1-THE FREE LUNCH

A Greek Emperor desired to have for himself all the knowledge of the world so he could be truly the greatest emperor of all time. He called his council of scholars together and told them he wanted them to assemble all the knowledge of the world and put it into a form that he could grasp quickly. It took them ten hard working years to accomplish that task but at last they reported it finished and called the Emperor with great ceremony into a large room in which they had assembled 500 volumes of knowledge, the greatest collection of wisdom ever assembled into one place. "Very impressive," said the Emperor, "But I will not live long enough to read all of these. Condense it, and hurry." Five years passed and the scholars reported again with 10 concise volumes. By this time the Emperor was so busy he scarcely had time to look at the outside covers. "Still too much," he shouted impatiently, "Condense!" A year passed and the spokesman for the group came forward with a single volume but was only given an audience of three minutes to explain because the Emperor's time was now so precious. "My patience is about exhausted," he said, "and I am getting old. You must give it to me in a from I can grasp quickly." Thirty days later the spokesman came forth with all the world's knowledge summarized into one sentence. The sentence was. . . "NON ES PRAEDIUM LIBERUM" which translated rather loosely means:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH. 2-MOWING THE LAWN

There was once a young man who walked home everyday from school past a house most kids tried to avoid. In this house live a lady from a foreign country and was known to be very mean. She lived on a corner lot and she would often scold children for cutting through here lawn to get home quicker. One day this young man was especially late in coming home from school. When he came to this lady's house he decided he would chance cutting across her lawn. Looking around he could see no one. So off he ran across her lawn. As he rounded the corner of her house he ran right into this lady. Scared to death he awaited the scolding of this lady. She said, "I know who you are. I'll tell you what I want you to do. I want you to come here next Tuesday and mow my lawn. I will pay you what you think it is worth. Don't tell me you won't. I see you in town just fooling around on Tuesday's so I know that you don't have anything else better to do. So, will I see you on Tuesday?" The frightened young man, willing to say or do anything to escape, agreed. Next Tuesday rolled around and the young man had thought several times about the lady's unusual request. He began to realize that just maybe he had not been scolded at all. Maybe this could be a good opportunity for him. He never had enough money for candy and the other necessities of life. The more he thought about it the more he wanted to do what the lady requested. He finally made up his mind to go over and mow the lady's lawn and he would ask for a quarter. That would take care of his needs for a whole week at least. He went over to the lady's house and rang the bell. The lady answered the door as if she was expecting him and reaffirmed her offer to pay him what he thought his efforts were worth with, of course, her approval of his work. He got out the lawn mower, mowed the lawn, and then returned and rang the bell. He asked for his quarter. She came out, looked around, and agreed to his price. She then went on to say that it was an adequate job, but few people could do a $5 job and no one could do a $10 job. She asked him to return the next Tuesday to do the job again to which he agreed. Satisfied the young man skipped off to the candy store. The next Tuesday rolled around with a repeat of the previous performance and the previous reward. The lady repeated her offer and that few could do a $5 job and no one could do a $10 job. As the young man became accustom to his work and reward he began to grow dissatisfied. He wanted more and realized that if he did a better job for the lady he may earn more money. He decided to try trimming her lawn and perhaps do some sweeping. Then he could ask for 75¢. One Tuesday he tried it and found that the lady was willing to pay him the 75¢. He continued with this wealthy arrangement for some time. He was quite proud of his business arrangement and other kids began to envy him. But as he continued in his endeavors, the statement made every time by the lady about few could do a $5 job and no one could do a $10 job began to haunt him. What does she mean by that? What is a $5 job or a $10 job? Why does she keep saying that? He found himself obsessed with the statement. Is it possible that he could do the $5 job? What could he do to do a $5 job. As he thought, he slowly, bit by bit, began to get ideas of other things he could do to make his work even more excellent. He, in his bare feet, could feel worm mounds in the lawn that were unsightly and uncomfortable to his feed. She could not feel them wearing her shoes. He remembered that here hedges, well, they weren't perfect, and he could trim them to utter perfection. He began looking for work and things that could be improved around her yard. The flower beds could be weeded and raked, the lawn could be mowed in a more excellent way, and the lawn trimming, in the past, was sloppily done at best. He decided that he was going to do the $5 job. But it would take more time so he told the lady that he would be by Saturday instead of Tuesday so that he could devote the entire day to it. As he made his plans the $5 job began to eat at him and eat at him. In his quest for excellence there was something wrong, very wrong. It was just not enough! There was only one thing that was good enough for him--the $10 job! Nothing else would satisfy him now. He had to be the best and do the best. Excellence had become an obsession with him. It was all or nothing. Any effort except that to be the best was a waste of time. He could not tolerate substandard work or thought any longer. He began to make elaborate plans for Saturday. The next Saturday he got up early, earlier than he did for school or anything else. He was driven. He gathered his tools and went to the lady's house and was underway by the time the sun rose. He began by mowing the lawn this way 3 times and then mowing the lawn that way three times. He put together this old drum and filled it with rocks to give it weight and began the laborious task of rolling out the worm mounds in the lawn. He found that as he got tired, he could lie down and take a short 2-3 minute nap. These periodic naps allowed him to continue working indefinitely throughout the day. After the worm mounds were completely gone, he remowed the lawn in a multiple fashion as before. He then embarked on lawn trimming, first with the crude clippers and then with his mother's scissors. He continued until not a blade of grass was out of place. He launched into the hedges carefully clipping a little at a time until not a single leaf was out of place. He would stand back and look at the hedges until not a single line irritated his perfection lust. He dug out every single weed in the flower beds and yard not satisfied until the roots and all were entirely gone. He raked the surfaces smooth not stopping until every particle of soil was in military formation. He had to carefully walk around the yard three times with a piercing scrutinizing eye, correcting every single possible flaw. Finally, everything seemed in perfect shape. Not a single item was out of place. So he strode up to the door, rang the bell and the lady came to the door. She asked, "How much do you think your work is worth." This was the same question she always asked. Boldly he said with piercing confidence, "I want $10!" The lady appeared greatly surprised and immediately walked out into the yard a began an intense inspection. All this time the young man was grinning confidently not willing to accept a dime less than the $10. When the lady returned the young man was prepared to argue for his $10. He knew what his work was worth, yet he had given no thought to the value of the $10. He had thought only of the job. The job was more important than the reward. Then the lady said something a bit strange. "It must have been a wonderful feeling when you knew that you could do a $10 job!" Excellence is the only endeavor worth your time! Don't waste your time with just enough to get by.

3-THE BOAT

There was once a small 2-story ferry boat that was traveling down a river in the middle of a big city in full view of cars and people on the shores and crossing a nearby bridge. In the midst of this activity a small girl fell off the upper story of the boat into the river. People on the shore and bridge began to sound the alarm. “Someone help the poor little girl!” was the cry heard from the crowds beginning to gather. A man on the boat immediately went over the side and began to swim toward the little girl struggling in the cold water. As the man grabbed the girl and began to swim to shore, cheers came from the crowd as sirens converged on the shore. News reporters gathered as the man came out of the water with the cold scared little girl. The paramedics immediately grabbed the girl and took her off to care for her. The man was surrounded by newspaper, radio and TV reporters clamoring for comments. “You are a hero, Mr.! Do you have anything you would like to say to our audiences throughout the city?” The man paused, cleared his throat and said, “As a matter of fact, I do have something I would like to say. I want to know who it was who pushed me off that boat!” Sometimes we have to be pushed to do something great. Consider yourself pushed! Do something great! It all starts here and now, in school! 4-THE MOUNTAIN LION

There was once a young man who loved to hunt deer in Idaho. One Christmas, he was given a new deer hunting rifle. He loved his rifle but he had to wait until deer hunting season before he could really put it to the test. In the mean time he thought he would take the opportunity to practice with his new rifle. He set out targets at 200 feet. He wanted to be able to hit a deer dead on at 200 feet so that is where he placed his targets. He became so good that he could hit a 2-inch bull's eye at 200 feet. Summer and deer season came and he gathered his gear and set out to try out his new rifle. He took all the necessary safety precautions. As he was hiking towards the top of a nearby mountain he came to a meadow. On the other side of the meadow he saw some bushes move. He raised his rifle but refrained from firing until he was sure of his target. He did not want to shoot another hunter. The CEO and the father had to wait just 20 minutes for the son to return to the office. He had telephoned the dock office and presented the CEO with a list of the furs and their prices. The father was proud of his son’s prompt response. Then the CEO called in the second son. He told him the exact same thing. When the son left the CEO invited the father to lunch. He said, “This will take a while.” They took a long lunch. A couple of hours later the second son came back into the office of the CEO. The CEO asked what he had for him. This is what the second son said: “Before going down to the dock I contacted our marketing department and reviewed the sales projections for the next 6 months. I found that Mink and Sabels were selling better than other furs. With a projected upturn in the economy I figured sales would be even better. Applying data from the past 5 years I was able to predict about how many of the furs we could sell. Then I went down to our warehouse and found out home many we had on hand and how many of the other furs we had on hand. I then went down to the dock and found out what furs they had on board. They did not have many Minks or Sabels so I contacted the salesman for the company oversees and asked him what he could supply us in the future. Having studied our projected costs and profit margins we spent some time talking about price and availability. After much discussion, he agreed to a substantial second shipment consigned to us specifically at a price competitive with other suppliers. I quickly asked to put the Minks and Sabels on the ship at the dock on reserve for us and told the shipping clerk that we probably would not be interested in the other furs. I have drawn up an order for those furs on the ship and the agreement with the supplier along with costs and projected profits and all you have to do is sign these two documents to make it all happen.” The father saw why his two sons were not placed in similar positions. The first son did not even do what he was told to do. He did not go down to the docks but just phoned. Which type of person do you want to be? The one that makes things happen or the one that always tries to cut corners? 41-Football and Talent

When I was in high school I played football for Granger High School. What I lacked in talent I made up for in courage and determination. By my senior year I was starting as the strong side linebacker for the defense. One of the schools we played was Granite High School. They had playing for them their star running back, Golden Richards. He could get the ball on the far side of the backfield and run across the field and around my end before I could take three steps and cut him off. He was fast. He made me look like a fool. In track he would not even take off his bottom sweats to run the 100-yard dash, he was so cocky. I remember once as the race began, our sprinter, a small Mexican kid named Bill Mammales, began to catch him. I remember seeing Golden Richards turn and see Mammales catching him and he began running for all he was worth. He still won but it was hilarious to see Golden Richards looking down and suddenly regretting not taking off his bottom sweats. In high school he set meet records in the 180-yard low hurdles (18.9) and 100-yard dash (9.7). He went on to play for but left after his freshman year. I n 1971 he broke the NCAA record for punt-return yardage in a single game. Some say he was kicked out for stealing from lockers. He played one year for the University of Hawaii and then was a second round pick as wide receiver for the in 1873. Richards was a starter for the Cowboys in X against the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the Cowboys' Super Bowl XII win over the , he caught a touchdown pass from running back . I remember during a Monday Night Football halftime they showed three video clips of what was described as the 3 greatest plays in NFL history. The viewers were asked to call in and vote as which they thought was the best. The clip that won was this spectacular catch by Golden Richards in Super Bowl XII. Golden's best season in Dallas was his 2nd (1974) when he grabbed 26 passes for 467 yards and 5 touchdowns. Golden was traded to the after just 1 game into the 1978 seasons. He had a career high 27 catches with the Bears in 1978. Golden retired after just 5 games with the Bears in 1979. Golden played 8 seasons in the NFL and caught 122 passes for 2,136 yards and 17 touchdowns. Golden Richards had the talent to be one of the greatest wide receivers of all time. However, he lacked character and desire. "Golden Richards," Bob Avellini, the former Chicago quarterback, once said, "is the worst wide receiver I have ever seen." Indeed, Richards couldn't run, and his routes were sloppy, and his hands were merely OK. The former Cowboys wide receiver Golden Richards was arrested in for trying to buy pills with checks he stole from his dad. He has no money, no job, and has been in and out of rehab several times. Apparently he became addicted to pain killers.

Bill Baird was a scrawny young man going to Lindsay High School just north of Porterville. He is dep on the front row below as number 2. He was so small that the football coach would not let him play because he did not meet the weight requirement. He put rocks in his pockets in order to

weigh enough to play. He had both character and desire. He went on to play for San Francisco State University. A member of the 1959 undefeated Gators; Baird was inducted into the SF State Athletics Hall of Fame as shown to the right. "I have great memories of my time here," Baird said. "I am grateful for my diploma that says San Francisco State University." Bill was a seven- year defensive starter for the New York Jets and contributed to the legendary upset over the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 Super Bowl, billed by some as the greatest Super Bowl ever. When he retired after 7 seasons, Baird held several team career records including most interceptions and longest punt return at 93 yards. In 2003, when Jets fans chose their dream team of Jets greats, Baird was selected for the Four Decade Team. Baird shares or holds six New York club records: His club mark for a punt return of 93 yards is the second longest in League history, he is tied for first in career interceptions and holds the mark for most interception yards returned, and he has the high mark for punts returned in both a season and a career and for most yards returning punts in a career. "It's amazing," he said. "We go back to New York and sign footballs, cards and helmets, especially as the Super Bowl approaches. I get letters asking for signed autographs, even 40 years later." Baird taught or coached in high schools and colleges including Fresno State and University of the Pacific. He currently resides in Fresno. Not bad for a guy too scrawny to be on the Lindsay High Football team without rocks in his pockets. What he lacked in natural talent he made up for in character and desire.

In education, as with all things, natural talent is less important. It is courage, determination and desire that determine if you will succeed or not. Following the learning skills is more important than how smart you are or how many problems or challenges you may face in the course of this class. Don’t let your challenges stop you. Be like Bill Baird and become a record setter anyway.

42-Musashi Miyamoto

Miyamoto Musashi (宮宮 宮宮?) (c. 1584-1645) was a Japanese swordsman and samurai famed for his duels and distinctive style. He became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age and is considered the greatest samurai in history. He was the founder of the Niten-ryū style of swordsmanship and the author of The Book of Five Rings (宮宮宮 Go Rin No Sho?), a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today. He was the first to use two swords. He believed that when you put two hands on one sword you were weak. He believed in becoming master of all weapons and using all of your resources. He once went up against a samurai that claimed to have the longest sword ever. Musashi carved a wooden sword out of a boat oar and confronted his opponent. His opponent was insulted. However, Musashi killed him with the wooden sword, which was carved 3 inches longer. He was part of the last great samurai battle against the castle of Osaka. After the victory samurais were no longer needed and became more like artisans. Musashi began to turn inward and write his philosophy in his book, The Book of the Five Rings. It was a resurgence of this book just before World War II that shaped the training and behavior of the Japanese Military. After the war his book became the foundation of the corporate structure of the Japanese Economy. When studying chemistry or science, you would be wise to follow Musashi’s advice and use all of your resources and not put your hands on just one sword. You need to find ways to win the battle of mastering this class. However, you do not need to invent a whole new strategy but use those that have been developed by others who have gone before. That is where the learning skills come in. Master them and you can be a great master nurse, teacher or scientist.