adhere to our personal value system, the greater our self-worth becomes. Here’s an activity to identify and establish your personal value system:

1. Think about and list on a piece of paper the three values that are most important in your life.
2. Write next to those values an explanation as to why you feel they are so important.
3. Create two columns. On one side list five reasons that keep you from living according to your three values
4. On the other side set five goals that you can do on a daily basis that will help you break bad habits and form better ones that reflect what is most important to you.

I grew up in Texas. The driving force in my family was my grandmother, Granny. When I was 10 years old, I had to attend ‘Charm School’. My Granny always impressed upon me that it wasn’t “Lady-like” to swear and whenever I felt the need to do so, I should spit it out of my mouth. So, when I get upset about something that warrants a good swear word, I simply say “Oh spit”. I never say the bad word and I have a clean conscience. I know that I’m honoring my grandmother by keeping to her word. I feel better for it as well.

- Lisa C.

A story of a young boy’s misfortune as he is falsely accused of stealing a pair of valuable shoes, sent to a desert correctional facility and through a funny twisted course of events, finds redemption. There he meets the psycho Warden Walker (Sigourney Weaver) and her bizarre sidekick/enforcer ”Mr. Sir” (John Voight). The twists and turns of the story teach lessons of life from the view of a teenager with an unexpected surprise ending. Great movie for young adults on up. Rated PG (violence, mild language and thematic intensity)