7 Valuable Lessons from my 67 years of life

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

7 Valuable Lessons from my 67 years of life
(posted with permission from http://www.kazantoday.com)

Dear Reader, in my 67 year life, I have been blessed with a 47 year marriage, three successful and healthy sons and three beautiful daughters-in-law and six grandchildren.

I’ve been a corporate CEO, a radio personality, a newspaper columnist, a real estate investor, a peace activist and have done extensive public work, including buying meals for the homeless. Today I offer you 7 Valuable Lessons I have learned from my life’s experience:

1) There is no such thing as a person who is bitter and happy. Don’t allow bitterness to grip you. Forgive everyone everything and do it as quickly as your heart will allow. Carrying resentments and seeking revenge will only hurt you.

2) Don’t ever be insensitive to the suffering of others. We as mankind are taking this journey of life together and what happens to your brethren will eventually affect you. You may not see what is happening elsewhere but the information is readily available to you and in the names of compassion and of Karma, offer others a helping hand.

3) Love is your most valuable asset. People often take love for granted without realizing it is the foundation of their happiness and their reason for being. Without love, life becomes meaningless, devoid of joy and purpose. You and I live in a world that desperately seeks love yet never offers it in sufficient amounts. Open your heart to others and you will begin to uplift the world, one person at a time.

4) Honor your commitments but do not expect others to necessarily honor theirs. Instead, understand what they seek and where you see merit, do your best to help them achieve their goals. If you do, most people will honor their commitments to you and in the process they will help you to achieve your goals

5) Good health is often taken for granted, yet once it is lost, it is very hard to regain. Treat your health as the crown jewel it is. If you do, instead of spending time with doctors and in hospitals or other medical facilities, you are likely to be relatively pain free and able to pursue the meaningful elements in your life, those that capture your heart.

6) Eat food that his healthy for you. Instead of fast food or other food laden in fats, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, cholesterol and salt. Read the labels and eat wisely. Base your diet on fruits and vegetables, grains and nuts. I became a vegetarian at the age of 56 and have never felt better.

Remember, animals like people are beings and they too give birth and have thoughts and feelings. A slaughter house is an animal Auschwitz, which is why slaughter houses, blood and guts and fearful animals about to be killed are not shown to the public. It is also why we have E coli and other rancid animal based diseases.

7) Seek a quality life now. Make the most of every day you have and don’t fall into the trap so many people do of either “waiting for the weekend,” or becoming a workaholic in which time disappears without you realizing it.

Instead, greet each day for the treasure it is and find ways to bring joy into your life and into the lives of others. Literally smell the roses, absorb great works of art, challenge your mind and laugh with others as often as possible. And keep a supply of hugs handy at all times, as you become wealthy at heart, which is the greatest of all riches.


In the next KazanToday: Life’s Little Miracles

If you liked the column, sign up for a once-a-week story emailed via constantcontact @ http://www.kazantoday.com/subscribe.html

[siligut]

1. Good advice

Not always easy to follow. I really appreciate number 6.

[indepat]

2. We would do ourselves a favor by putting your list of seven lessons on the fridge

as a reminder to read this list every day.

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

3. If you liked this column, here is another from the archives...

Today: Four valuable lessons in life from 100-year-old Arthur Winston.
http://www.kazantoday.com/WeeklyArticles/wk123.html

“Mr. Winston,” as he was known in his latter years, made headlines on March 22, 2006, when he retired at the age of 100 from the Los Angeles “MTA” after 76-years of service. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, his 76-years of employment there may be the longest working time of any individual for any one company in American history.

And the MTA said he took only one day off in all those 76-years. It was in 1988, to attend his wife Frances’s funeral. They had been married for 63-years.

At 100, Arthur Winston cleaned busses, with his mop thrusting back and forth sloshing hot soapy water on bus floors and he wiped down the vinyl seats as well.

If gum or candy stuck to anything, he’d take a putty knife and get down on his hands and knees, and carefully remove it. He’d then vigorously polish the interior, smile with pride and step off that bus and move to the next one.

The 5ft, 7in Mr. Winston was trim, walked well, didn’t smoke nor drink, and had a sharp mind and this offers us the first of our four valuable lessons. It is to exercise for it will help keep our bodies and minds healthy and strong.

Life for Arthur Winston was never easy. The son of a share cropper he picked cotton in Oklahoma from the time he was 10-years-old. Hard times in Oklahoma brought his family to Los Angeles but as African-Americans there would be few opportunities for them.

Graduating from high school in 1924, he began cleaning trolley cars for a predecessor firm to the MTA. This was the only job they’d offer him, as blacks were not allowed to drive the trolleys, nor become mechanics, nor could they rise into management.

At that time even in Los Angeles, blacks had separate restrooms, separate lunch rooms and were paid less than whites for the same work. But they had few options and he did his best in difficult circumstances.

In most places, he would be looked down upon and treated as sub-human, commonly referred to as a “nigger” behind his back or sometimes as “boy” to his face. He would not be thought of as a man, nor entitled to respect or equal rights under the law.

But in 1925, good fortune smiled on Arthur Winston when he married Frances Smith, who would be the love of his life and over the years, they raised four children.

In 1928, seeking greater opportunity, he left the MTA. But the collapse of the American Economy in The Great Depression of the 1930’s hit him hard and in 1934 he returned to the MTA, grateful to have a job, at a time when over 25% of the American workforce was unemployed.

It was a bleak time in U.S. history of soup lines, people losing their homes, children being farmed out to families who could support them and desperate men sneaking on to train cars to ride them anywhere they might find work.

From this frightening experience, Arthur Winston would never again risk his family’s security, and he worked that MTA job with pride for the next 72-years.

In the 1960’s, the Civil Rights movement took hold and opened vast job opportunities for African-Americans but by that time, Arthur Winston then in his 60’s, an age when many people consider retiring, was not interested in changing careers even within the MTA.

A strong independent man, he had an orderly routine. Early each morning, he drove to work, and from the moment he arrived, he was busy cleaning busses. Then at the end of his shift, he’d drive home to the small white house he and Frances bought in South Central Los Angeles in 1940.

In recent years, Arthur Winston shared his home with his great-granddaughter Brandii Wright, 29, and his great-great-grandson Kenny, 4.

He decided to retire on his 100th birthday and the MTA celebrated his birthday and his career with a grand luncheon, attended by 150 co-workers, dignitaries, family and friends.

“Why are you retiring,” he was asked during the celebration. With a smile he softly replied, “100-years seemed like enough.”

His father had also been physically active throughout his life and lived to be 99. Arthur Winston was aware of the need to stay active and until then, wouldn’t retire. “I just kept on going,” he said. “I’d rather be moving, working or doing something than laying around the house.”

His words were prophetic. Only 22-days after his retirement; he gently passed away in his sleep.

Although he’s gone, Arthur Winston’s life offers us three more valuable lessons:

2) Whatever your age it is essential to have a sense of purpose and preferably to be involved with others. For nearly all of his 100-years, that is exactly what he had.

3) Avoid stress. Referring to credit cards for example, he urged getting rid of them. “They don’t do nothing more than bring you worry,” he told the Los Angeles Times in a 2004 interview. “Worry will kill you.”


Success Tip of the Week: Is lesson No. 4) Be humble. “I’m just a working man,” he told the Times in a 2005 interview. “Nothing more, nothing less.” In the end, that’s all any of us are, so let others sing your praises, for it is they who will decide if they’re warranted or not. Just do your best.


Editor’s Note: Mr. Winston received numerous awards for his work, most notably a congressional citation as “Employee of the Century” presented to him by President Bill Clinton in 1996. The next year, the bus yard in which he worked was named in his honor, the Arthur Winston Bus Division, an act unprecedented in the MTA.

More stories (100's) in the archives at: http://www.kazantoday.com/kazantoday_archives.html

[SunSeeker]

4. Thanks. We're here to be happy, and we need constant reminders of that. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Eh, you can pick up E.Coli from vegetables too..

But I have to say, I've been tinkering at reducing my consumption of factory raised proteins. Generally I'm not squeamish about eating meat, I can cull and clean it myself if needed, but we seem to, as an economy, have discovered a manner of raising and slaughtering animals that does make me uncomfortable.

It's horrifying for the animals. It's not good for me as a consumer...
Might as well work on curtailing it, if nothing else, before it becomes physically unsustainable.

[RebelOne]

8. That is the common argument from carnivores.

But you can get E.Coli from many foods and not just vegetables and meat. I have been a vegetarian for 15 years after I learned the horrific facts of animal slaughter. I wish you success in curtailing your comsumption of animal products.

[judesedit]

6. This is great advice and coming from someone not living in poverty makes it even better. However,

although it is possible to live your life based on these lessons, it is much, much harder to think of these things when you are homeless, cold, hungry, sick, and without a job. When you are destitute you cannot afford to eat so healthily all of the time. Sometimes you can't eat at all. So as much as I admire the lessons this gentleman has learned over the years, I'd like to say it seems, according to his own job descriptions, these lessons were much easier for him to learn. This is just an opinion coming from someone who lived in a tent with 2 children for 10 months from August 1983 through May in 1984. Yes, it was in Florida but the coldest winter there in awhile. I saved enough to buy a house, lived in it for 27 years, and just finalized a short-sale as BoA would not do a thing to help me even though my home's value declined and I had paid faithfully all of those years. I probably paid for the place twice already in reality. Thanks, BoA. Hope you weren't their CEO at the time. Thanks for sharing. I will copy it and place it on my refrigerator. I am no longer homeless.

[judesedit]

7. Thank you for your peace-activism.

[maryland native]

9. That is good advice

Thanks for sharing it!

[No DUplicitous DUpe]

11. I'm Happy You Liked The Piece...

And Welcome to DU

[drynberg]

10. Yep, the Big 7 are now on my fridge too.

In my 64 years, I can see the truth in your 7 pointers. We all need reminders about smelling the roses and staying healthy. Thanks Kazan.

[Mojorabbit]

12. This is lovely! Thanks! nt