PeaceWalker Blog

 Israel 2012 A man walking in the desert approached an old Bedouin gentleman and asks, “How long will it take me to walk to the nearest oasis?” The Bedouin did not respond. “I said, how long will it take me to walk to the nearest oasis?” the man asked, a bit more loudly this  time and enunciating his words very carefully in attempt to communicate more effectively. The Bedouin still did not respond. The man shook his head in frustration, turned, and began to walk away. The Bedouin called out, “It will take you three hours!” The man spun around to face the Bedouin. “Couldn’t you have told me that when I first asked?” “No,” replied the Bedouin. “I couldn’t answer until I knew how fast you walk.” ~Author Unknown

  There was a man who had a little boy that he loved very much. Every day after work the man would come home and play with the little boy. He would always spend all of his extra time playing with the little boy. One night, while the man was at work, he realized that he had extra work to do for the evening, and that he wouldn't be able to play with his little boy. But, he wanted to be able to give the boy something to keep him busy. So, looking around his office, he saw a magazine with a large map of the world on the cover. He got an idea. He removed the map, and then patiently tore it up into small pieces. Then he put all the pieces in his coat pocket. When he got home, the little boy came running to him and was ready to play. The man explained that he had extra work to do and couldn't play just now, but he led the little boy into the dining room, and taking out all the pieces of the map, he spread them on the table. He explained that it was a map of the world, and that by ...

  It is said that one day the Buddha was walking through a village. A very angry and rude young man came up and began insulting him, saying all kind of rude words. The Buddha was not upset by these insults. Instead he asked the young man, “Tell me, if you buy a gift for someone, and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?” The young man was surprised to be asked such a strange question and answered, “It would belong to me, because I bought the gift.” The Buddha smiled and said, “That is correct. And it is exactly the same with your anger. If you become angry with me and I do not get insulted, then the anger falls back on you. You are then the only one who becomes unhappy, not me. All you have done is hurt yourself.” ~ Unknown

  I was at my favorite coffee shop sipping on a latte' and working on a presentation, when I saw this older gentleman wearing an Vietnam Vet Army baseball hat buy a couple cups of coffee to go. As he was putting the top on one of the cups, he spilled a bit of coffee on the floor. I noticed him walk painfully slowly, limping to get a napkin to clean up his spill. His struggling continued as he began to awkwardly bend down to wipe up the mess. Seeing this I put down my computer, stood up quickly and said, "Sir, I'll take care of that," reaching out toward him to grab the napkin from his hand. In my head I believed he would be thankful for my help, but you know what they say about assuming?! He jerked back abruptly saying "Don't touch me... I don't like to be touched." I replied, with my hand coming up non-violently, "Ok, ok, sir, I'm just trying to give you a hand." "I don't need your help, I can take care of myself,...

Lessons from Janitor William 'Bill' Crawford By Col. James Moschgat, 12thOperations Group Commander                                                              William 'Bill' Crawford certainly was an unimpressive figure, one you could easily overlook during a hectic day at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Mr. Crawford, as most of us referred to him back in the late 1970s, was our squadron janitor. While we cadets busied ourselves preparing for academic exams, athletic events, Saturday morning parades and room inspections, or never-ending leadership classes, Bill quietly moved about the squadron mopping and buffing floors, emptying trash cans, cleaning toilets, or just tidying up the m...

  You're having a pleasant conversation when suddenly someone verbally attacks you (or someone else). They say something that causes you to become defensive or makes you wonder; WOW, why did THAT come out of their mouth?! Here's an example: "Craig that's a stupid rule! What idiot came up with THAT?" A knee-jerk reaction could cause you to get defensive, start back-peddling, arguing or trying to prove your point. Maybe you take another direction by trying to discount others in attempt to come out on top of the "debate." ...OR you can simply say:   "That's interesting, why would you say something like that?"   ...and then listen to what the person says.  After the person says what they need to you can then reflect it back to them. That may sound something like this: "So what I'm hearing you say is this (repeat back to them what you thought they are sa id ). Is that right?" This puts the spotlight ba...

  It's a simple concept. Treat someone like crap and there is a good chance that they won't appreciate it and in turn, not think or act so kindly toward you when given the chance. I find it interesting how after some people gain some level of notoriety, popularity or influence no matter how significant, it's easy to develop a superiority complex. They may begin to think of themselves as elite. Not long after that, they start to treat others who aren't in their click or status differently, disrespectfully. Treating other people poorly for whatever reason is a recipe for more conflict with them as well as within ourselves. We've all seen it back in our school days: The cool kids treating the other kids who weren't as popular crappy. You may see the cool kids laughing behind the backs of kids who weren't in the popular group or people being made fun of openly.We do this as adults too. It could be at work, in our family, extracurricular activities and/or in...