EXCERPT FROM “CHICKEN SOUP for the UNSINKABLE SOUL”
1999 Jack Canfield; Mark Victor Hansen and Heather McNamara
I was reading this book that Marilyn had bought at a ‘Flea Market” for $1.00 as she was desperate for me to come out of my depression. This article caught my eye and I will share with you:
……………….” You Can Beat The Odds and Be a Winner, Too
Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge and you have a George Washington.
Raise him in abject poverty and you have Abraham Lincoln
Subject him to bitter religious prejudice, and you have a Disraeli.
Spit on him and crucify him and you have Jesus Christ.
Label him “too stupid to learn”, and you have a Thomas Edison.
Tell her she’s too old to start painting at eighty, and you have a Grandma Moses.
Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial discrimination, and you have a Brooker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman, Marian Anderson, George Washington Carver or Martin Luther King Jr.
Make him the first child to survive in a poor Italian family of eighteen children, and you have Enrico Caruso.
Afflict him with periods of depression so severe that he cut off his own ear, and you have a Vincent van Gogh.
Tell her in the later 1800s and early 1900s that only men can be scientists, and you have a Madame Curie, who eventually won two Nobel Prizes — one for physics and the other for Chemistry.
Tell a young boy who loved to sketch and draw that he has no talent, and you have a Walt Disney.
Tale a crippled child whose only home he ever knew was an orphanage, and you have a James E. West, who became the first chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America.
Make him a second fiddle in an obscure South American orchestra, and you have a Toscanini.
Abigail Van Buren…………………………..”
This is meant for those of us who keep thinking that we are failures and cannot get ahead.
Transcribed December 23, 2013
Elmer Verigin
Elmer Verigin 
Hi Elmer
We are having some issues on the board regarding the Banya and I emailed Larry E regarding it and he emailed back a link to your blog and the UBOBU article. That was my first exposure to your Blog and since then I have read a few pieces and plan on reading the rest as time permits. I like your style of writing and am quite impressed with what I have seen so far. Keep up the good work.
As regards Chicken Soup, I have been an avid fan for quite some time now and have a pretty good collection of them, the older ones. Most of the new ones are not of the calibre that the older books were. There are a number of stories that have touched me but the one below is one of my favorites. This is a short version taken from the net
Cheers and best wishes to you and Marylin for a fantastic year
Peter
The Bike Ride At first I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the things I did wrong, so as to know whether I merited Heaven or Hell when I die. He was out there sort of like the President. I recognized His picture when I saw it, but I didn’t really know Him.
But later on when I recognized my Higher Power, it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride; but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that God was in the back helping me pedal. I don’t know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since . . . life with my Higher Power, that is. God makes life exciting.
When I had control, I knew the way. It was rather boring, but predictable. It was the shortest distance between two points. But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, up mountains, and through rocky places and at breakneck speeds. It was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, He said, “Pedal!”
I worried and was anxious and asked, “Where are You taking me?” He laughed and didn’t answer, and I started to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure; and when I’d say, “I’m scared, ” He’d lean back and touch my hand. He took me to people with gifts that I needed, gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy. They gave me their gifts to take on my journey; our journey, God’s and mine.
And we were off again. He said, “Give the gifts away. They’re extra baggage, too much weight.” So I did, to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received, and still our burden was light.
I did not trust Him at first, in control of my life. I thought he’d wreck it. But He knew bike secrets, knew how to make it bend to take sharp corners, jump to clear high places filled with rocks, fly to shorten scary passages.
And I’m learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I’m beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, my Higher Power.
And when I’m sure I can’t do any more, He just smiles and says, “PEDAL!”
Peter:
I am really excited as to your comments and sharing of the quotation.
As you can tell God was already on my bike when I was associated with the Village in its development, right from researching and drawing the original Village Plans.
In all my projects this lead-pedaller keeps pushing me to higher achievments no matter how much I want to slow down. Every time I do lag a bit, I also hear that voice.
Scientists have just recently proven the “God Particle” in the atom. Something that all Scientists needed to do. Now it is clear: every atom is controlled by a “God Particle”. It can be compared in large scale like the Solar System with the Planets (say atoms) forming the complete Solar System (the molecule). Although that is simplistic but quite descriptive of what is happening on a micro scale all around us.
I too am suffering with a serious disease at Grandview that has a solution but it will take time. I know that you will have the collective strength to overcome the obstacles at the Village. You at least have funding from the City now which is something they refused when I was President.
The best to you and yours in 2014 and onward.
Elmer
I really like your style so much. And Merry Christmas to you!
Tiesha:
Merry Xmas to you also. I do not recognize your origin and if you choose, please advise.
In the interim, enjoy and welcome to my blog.
Elmer