Thoughts for the Day

"Strive not to be a success, but to be of value." -- Albert Einstein

Mistakes are the tools of future triumphs, I've always believed. Lord knows I've made more of the former than of the latter in this life. Yet I keep writing to the sky and believe I'll someday be a star someone can see tomorrow.

Kinda sappy, you say? Yeah, well. That's who and what I am: The Sap King.

Looking down as I walked down our street one day as a lad of about 10, a neighbor once told me, "If you're always looking down, you'll miss something of higher value."

I was probably looking for loose change, or something else a 10-year-old might find fascinating. However, Miss McNaught's words of wisdom stuck with me. Every time someone has told me I would never catch a dream I was chasing, I later showed them my prize. Hopefully, this inspired them to go a'hunting.

A new friend has inspired me to go a'hunting the bright rays of hope in others. So, I wrote down a few dozen inspirational quotes which have helped me. Into a hat they go. On my way to work, I'll fish one out and bring it with me. For the next three weeks as I drive a bus, I'll pick a special moment with my passengers. Then I'll unfold the piece of paper and read the quote aloud to them. With any luck, Tommy's "Thought of the Day" will become a tradition for the rest of my career.

I hope it inspires conversation as we roll together. To look into the mirror only to see heads bowed in prayer to their handhelds, I long to inspire connections be made and dreams turned into successes. Many are so obsessed with reading about others they forget to listen to themselves. If one person decides upon hearing any of these quotes to forge ahead with whatever moves them and finds their success, it will have been well worth any number of impatient sighs.

Stay tuned... I'll let you know what happens.