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 <<>>   VOLUME 3    <<>>   Issue 30  <<>>   August 2nd, 2005    <<>>

A Heartfelt Welcome
ARISE and be FREE
Your ARISE Article
Can I Get ARISE Outa You?
Poignant Ponderings
Giving  Back
Will You ARISE & Help Me?



Dear Valued Subscriber,
 

In the event you are a new subscriber or you missed the special email I sent last week please click here. I guarantee it will be worth your while:-)

The end of a holiday weekend here (Canadian) and I thoroughly enjoyed catching up on life with my youngest daughter Teri and her fianceŽKyle who came down from Belleville, Ontario, for her first visit since moving away almost six months ago. Several get-togethers with the family on an absolutely gorgeous summer weekend. The month-long heat spell, which you may have experienced as well, finally dissipated a few days prior and we spent most of our time out in the sunshiny weather. This week though, looks like we're back to baking!

I've stayed true to my plans to take some time off this summer. Been out of town three times since the last issue just enjoying friends and family. Of course, my laptop is in tow so I can handle anything critical that comes up. It's really amazing how a little time off pays big dividends when you return to work - clearer mind, plenty of energy and renewed vigor. A few more trips are in the works which I'm really looking forward to!

Assuming you enjoy this publication can I ask you to do me a small, but at the same time, huge favor? Would you choose 3 people from your Address Book right now and send them this or the main page link to ARISE! - http://www.arise.themirrorezine.com - and suggest they subscribe. Thank you, I'd really appreciate that!

Linda Aspen Baxter and I have been equally busy this past year and we decided to extend the submission deadline for "The Ultimate Teenager's Survival Guide" until September 30th, 2005. Inquiries and submissions (some great stories received and being developed with the authors) are growing but we still need more, so please, if you know of a school or a teacher or a community group/leader  that is centered around teenagers, I strongly encourage you to visit our site, and contact those persons to help spread the word. Please send those people here. Thank you!

As this article has been featured more than any other of mine on the Internet and has appeared in many books both online and in print, I try to feature it on an annual basis, and since we have so many new subscribers this past year I've chosen to rerun The Ice Cream 'Comb' Story.  I sincerely hope you enjoy this true story.

Now, please kick back (and if you can't right now, just click on the Print This Page icon at the top, scoop the pages from your printer and take it to bed with you:-) and enjoy this issue of ARISE!

As always, my greatest wishes for your complete success,

Rick Beneteau

ARISE and be FREE

I'd love for you to take advantage of the following free gifts I've provided just to show my deep appreciation for your choosing to receive my publication:

Pearls of Success - My Free Inspirational eBook

Special Inspirational PDF Files

 Inspirational Screensavers

My 9/11 Tribute Song

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YOUR ARISE ARTICLE

The Ice Cream 'Comb' Story

She was three. Just released from a far-away hospital after life threatening brain surgery, ready to take on the world again. I was happy just to have her back. My little "Mr. Clean" (shaven head and hoop earrings) and me driving along to our local mall. Hanging out with dad day. I recall her words as if it were yesterday.

"Daddy, can I get a treat?"

As she was understandably spoiled (if there is such a thing), I replied "ok honey, but just ONE". Her eyes beamed like the Fourth of July in anticipation of that something only she knew at the time.

We drove around to the new end of the mall on the normal seek-and-destroy mission of capturing a parking place. After all, it was Saturday. We landed a fair distance from our destination, and began walking hand-in-hand towards the entrance, her pace gaining
momentum with each tiny step. A few feet from the doors she broke loose and ran hands-first into the thick wall of glass, trying with everything she had to swing the big doors open. No luck. With a little assistance, she 'did it' and tried the very same thing at the second set of doors.

It was then that I asked her what she wanted for her treat. Without hesitation, she matter-of-factly said "an ice-cream comb from the ice-cream store". Ok, the goal was set and we were in the mall!

But hold on! What was this? At the end of what was just an ordinary looking lane of retail chain outlets she spied something new- this huge fountain, water shooting who knows how high into the air. The new goal line!

She ran, and I walked (don't ya just hate it when parents let their kids run wild in public?), and we arrived at the spectacle at about the same time. The turbulent noise was almost deafening. "Daddy, can I make a wish, can I make a wish?" she screamed as she jumped with the kind of pure joy we've all long since forgotten.

"Sure honey, but that will be YOUR TREAT you know" I explained (gotta be firm with these kind of things).

She agreed.

I fumbled around in my pocket and pulled out what I think was a dime (big spender) and placed it in her outstretched hand. She cupped it tightly, closed her eyes and grimaced, formulating her wish. I stared at that little scrunched-up face and said my own kind of prayer of thanks, feeling so blessed to still have this ball of energy in my life. And then like a shooting star, the coin was flung into the foaming water and with it, her wish.

We happily continued our stroll into the familiar section of the mall. An eerie silence ensued, which I was admittedly uncomfortable with. I couldn't resist breaking it.

"Aren't you gonna tell daddy what you wished for?"

She retorted "I wished I could get an ice-cream comb".

I just about lost it right then and there. Couldn't imagine what the shoppers thought of this lunatic laughing uncontrollably in the middle of a crowded mall. And needless to say, she got her wish, and two treats.

Little did I know then that my beautiful little girl would soon embark on a long road of seizures, surgeries, special schools, medications and end up partially paralyzed on her right side. She never learned to ride a bike.

Today, she is almost seventeen. She cannot use her right hand and walks with a noticeable limp. But she has overcome what life seemed to so cruelly inflict on her. She was teased a lot and always struggled in school, both socially and academically. But each year she showed improvement. She is planning a career in early childhood education. With one year still remaining in high school, her and I, one night not too long ago mapped out all the
courses she would need to take in community college. It was her idea. She volunteers weekly at a local hospital, on the children's floor. She baby-sits a neighbors children five days a week. On her own this year, she stood outside in line for four hours on a cold Canadian January afternoon and enrolled herself, with her own babysitting money, into two courses she felt she would need for college.

You see, to her failure was never an option.

It would almost be redundant for me to explain why I wanted to share this story with you. She IS my daughter and I carry all those fatherly biases with me wherever I go. But these aside, she is a very exceptional person and one that I admire and have learned a lot from.

It is my sincerest hope that her story will have even a momentary positive impact on you as a human being, a parent, a spouse or even, an entrepreneur.

I'd like to leave you with a closing thought. As human beings, we deserve all the treats, and the multitude of good things that life can offer us. We all have wishes and dreams, AND the power to make them reality. Just simple truths of the universe.

We can wish for, and get, that ice-cream comb.


© Rick Beneteau
All Rights Reserved

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Can I Get ARISE Outa You?

Horses on the Job
with thanks to jl scott


A man was driving through west Texas one spring evening. The road was deserted and he had not seen a soul for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly his car started to cough and splutter and the engine slowly died, leaving him sitting on the side of the road in total isolation. He popped the hood and looked to see if there was anything that he could do to get it going again. Unfortunately, he had a limited knowledge of cars, so all he could do was look at the engine and feel despondent.

As he stood looking at the gradually fading light of his flashlight, he cursed that he had not put in new batteries.

Suddenly, through the inky shadows, came a deep voice, "It's your fuel pump."

The man raised up quickly, striking his head on the underside of the hood.

"Who said that," he called out.

There were two horses, a white one and a black one, standing in the fenced field alongside the road. The man was amazed when the white horse repeated, "It's your fuel pump. Tap it with your flashlight and try it again."

Confused, the man tapped the fuel pump with his flashlight, turned the key and sure enough, the engine roared to life. He muttered a short thanks to the horse and screeched away.

When he reached the next town, he ran into the local bar. "Gimme a large whiskey, please," he said.

A rancher sitting at the bar looked at the man's ashen face and asked, "What's wrong, man? You look like you've seen a ghost."


"It's unbelievable," the man said and recalled the whole tale to the rancher.

The rancher took a sip of his beer and looked thoughtful. "A horse, you say? Was it by any chance a white horse?"

The man replied to the affirmative. "Yes, it was! Am I crazy?"

"No, you ain't crazy. In fact, you're lucky," said the rancher, "because that black horse don't know squat about cars."

Poignant Ponderings

SAME HERE!
by Steve Goodier


One man was annoyed at his sentimental wife's constant sniffling as she watched a touching movie on the television. "For goodness' sake," he scolded, "why is it you cry about the imaginary woes of people you've never met?"

"For the same reason you yell and scream when a man you don't know scores a goal," she said.

That reason, of course, is that they identify with the person or the event. The word "identify" originally comes from the Latin root "idem," which means "same." When we identify with someone, we feel the same sadness or ecstasy the other feels and we understand another's plight.

There is no substitute for an ability to identify with others. One woman wrote me a letter about how she acquired this valuable trait. She said this:

"I was a registered nurse for quite a few years. I always thought of myself as an empathetic person, somebody who was able to reach out and understand what someone else was going through. Then I became a patient when I was diagnosed with M.S. and realized I never really knew the true meaning of the word "empathy." Unfortunately, it sometimes has to be learned and not taught.

"I found out just how much even a smile means to someone who is sick and so scared about what is happening in their life. [Because of M.S.], I found out how much it means to have someone take a few minutes and be friendly and just talk.... I hate the disease, but it has taught me so much!"

This woman had worked compassionately and professionally for years, but now there is a whole new dimension in her dealing with patients. She identifies with them. She knows how they must feel and responds differently. And she has become a better nurse (and person) because of it.

You may never treat hospital patients, but is there anyone in your life who would not benefit from your ability to identify with their pleasures and pains, their wild dreams and dashed hopes?

The ability to identify with others is a trait that, with practice, can be learned. Employers and employees are valued more highly when they possess it. Family and friends create more intimate relationships when those bonds are built around an ability to truly identify with one another.

Lord Chesterfield said, "You must look into people, as well as at them." It is a rare friend who has cultivated the ability to clearly see inside others and, thereby, identify with them. But it is a necessary part of an effective and happy life.
 

Steve Goodier is a professional speaker, consultant and author.
Purchase his books or sign up for his free e-newsletter here:
http://LifeSupportSystem.com  Or call 1-877-344-0989

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GIVING BACK

You might already support these or similar organizations, but it's the sad truth that we can never really do enough to help people, especially children. Here is what I support and encourage you to review:

The Internet Toy Drive  
Founded by Anne Marie Baugh and myself, and sponsored by Drew Bledsoe (#11, 2001 Super Bowl Champion quarterback), we are official corporate sponsors of the U.S. Marine's Toys for Tots program.

My WorldVision Children
This is the special group of children from around the world that I sponsor. WorldVision is a Christian organization that has been around for decades and almost every penny donated goes directly to these needy children and their families. Nothing beats receiving a handwritten letter, or even an email now, from "your child":-) You can even buy chickens or cows that get right to these families in dire need!

St. Jude Children's Hospital
My father was a lifelong musician and played piano in bands with Danny Thomas (founder of St. Jude and father of Marlo Thomas) among others during the depression, thirties and early World War II years. Understandably, this world famous research hospital is close to my heart:-)

Parenting with Dignity P
If you are a parent, expecting to be one in the future, or even believe you've done your parenting job, do yourself a great favor and check out this fabulous resource! Drew Bledsoe, his father and family members, my great friend Tom Heatherington and many more have established an absolutely wonderful foundation devoted to the betterment of children and families (Mac Bledsoe was interviewed on ABC's 20/20 this year).

Will You ARISE & Help Me?

I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few seconds to tell just a few of your friends about ARISE. Simply Forward this URL to everyone in your Address Book.  All they need to do is enter their email address below (it will NEVER be shared or given away).

Thank You!!

   

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