Words that will lift your spirits.

Written by Tony Mussari, Sr.
Edited by Kitch Loftus-Mussari
Copyright 2017
Mussari-Loftus Associates
The Face of America Project

Nothing can be done without hope and confidence. Helen Keller

A beautiful, encouraging note from a former student got me thinking about my medical situation, and what I could do to meet the many challenges Kitch and I are facing with dignity and class.

This was part of my response to that beautiful note:

Thanks for your note of March 26.

I will treasure your kind words until the end of my journey here.

As a result of the thoughts you shared, I decided start a new project. It will give me something positive to think about and look forward to. I am going to design an encouragement garden in Windsor Park.

Attached is one of the graphics that will be placed in encouragement garden.

This was his response:

“Love it!! Great inspiring idea!! Doc, thanks for sharing!”

As we approach the most hopeful day on the Christian calendar, Kitch and I would like to give you a preview of some of the material that will be in the Encouragement Garden.

Calvin Coolidge

In 1923, Calvin Coolidge was the Vice President of the United States. Upon the death of Warren G. Harding, Coolidge became the 30th President of the United States during The Roaring Twenties.

Coolidge was known as “a quiet and serious man…Coolidge served as a sort of father figure. The quiet, respectable and frugal president provided a comforting symbol of old-fashioned responsibility and virtue.”

William Allen White titled his biography of Coolidge, “A Puritan in Babylon.” http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/calvin-coolidge
His left an indelible mark with this inspirational quote:

Press on-Nothing can take the place of persistence. Perseverance and determination alone are omnipotent.

J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling is celebrated novelist, screenwriter and film producer. She is known around the word as the person who created the Harry Potter books.

In 2011, Cristina Hartmann who worked at the Federal Communications Commission told us that Harry Potter exemplifies a seamless blend of world-building, storytelling, and timeless themes. Among those themes are:

Good versus Evil;

Coming-of-Age;

Meaning of Friendship;

Political Intrigue.

J.K. Rowling has the gift of words and images as demonstrated in the transformational words:

Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery.

John V. Maxwell

John V. Maxwell is a well respected, author, speaker and pastor. Dr. Maxwell is an expert on leadership.

According to an article I read on Amazon.com., Maxwell has sold over 19 million books, and he has trained 5 million leaders around the world.
Maxwell has written three books which have each sold more than one million copies:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership;

Developing the Leader Within You;

The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. (www.amazon.com/John-C.-Maxwell/e/B001H6NROC)

One of his most insightful observations is contained in these 13 words:

A word of encouragement from a teacher to a child can change a life.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

H. Jackson Brown, Jr. is the author of Life’s Little Instruction Book. It was on the New York Times bestseller list for 158 weeks.

He has captivated audiences with short, inspirational sayings:

Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye;

Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking;

Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.

One of his most instructive sayings is this thought about preparation:

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.

George Herman “Babe” Ruth Jr.

When I was a child, the legendary Babe Ruth was one of my heroes.

He was known as “The Great Bambino,” “The Sultan of Swat.”

Whenever my dad talked about baseball, he talked about Babe Ruth’s accomplishments.

According to my father, Babe Ruth set the standard for hitting home runs. In his 22 years in the game, Babe Ruth hit 714 home runs, a record that stood for 39 years. In 1927, he hit 60 home runs, a record that stood for 34 years.

Some in the know, my father was one them, consider Babe Ruth to be greatest baseball player of all time.

According to Babe Ruth, It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.

Anne Frank

As a teenager, Anne Frank saw the face of evil. It forced her and her family to go into hiding. Eventually, she and her relatives were captured, and they were deported to the Nazi concentration camps.

She was fifteen years old when she died of typhus at then Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp.

Anne Frank’s Diary is a statement about hope. That hope is reflected in these entries:
“… ideals, dreams, and cherished hopes rise within us only to meet the horrible truth and be shattered … yet in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.”

“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

“Where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.”

My favorite Anne Frank truism contains just nine words:

Everyone has inside them a piece of good news.

Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall is an animal rights activist and scientist. She is a genuine pioneer.

For more than 50 years she has been studying the behavior of chimpanzees.

According to an article written by David Quammen and published in National Geographic, “…she set a new standard, a very high standard, for behavioral study of apes in the wild, focusing on individual characteristics as well as collective patterns.”

She shares what she has learned in books and public speeches.

Thinking about her life, she offered this pearl of wisdom:

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.

Hope is described in this famous Japanese proverb:

Fall seven times, stand up eight.

We will end the blog with an insight from Charles D. Peebler, Jr.

Mr. Peebler served as a member of the Board of Directors of Cure PSP (Foundation for PSP | CBD and Related Brain Diseases.)

“Hope, I’ve come to believe, is as vital to our lives as the very oxygen we breathe. If I were to believe that I couldn’t exert any level of control over my circumstances, I would have already lost the game!”

This article is dedicated to my friends at the John Heinz Institute of Rehabilitation in Wilkes-Barre, PA. They live the twin messages of hope and encouragement every day. Thank You Joanne, Flo, Nicole, Mark and Theresa.

Thank You Brian Carey for writing the beautiful note that got me thinking about encouragement.

Please provide feedback to:
tony.mussari@gmail.com