I love this quote (that of course I’ve changed a bit), “Because you’re good at math should you work in a bank, be an accountant, or an economist?  Not necessarily. Instead, decide what it is you most want to do. If you like standing up all day, begin by looking at the options that are available; you could be a train conductor, an orchestra conductor or a waiter. If you are good with your hands, you could be a pianist, a pickpocket or a cake decorator. If you prefer to lie down on the job, you be an auto mechanic, an astronaut, a hypochondriac — or a thinker, food writer or consultant.”

Columbia University’s Nation Center for Children in Poverty reports:  Nearly 15 million children in the United States – 21% of all children – live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level – $22,050 a year for a family of four. Research shows that, on average, families need an income of about twice that level to cover basic expenses. Using this standard, 42% of children live in low-income families. http://www.nccp.org/topics/childpoverty.html

Bill Shore, in his compelling book, Revolution of the Heart wrote:  No one wears ribbons on behalf of the children who live in poverty. The child trapped in a well for a week could count on Dan Rather telling the world about her condition each evening. Rescue workers and experts would be flown in from around the country. Neighbors could be relied up to nurture and sustain the family. Journalists would do special reports on how children get trapped in wells and what can be done to prevent these accidents. Banks, hospitals, local businesses, and other community institutions would respond with funds and equipment. The necessary financial support would be found even though it was not budgeted for in advance.

‘If that child could be saved, she would be saved — because our country has both the resources and the will to save her. But a child trapped in poverty — not for a week, but for a lifetime —enjoys no such outcome. Even if she were the same child that had been stuck in the well. Thirty feed underground, that child is the most visible child in the United States. In plain view on a front stoop in Harlem, that child is invisible. Our nation has the resources necessary to save her. But it does not have the will.

Share Our Strength^® is a national nonprofit that is ending childhood hunger in America founded by Bill Shore.

Who Cares?

It is almost impossible to attempt to change a firmly held opinion or belief, and essentially a waste of time and energy to try. Strident advocacy can be compared with an untended garden hose that produces a torrent without much sense of direction.

It is good to talk to yourself by speaking to those who agree with you.  Such dialog produces a satisfying sense of righteousness.

The most rewarding constituency is one who doesn’t care one way or another about …whatever. So you won’t persuade a vegan to eat a lamb chop or talk a meat lover into salivating over the prospect of a tofu sandwich, but you may be able to issue forth a clarion call for action if your argument is presented calmly, rationally, unemotionally and backed up with statistics and quotes from reliable sources. The sequence of the theseis involves stating the problem, descibing what will happen if nothing is done, persuasively suggesting a solution and listing specific actions to take…now.

Giving a speech for many can feel like being a deer in the headlights

Giving a speech is a hard thing to do. It requires careful planning, rehearsing, exact timing and a thorough knowledge of the audience. All these elements have equal importance, even if the speaker is simply offering a toast (particularly if a few drinks have preceded the moment).

For several years I wrote the speeches for Joe Baum, the legendary former CEO of The Rainbow Room and Windows on the World.  The procedure was always the same. He hated giving speeches and invariably canceled at least five of our first scheduled meetings.

The next step required his secretary to retrieve copies of every speech he had ever given since the beginning of time.

Then I showed up and he began by insisting certain paragraphs from his previous talks be included included in the forthcoming speech (regardless of the occasion or the assigned topic).

After dozens of drafts, false starts, whining on my part, whining on his part, my refusal to speak to him, he glowering at me…we traveled together to the meeting.

Introduction over, he’d look over at me — and wink.

Then he’d shove all my neatly typed triple-spaced pages in his pocket and say whatever came into his head.

It was always a huge success.

It took me years to understand my part in this equation was simply to help him summon the courage to accept the notion that he was loved.

The lesson I so painfully learned is that all writers are not great speakers, and speakers succeed only when they accept the original premise that a speech requires “careful planning, rehearsing, exact timing and a thorough knowledge of the audience.” These rigid rules only apply to some people though…

I love this quote from Walt Disney. He said, “I’d rather entertain and hope that people learn, than teach and hope that people are entertained.”