SNAPSHOTS (the beginning)

ok, so at work we get regular e-mail newsletter kind of things called Sovereign Snapshots which all start off with a quote. Usually inspirational or motivational. Well, one morning, I read the quote, and as is my nature, made a snarky, sarcastic comment about it. Thus was born my Snapshots thought for the day. I take the quote and add my own addition or commentary to it.
here are a few of my Snapshots Thoughts of the Day:

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
(Babe Ruth, legendary baseball player)

unless you have a baseball bat. then it's easy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
(Mark Twain, author)

Of course, when a small person tries to belittle your ambitions, they are really just trying to bring them down to a level where they might be able to actually reach them. Cause being small, it's hard to reach ambitions that for the rest of us are easily within reach. Unless they have a step stool or something, but how practical is that? We really expect them to carry a stool around everywhere just to reach "averaged" height ambitions? How fair is THAT??

And maybe it's just me, but the really great people make me feel totally inadequate. The sort of great people make me feel like maybe I could be great, and the terrible people make me feel like I'm already great. But the really great, well, they make me feel like I need to carry a step-stool around.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
(Nelson Mandela, first President of South Africa)

ok, not much I can say about this one. It's actually a pretty good quote. Then again, I don't think conquering the fear is what makes one brave. I think the bravery is in ATTEMPTING to conquer the fear, despite being afraid. Because one can fail to conquer the fear and yet still be brave. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid (that is the stupid man, or the man who has had too much to drink and/or smoke), and not the man who conquers the fear (that is the strong man, the wise man, the powerful man, the lucky(?) man). No, the brave man is he who feels great fear yet decides on his own accord to tackle it and try to triumph over it. Thus courage is the recognition of one's fear and the audacity to meet it head on in spite of itself.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.”
(William Arthur Ward, author)

Or we can throw stones at the people who complain about stones, so that they have something to complain about. Then when they try to attack us, they'll stumble on the stones we threw at them. And we can build something that they will have to try to climb, at which point we can throw more stones from our new higher vantage point. Then they'll complain again, and we'll just laugh and throw more stones.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
(Dale Carnegie, author)

And Power is making the people want what you have, giving them just enough to make them want more, then taking it all away.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Nothing is an obstacle unless you say it is.”
(Wally Amos, businessman and founder of Famous Amos cookies)

Then again, you can't very well overcome an obstacle unless you recognize it as one. Otherwise, you're not really doing anything special, are you?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
(Martin Luther King, Jr.

Also, a good way to break your neck is taking more than the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I trust that everything happens for a reason, even when we’re not wise enough to see it.”
(Oprah Winfrey)

See, this is a very smart quote, because if you're not wise enough to see the reason, so most likely aren't smart enough to know if whatever reason people tell you is behind it is true or not. Oprah saying this is kind of like a weatherman saying that it will be partly cloudy with a chance of showers. See, you expect clouds and rain, and when there aren't any, you're pleasantly surprised and say that the weatherman doesn't know what he was talking about. But did he say there WOULD be rain? No, just that there was a chance of rain. Is Oprah saying that everything does in fact happen for a reason? No, she's just saying that she believes they do, and that anyone who doesn't feel that way, well, they just aren't as wise as she is. This is also kind of like people saying that everything that happens is "God's will" and "His plan." And when something happens that is not easily explained, well, then "God works in mysterious ways." It's like the ultimate political CYA!

Everything happens for a reason. If you can't see the reason, it's not cause there isn't one, it's just that you're too stupid to see it. Very Oprah, very Oprah indeed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”
(Winston Churchill, former British prime minister)

Unless you're in an old west movie and the bad guy (or good guy, depending on who you are) loads his shotgun with dimes... then there's a whole lot wrong with change, regardless of which direction it is in.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
(H. Jackson Brown, Jr., author)

Actually Mr Brown, I'd have to argue that the best preparation for tomorrow is surviving today. Cause if you aren't alive to see tomorrow, it doesn't much matter whether or not you did your best today. And what ever happened to the idea of tomorrow being a brand new day and starting all over again? If your tomorrow is based your performance today, then it isn't really a NEW day is it? It's just a continuation of today. And if you don't do well today, or have an off day, well, then there's always tomorrow right? Right Mr Brown? Perhaps in some contexts (school, etc), today's performance does impact one's preparedness for tomorrow, but again, don't survive today and no amount of preparation will help you tomorrow.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Think not of yourself as the architect of your career but as the sculptor. Expect to do a lot of hard hammering and chiseling and scraping and polishing.”
(B.C. Forbes, founder of Forbes magazine)

and then expect your hard work to not be appreciated until after you are dead.

And isn't it good to know that B.C Forbes of Forbes magazine is telling you that your career choice is in fact set in stone once you begin?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.”
(Muhammad Ali, boxer)

No, I think it really is the mountains. Or at least the trails up them. Personally, I would not get worn out having a pebble in my shoe if I were sitting at the bar watching someone ELSE trudge up the mountain, I'd actually feel pretty darn good about myself!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“If we all did the things we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
(Thomas Edison, inventor and businessman who was born on this day in 1847)

If we all did all the things we were capable of, and were used to doing all the things we were capable of, why would we be astounded? What is so astounding about doing something we know we can do to begin with? Now, if we all did things we were in no way capable of... THAT would be astounding!