A DOCTOR WHO WAS ALWAYS AVAILABLE

A week or so ago I asked a friend about the health of his elderly father who lives in a small town on the northern shores of Lake Erie. He said his father was holding his own, still living in the family home with his wife, but requiring regular visits from community health care workers and a doctor "who still makes house calls".

That reference to "house calls" got me thinking about small town doctors and how much the practice has changed over the years. I was reminded of a story told by Damon Runyon about a Doc Brackett who served the community of his youth.

You didn't have to make an appointment two months in advance to see Doc Brackett. He would get up in the middle of the night and ride 20 miles to doctor a sick woman, or child, or a farmer with an injury. His office was located over a clothing store and was always filled with people. A sign at the foot of the narrow stairs read: "Dr. Brackett, office, upstairs."

The good doctor was a bachelor. Apparently he was once supposed to marry a young maiden, but on the day of the wedding he was called into the country to attend to a gravely ill Mexican child. Many hours later when he got back to the church, his bride-to-be was not to be. For more than 40 years the sick of the town climbed up and down those creaking stairs to Doc Brackett's office. He never turned away anyone and that included the down-and-out of the community. He was rarely paid for his services.

He liked to have the odd drink of whisky and he was a regular at the poker table in the back room of a local saloon when he was not seeing patients in his office or making house calls. He lived into his seventies and one day just keeled over on the sofa in his office and died. Runyon said that Doc Brackett had one of the biggest funerals ever seen in the town. There was even talk about raising money to put a proper tombstone on his grave as a memorial but the matter dragged on and nothing was done about it.

The town's undertaker noticed some time later that a memorial had suddenly appeared over the grave, complete with an epitaph. Further investigation revealed that the Mexican parents of the child Doc Brackett saved years before had been concerned about him not having a tombstone. They had no money themselves, so they took the sign from the front of the stairs at Doc's old office and stuck it in the ground over his grave. It still read: "DR. BRACKETT, OFFICE, UPSTAIRS."

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We had three doctors in my small hometown of Dresden back in the 1930s and 40s. Practices were not closed in those days and I remember seeing Drs. Payne, Ruttle and McAlpine for various reasons when I was growing up. It was always my mother's call as to which doctor I would see. Dr. Ruttle and Dr. McAlpine had offices in their homes while Dr. Payne had a separate downtown office and was the only one of the three to have a nurse/receptionist working with him.

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Dr. Payne treated my father after a stroke but just happened to be on a well-deserved vacation when my dad took a turn for the worst and fell into a coma. My mother called Dr. (Jack) Ruttle and he was in our home within 10 minutes, giving my father an injection of some kind.

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Almost miraculously, my father rallied ever so briefly and if he said it once, he said it a hundred times during the balance of that day, "Good old Doc Ruttle -- he saved my life!" Sadly, he passed away 48 hours later. Out of respect, I recently told old friend Jim Ruttle about the day his dad "saved" my dad's life, for a while.

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Drs. Ruttle, Payne and McAlpine long ago joined Runyon's Doc Brackett in a clinic with "OFFICES UPSTAIRS". God bless them!

Hate waking up in the morning?

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QUOTE OF THE DAY by my grandson Joshua Miguel Rocha on Facebook: "If you didn't wake up wouldn't that make you technically dead? But yeah, I do hate waking up (in the morning), only because I know I have to go to school."

THINGS WORK OUT IN SPITE OF US

My last post (item below) was the result of rationalization on a depressed, discouraged frame of mind after a much anticipated and well-intended undertaking did not work out as planned. I give this current post over to my absolute all-time favorite poet, the late Edgar A. Guest. In this inspirational piece he writes in his ineffable style about Things Working Out.

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Because it rains when we wish it wouldn't,
Because men do what they often shouldn't,
Because crops fail, and plans go wrong --
Some of us grumble all day long.
But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt,
It seems at last that things work out.
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Because we lose where we hoped to gain,
Because we suffer a little pain,
Because we must work when we'd like to play --
Some of us whimper along life's way.
But somehow, as day always follows the night,
Most of our troubles work out all right.
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Because we cannot forever smile,
Because we must trudge in the dust awhile,
Because we think that the way is long --
Some of us whimper that life's all wrong.
But somehow we live and our sky grows bright,
And everything seems to workout all right.
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So bend to your trouble and meet your care,
For the clouds must break, and the sky grow fair.
Let rain come down, as it must and will,
But keep on working and hoping still.
For in spite of the grumblers who stand about,
Somehow, it seems, all things work out.
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Thank you for that, Mr. Guest!

I find a measure of encouragement in my "horrorscope" for today. PISCES: If you can learn how to use your sense of humour to defuse a source of irritation, your quality of life will be enriched. With time, your quandry will be resolved.
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Okay, humour...Wherefore art thou humour!?

THINGS DON'T ALWAYS WORK OUT

Good intentions can fall short
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I just never learn! I have a tendency to put too much of myself into my undertakings and then when things do not work out as anticipated I am left totally demoralized and emotionally shattered. What I fail to accept, at my peril, is the fact that there is no way to predict the future or how others may perceive good intentions. My journalistic background as an editorialist should have seasoned me, but it hasn't...completely.

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Intensity has often worked against me in my life and I would not be writing this item now were it not for the fact I am a living example of how motivation and enthusiasm can often unexpectedly backfire on a person. Sad but true!

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One should never lose sight of the reality that what is meaningful and important to us personally may well be of little significance to someone else. There is also another disturbing fact of life: people tend to hear only what they want to hear and see only what they want to see. It is indeed an extremely insightful communicator who is able to take all of that into consideration.
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I recently had one of those demoralizing, shattering experiences where my enthusiasm and creativity went the way of a wet balloon. Circumstances generally, were not conducive to a seamless acceptance of what I was presenting and the time that it took me to present it. As is so often the case with me, in a frenzy of passion, I over-worked the situation, failing to remember that sometimes less is more. Or at least some people would have it that way when otherwise inner directed. I exceeded expectations on one hand and in so doing innocently caused consternation on the other.

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Attempts at defensive justification after the fact only made matters worse. I should not have bothered. Minds were set and a simple misunderstanding took on a life of its own. Nobility is frequently in the eye of the beholder.

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I will not divulge further details except to say that there was a hard-learned lesson for me in all of this. There is no way for us to predict all the twists and turns in life, so we should not leave ourselves vulnerable to inflated expectations. We have to understand that many times others view things with different eyes than ours and have expectations quite apart from our own. Perceptions and interpretations also frequently vary and do not necessarily dove-tail with ours. Then, of course, mistakes can be made and we have to be prepared to deal with the inevitability of a certain amount of backlash.

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For those of us who believe we create our own reality, in truth, it is a co-creation with a power much greater than us. We can be optimistic in our thinking as we anticipate a particular outcome, but at some point we need to let go of the picture of how we think things should turn out. Life is a big surprise -- some times pleasant and other times not so pleasant. We can only do our best and then let go. In experiencing what follows, we can be taken places we could never have anticipated.

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The one nice part of a difficult situation is that it will eventually pass. Things tend to work themselves out, although perhaps not always in the way we expect. If we feel that we are moving in the right direction, then we should just keep going. Quiting is also an option, but then we admit defeat.

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Someone once said: "Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end!"

DISCORD ON HARMONIZED SALES TAX

Click graphic for enlarged view.I have refrained from using Wrights Lane to discuss political issues, but I am breaking from precedent with this post. Generally we Ontarioites accept most Queen's Park initiatives as facts of life with barely a flinch, but I strongly believe that now is the time for seniors in particular to stand up and be heard on a matter that is certain to cost us dearly.
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I am talking about the Ontario government's plan to combine GST and PST into one tax, otherwise to be known as the Harmonized Sales Tax, or HST.
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In fairness, the Harmonized or blended theory is quite understandable, but the plan to apply it to items that were previously PST exempt is ill-advised and will cost all of us hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on every day needs. The intention to cut down on the paperwork burden will certainly be welcomed by Ontario businesses as will be the opportunity to lessen staff by merging departments. But there is a problem...And that problem is the fact that the new tax will apply to almost all goods and services that you and I do not pay PST on now.
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We are about to become the victim of the largest tax hike in our history. Just look at a few of the things that are to be charged the extra eight percent (8%): gasoline, home heating fuel, water, hydro, used cars, government and city services, and any service you now use for your home or business i.e.) repairs, professional services and construction materials, to name a few. In reality, almost everything currently without PST in our life (except children's clothing, prescriptions, diapers and feminine hygiene products) will now cost 8% more. And here's the kicker, the fuel tax will slide with the increasing cost of gasoline.
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The $1,000 bribe being offered to families with income of $160,000 or less and $300 to singles with income of $80,000 or less will not even cover half of the increased cost to the average Ontario family. Hardest hit will be low-income families who will not see their benefits or incomes rise accordingly. Bear in mind also that the payout to families will be in the form of three installments over a two-year period.
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I get the sneeking suspicion that Premier Dalton McGuinty is counting on taxpapers to do what they always do when a new tax is implemented. Nothing! It is exceedingly important that we research this issue and discuss the injustice of it with friends and family. In the end we need to move quickly to contact our local MPPs and to file objections with the Premier himself. We can suggest two possible options: 1) STOP THE TAX GRAB ALTOGETHER OR 2) DO WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED AND BLEND THE TAX ONLY ON THE PRODUCTS THAT NOW HAVE BOTH PST AND GST.
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Take advantage of a convenient objection/opinion form posted by the office of Premier Dalton McGuinty at http://www.premier.gov.on.ca/feedback/feedback.asp. Let yourself be heard!

REMEMBERING THE DETROIT TIGERS

Boyhood heroes

...then and now

I write this post for a couple of my friends who are die-hard baseball fans and grew up with me in Dresden listening to the unforgettable radio voice of Harry Heilmann broadcasting Detroit Tigers baseball games from Briggs Stadium in the 1940s.

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I also have a new acquaintance in mind, Larry S. Balkwill of Chatham, who bleeds Tigers orange and blue. Larry grew up in Leamington where everybody is a Detroit Tigers fan. I have been teasing Larry on Facebook about the early-season success of my Toronto Blue Jays this spring and I don't think that he understands that I was once a Tigers fan.

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Truth be known I had a love affair with the historic Briggs Stadium in Detroit, virtually from the time I was old enough to listen to those memorable broadcasts by Heilmann, himself one of the greatest players to ever wear a Tigers uniform. In fact my grandparents and my mother as a young girl once lived a block away from the stadium (then known as Navin Field) on Karmel Avenue in the 1920s. My grandfather allowed cars to be parked on his front lawn for .25 cents on game days.

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The "Baseball At The Corner" poster (above), given to me by one of my daughters, has a special place on a den wall.

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My father and I were frequent visitors to "Detroit's Field of Dreams" in the mid and late 1940s. I remember seeing "The Splendid Splinter" Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox; "Rapid" Bob Feller, the great Cleveland Indians pitcher; Ed Lopat, the Chicago White Sox mound ace; Mickey Mantle in his second season with the New York Yankees, Ralph Kiner in his last season with the Indians and Larry Doby of Cleveland, the second black player in the Majors after Jackie Robinson's breakthrough season (to name a few Hall of Fame standouts), all play in Detroit. A rare triple play cleverly initiated by Detroit third baseman George Kell is still fresh in my mind.

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My all-time favorite Detroit players as a kid were first baseman/outfielder Hank Greenberg, lefthanded pitcher Hal Newhouser and the talented Al Kaline (right) who became known as "Mr. Tiger". My dad used to tell me stories about his favorite player, Lynwood Thomas "Schoolboy" Rowe, an outstanding Detroit pitcher who retired from the game in 1942 before I got to see him play.

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The Steve O'Neill-managed teams of 1945-'46 were my favorite edition of the Tigers, not because they won the World Series but just because. The aforementioned Hal Newhouser, Art Houtteman, Dizzy Trout, Virgil Trucks and Stubby Overmire were pitching stalwarts on those teams. Bob Swift, Paul Richards and Birdie Tebbetts handled the catching chores. Hank Greenberg, Rudy York, Bob Maier, Skeeter Webb, Eddie Mayo and George Kell were infield regulars while Doc Cramer, Jimmy Outlaw and Roy Cullenbine patrolled the outfield. Outfielders Hoot Evers, Pat Mullin, Johnny Groth and Dick Wakefield came along a few years later as did shortstop Harvey Kuenn, another favorite of mine.

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Boy, those were the days! A great time for boyhood fantasies. I lived vicariously through Reno Bertoia of Windsor who signed with the Tigers as an 18-year-old "bonus baby" in 1953 and played in his first major league game that season.

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A highlight of my own baseball career came in 1957 when I was invited by player-turned-scout Pat Mullin to take pre-game batting practice with the Tigers at Briggs Stadium and was subsequently selected to take part in a prospects game on the hallowed field. In the late 1960s I developed a working relationship with Tigers public relations man Ernie Harwell and attended several media day events hosted by the team. By then the ball park had been re-named Tigers Stadium. Memorable on-field interviews were conducted with manager Billy Martin, pitcher Mickey Lolich, first baseman Norman Cash, outfielder Willie Horton and rookie pitcher Mike Kilkenny of Bradford, Ont.

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The last time I visited a very tired Tigers Stadium was in 1971 and I didn't even have the foresight to pick up a handful of infield dirt or a patch of outfield grass as a keepsake. The Tigers played their last game at the old Corktown neighborhood location on September 27, 1999 and moved to their new home at newly constructed Comerica Park the next season.

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While most of the old stadium has been demolished, the dugout and backstop area is reportedly still standing and may be salvaged as a historic site if and when the city irons out the red tape.

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So there you go guys. A little trip down baseball's memory lane, or should I say to the "The Corner" of Michigan Avenue and Trumbell Boulevard.

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IN MEMORIUM:

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych (14/8/54 - 13/4/09). One of a kind. God threw away the mould.

ARE YOU IN HARMONY OR HELLED?

"Within yourself lies the cause of whatever enters into life. To come into the full realization of your own awakened interior powers, is to be able to condition your life in exact accord with what you would have it." --Ralph Waldo Trine, author, approx. 1896.
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Optimists and pessimists are about as different as night and day. They are similar, however, in that each has a particular point of view that is a determining factor in their life. I have gone through most of my existence believing that it doesn't hurt to be a little pessimistic at times, providing of course that you are predominantly optimistic.
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Truth be known: You can't be a little bit pessimistic any more than you can be a little bit pregnant. Optimism and pessimism are like oil and water, never blending no matter how hard you stir. I have been wrong in trying to mix the two and I don't mind admitting it.
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I arrived at my current state of understanding by asking myself three questions. 1) Do I prefer strength or impotence? 2) Do I want peace or pain? 3) Do I aspire to success or failure? The answer in each case was obvious.
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Optimists and pessimists both build their world from within based on perception. One, I believe, creates a type of heaven while the other contributes to a certain hell. You and I have the predominating characteristics of either an optimist or a pessimist. We are making, hour by hour, our own heaven or our own hell; and in the degree that we are making one or the other we are helping make it for all of mankind. There is very definitely a domino effect. In both cases we make a contribution to the world, one positive and one negative.
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The optimist calls on wisdom and insight to maintain a positive attitude while the pessimist is questioning by nature and has a very narrow, limited view on life in general.
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The word harmony has pleasing, heavenly connotations. The old English word hell means to build a wall around, to separate; to be helled was to be shut off from. If there is such a thing as harmony in our life there must be something that we are in sync with or in close relationship to. Likewise, if there is such a thing as being helled, then there must be something from which we are held or separated.
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I always suspected that there was something holding me back for all these years and now I understand that it was ME keeping ME from being ME, aided and abetted by that little bit of pessimism that I thought was so healthy. I guess you are never too old to learn something about life -- and yourself.

THE DISTORTION OF OUR FREEDOM

We in North America today are enjoying the greatest freedom our revolving and evolving world has ever known. Sounds encouraging, doesn't it? But wait just a minute.
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The freedom I am talking about is a freedom that has led to the tendency to ignore the very things that others died to provide. That, to me, is scary to say the least.
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We are free to neglect the right of franchise. We are free to neglect the liberties we have inherited. Surely there can be no greater freedom than that! At the top of the neglect or disregard list is religious liberty, the foundation of all other freedoms. Take that away and eventually all freedoms crumble. Somehow that message has failed to sink in.
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Religious freedom has been distorted to mean freedom from religion. But it hasn't stopped there. The well-intended swing to political correctness has been carried too far in other important areas of our life as well. Desperately we need a return to government by principles rather than by politics.
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After all said and done, freedom is not the right to do as one pleases, but the opportunity to do what is right. Our Founding Fathers sought freedom...
--not from law but freedom in law;
--not freedom from government, but freedom in government;
--not freedom from speech, but freedom in speech;
--not freedom from the press, but freedom in the press;
--not freedom from religion, but freedom in religion.
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A few more things for us to ponder in the days ahead. Quite frankly, all this pondering is starting to wear me out!

WANT A CURE? THAT'S THE SPIRIT!

The British Medical Journal once put it this way: "There is not a tissue in the human body wholly removed from the influence of the spirit."
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In other words, it has been discovered that there is a closer relationship between our minds, our emotions, the state of our spiritual health, and our bodies, than doctors thought possible at one time. For instance, it is a well-known fact that the hyper acidity often leading to stomach ulcers, is directly caused by emotional stress and, generally, a sense of frustration. Many of us can vouch for that out of personal experience.
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Physicians have also recognized that the same is equally true of other diseases. No constitutional disease is free from the effects of mental strain. An internationally known specialist in arthritis has recently stated that it has been increasingly evident that physical health is closely associated with, and often dependent upon, spiritual health.
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So it seems to me that if tension and worry are the great sins of our day, and if they affect not only our spiritual health, peace of mind and happiness, as well as our physical health, it is certainly worthy of our utmost efforts to learn how to overcome them.
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A young man, about to be brutally crucified, once offered his "yoke" to the world. The yoke He imposed was an easy one. It does not chafe, hurt or hold you back. On the contrary -- it takes away pain, gives freedom and leads to a fuller and happier life. (Matthew 11:28)

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To me, a perfect antidote for what ails us. How can we not reach out and grasp it?.

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Something to ponder this Easter weekend!?

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NOTE FROM DICK: Check your newspaper this weekend, even television newscasts. How many stories are there about the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs compared to references to the real meaning of Easter and why it should be celebrated. Kind of tells you something about society as it exists today.

WE ARE NOT BOUND BY OUR PAST

We often speak of objective proper behavior or a non-subjective attitude toward the outside world. Most physicists, psychologists and physiologists agree that people yearn to change yet tend to remain the same. It is unquestionably a fundamental human paradox. A key factor in this resistance to self-transformation is that most of us behave as if our future is completely and irrevocably forfeited by what we have done in the past.

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I have touched on this subject numerous times, as recently as a couple of posts ago, and I keep coming back to it. My contention has been that the maturing process should never come to a standstill in any place of human activity if life is to be a healthy, fulfilling experience. We do not have to lock ourselves to our past, particularly if it is a negative, self damaging past that can only hold us back from realizing our full potential and ultimate enjoyment of life.

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What I am saying here is that we all have been subjected at varying stages of our life to expedient truths that have never been tested in reality. We should not, at any stage of our existance, deny the impulse to contradict beliefs and concepts that have been imposed on us if they are personally troubling. We perpetrate old fairy tales created out of societal expediency only at our own peril.

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There is nothing that we know with absolute certainty that warrants acceptance without contradiction. The things we have accepted with utter confidence are simply those which we have taken for granted habitually for a long time without feeling the need to question them. To be truly mature, we must be capable of separating past experience into its component parts and using only those that fit in present circumstances. We are the sole judge of our behavior and the propriety of our judgment depends on personal experience of the world.

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By all means, it behooves us to nurture experiences from the past that comfort us or bring us a feeling of achievement, but there is no rule on God's green earth that says we have to be continually victimized by concepts and situations that we had little control over in the first place.

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The past can be useful only when we use it to provide building blocks for a creative future and to make the road to maturity just a little smoother and less treacherous for those who follow.

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There has to be a reason why I feel compelled to reinforce all of this.

SCRATCHING THE BASEBALL ITCH

Pleased to see that the Baseball Canada Network has picked up two of my recent baseball stories -- The Two Larry Balkwill's and The Boy Who Made A Big Catch -- in the "On the Sandlots" section. The BCN features everything you ever wanted to know about baseball in Canada and is administered by baseball feature writer Bob Elliott.

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...Had a couple of nice emails from Bill Horne of St. Thomas in response to the story I did several weeks ago on his fastball accomplishments. Bill reports that his St. Thomas team may be playing two games in Port Elgin this summer and that will certainly be an opportunity for the two of us to get together after more than 40 years. Also heard from Bill's sister Karen (Horne) Murphy of Oakville. Karen was the Wright's favorite go-to-babysitter at one time.

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...Some good news and some bad news about the baseball-playing Cook twins of Dresden. After picking up the win in relief for Indian Hills College Falcons in a season-opening marathon game against Prima Community College, Matt suffered a badly broken wrist while batting in the second inning of a game against Eastern Arizona, March 10, and will be lost to the team for the balance of the year. Matt started the game on the mound and pitched into the third inning in spite of his injury. Brother Justin, I am happy to report, has impressed his coaches with two strong relief pitching performances and picked up a couple of hits for the Falcons in a recent 9-2 drubbing of Longview Community College. Justin (p, 3b) and Matt (p, 1b) are in their freshman year at Indian Hills and have taken a giant leap into highly competitive American college baseball. We'll continue to monitor their progress. Meantime, it goes without saying that his untimely injury has been extremely disappointing for Matt, but in the long run it will only be a blip on his baseball radar. Heal well and come back next season Matt, healthy and strong, with an even more determined attitude. Dresden guys are tough!

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...Rosanne was singing the praises of a Canadian figure skater she had seen on television. "She has such fluent movement," Rosanne raved. Meaning, of course, that the skater had "fluid" movement. Just the latest in a growing list of Rosanneisms.

DON'T BE SILLY, IT'S GONNA BE OKAY

"If you can start the day without caffeine, live without complaining, eat the same food every day and be grateful, relax without a cocktail, and sleep without the aid of a sedative, you are probably the family dog."

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It seems like some subject matter comes to me in batches. I launched this site with a series on failure, then it was boyhood memories. More recently I wrote several items on turning oysters into pearls, followed by a three-part feature on feathers and last week I was on a baseball kick. This week dogs have been on my mind.

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What can I say? I love dogs with the same intensity as my affection for children. Whoever originated the saying "man's best friend", really nailed it. My constant companion is a Miniature Rat Terrier named Lucy who is sleeping at my feet as I write this item. My wife Rosanne is sleeping too, but she is in her recliner chair watching television.

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I was taken the other day by a story related by Phil Callaway, a noted speaker and best-selling Canadian author. When Phil's father passed away a few years ago, he left the care of his Maltese-Shih Tzu lap dog to his son. Mojo (named after Moses and Jonah) has never taken to Phil with the same affection he had for his dad.

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As Phil tells it, when his father was alive, Mojo was his biggest fan, following him around their suite, grinning up at him past crooked teeth and pouncing on his lap. "The two sat by the window happily munching bananas, lost in a one-sided conversation," he recalls. When Alzheimer's reared its ugly head for her master, Mojo remained a constant source of comfort.

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One June evening the Callaway family was lounging on their covered deck, watching the sky change color in the west. Mojo was slumped on Mr. Callaway's lap as usual, but once the clouds rattled with thunder, she began to shake.

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I'll let Phil take the story from here:

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"It'll be okay," Dad whispered, patting her head reassuringly. But she wouldn't be comforted. "I've got you don't worry," he murmured, massaging her shoulders. But she wouldn't listen. An irrational fear had gripped her tiny body. She trembled. She shook. She panted. And as the clouds tumbled closer and the rain touched down, she leaped from his lap, darted under a wheelbarrow, and refused to come out.

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Dad leaned forward. "Don't be silly," he said, shaking his head. "It's gonna be okay.".

"So do you think God feels a little like we do right now, dad?" I suggested. "Trying to comfort frightened creatures who can't understand what's going on? Do you think He's trying to tell us to trust him? That it's gonna be okay?"

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I think it was the only time I ever preached to my dad. He looked my way, and a smile pulled at the corners of his eyes. I know for a fact that doubts lingered and the questions remained unanswered. But when the storm ended and the dog hopped back on his lap, the doubts seemed to fade into insignificance.

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As he held the dog close, I thought of our Heavenly Father who holds us in His arms amid life's storms, whispering, "Don't be silly, my child. It's gonna be okay!"

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Thank you for that Phil.

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With acknowledgement to the Presbyterian Record and illustrator Jonny Mendelson

PAPPY IS QUEEN OF THE STAIRCASE

Not to worry! Pappy's head is not stuck between the banister rails. In fact she likes it there. She squeezes her head into the unusual position on purpose and can get out of it on her own.

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My daughter Cindy speculates that Pappy, a six-year-old Japanese Chin "with attitude", likes to position herself at the top of the staircase with her head pushed through the rails because it gives her a sense of superiority and security all at the same time. The vantage point is also ideal for her to keep an eye on two other dogs in the household and five family members.

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A small dog has to do what a small dog has to do to maintain status.

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The cute, prize-winning photo was taken by my grandson Ryan.

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No security for me in getting stuck

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The Pappy story reminds me of an experience I had when, as a five or six-year-old, I got my knee stuck in railing on a front porch.

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I had been playing with a friend, Hughie Carr, on his grandmother's porch in Dresden, a block from Wrights Lane. Somehow or other, I got my knee hopelessly stuck between two posts in the railing. Try as I may, I could not pull myself out of the predicament. Hughie's grandmother tried her best to free me, but to no avail. Neighbors were summoned and their best efforts failed as well.

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Finally, in desperation, Mrs. Carr called the fire department. My knee was beginning to swell and turn blue. I tried in vain to hold back tears.

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Fire Chief Rufus Law arrived on the scene with his vehicle siren blaring. Hastily sizing up the situation, he announced: "There's nothing else for it. We'll have to cut one of the posts."

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"No, don't cut Gramma's porch!" screamed Hughie..."Cut his leg off instead!"

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That was not particularly something I wanted to hear. I broke into agonizing sobs.

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Someone in the crowd that had gathered mercifully suggested applying Vaseline to my knee and a jar of petroleum jelly appeared out of nowhere. After a liberal application of the slippery jell, Chief Law carefully eased my knee free from between the posts. Free at last. Thank God I was free at last!

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I hobbled home, happy that my leg was still in place.

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Hughie was happy too. They did not have to cut his Gramma's porch.

THE TWO LARRY BALKWILLS

Rising star makes dad very proud

Take a close look at the accompanying photo. What do you see?

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I'll tell you what I see!

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I see a five-letter word, PRIDE, written all over it. The kind of pride that shows in a person's face, in this case the strong smiling countenance of a middle aged man holding back an ocean of emotions. With an arm around the broad shoulders of the towering young athlete wearing a baseball jersey emblazoned with brilliant red C-A-N-A-D-A lettering, tears well in his eyes as he tightens his hold with an extra tug of affection.

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Quite simply, this is the kind of pride that only a father can have for a son who is on the brink of making a major breakthrough in the world of sports. Fathers, justifiably, tend to live vicariously at times like that.

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"There was no prouder moment than seeing him on the field wearing our country's name across his chest. I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat. It doesn't get any better than that," says Larry S. Balkwill of Chatham in recalling his reaction to seeing his 17-year-old son, Larry Jr., at the fall instructional camp for Canada's National Junior Baseball Team at Disney Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, in November.

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Larry Jr., who has made a habit of collecting every baseball award in sight since peewee, was named by Baseball Canada to its national junior roster after a standout season in 2008 with Ontario OBA "AAA" champion Windsor Midget Selects and the Ontario junior team that won baseball's Canada Cup. A catcher who consistantly hits in the high .300s with power and a slugging percentage above 500, Larry was named Player of the Year by the Ontario Baseball Association and capped his season by being the first to win two Windsor and Essex Sports Person of the Year Awards in the same year -- Male Athlete of the Year and Outstanding Baseball Player. All this before his 18th birthday.

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Showing class and humility, the budding star credits his family and coaches for helping him get to where he is today. After completing Grade 12 this year at Ursuline College in Chatham, he will be attending NCAA Division 1 Siena College in Loudenville, N.Y. The Siena Saints baseball team, under the direction of legendary coach Tony Rossi, compete in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. With the Windsor Selects last year Larry was a teammate of the Cook twins of Dresden (Justin and Matt) who also picked up American college scholarships after stellar performances of their own in tournaments, league play and playoffs over the course of the past couple of seasons.

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How wonderful it is to see talented young Canadians like Larry and the Cook twins being given opportunities to develop athletically and, ultimately, as solid citizens destined to be our future. Thank God for parents like Larry and Sheila Balkwill who invest themselves in that future on behalf of all of us.

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Just because Larry will be off to college in the fall does not mean that the Balkwills will have more time to themselves or will be putting fewer miles on the family car. Fourteen-year-old daughter Katie and 11-year-old son Matthew will more than pick up any slack.

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Salute to Sheila: "Behind every successful athlete and his proud father is a mother who does their laundry, picks up after them, feeds them...and loves them!"

PASSION A DRIVING FORCE IN LIFE

Passion: An emotion applied to a very strong feeling or desire. Intense, compelling, enthusiastic. The Passion Flower (right) was named by Spanish explorers who thought it resembled three nails and a crown of thorns, reminding them of the "Passion of Christ".

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Rosanne and I were talking earlier today about the importance of passion in life. We concluded with the generalization that nothing is achieved without a degree of passion and that working on things that matter to us personally is the key.

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When we do things autonomously, purely for the challenge or because of deep passion for a particular undertaking or cause, we can achieve happiness, not only for ourselves but others as well. Passion is all about allowing yourself to get lost in something important to you -- a dream, a goal, even a person with whom you have a close attachment.

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Passion, I believe, is of utmost importance when we reach midlife. This is a period when we finally have the opportunity to shed the burden of having to live up to the expectations of others -- parents, a spouse, children, employers. In mid life we truly need passion that will energize and motivate us and provide us with a guiding force around which to organize the balance of our lives.

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Some of us may have carry-over beliefs, concepts and ideas that are keeping us from realizing the passion in our life that we deserve and we need to take a close look at that possibility. A process of elimination may be necessary. Ultimately, identifying our midlife passion(s) will help us make the crucial decisions we all face. What will we do with our new-found leisure time? What were the day dreams of our youth? What have we always wanted to do but were afraid to try? What are the things that matter most in our lives?

-- our children,

-- our grandchildren,

-- our spouse,

-- our work,

-- our special interests,

-- our religion.

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Somewhere in this mix we should be able to identify passions with potential to transcend mere personal pleasure, something that benefits others, makes the world a better place. Something that we can pursue with a whole heart and experience a resultant robustness unknown to our youth. My friend Bob Wilmott and his Ethiopian prison ministry comes immediately to mind as a classic example, although we don't all have to travel across the globe to realize our passion. Bruce Huff is another who pursues his old-timers hockey and slow pitch softball with enthusiasm and a fire in his belly that is almost unbelievable.

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Personally, Wrights Lane has become a passion beyond my fondest expectations. I get totally lost in it...and I do it for my readers too. And something else: I just realized that the above list of potential passions is, in reality, my personal list of passions. I am a lucky guy! My life's cup overflows with passion.

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What fuels a fire within you, dear reader? If you can answer that question, then you have identified a bonafide passion. I pray that you will work the daylights out of it -- and be lucky like me, Bob and Bruce.

HOME! SWEET HOME!

Cover of sheet music for the 1914 publication of "Home Sweet Home", composed by Henry Bishop, lyrics by John Howard Payne.

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Think about this for a minute.
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Where do you look forward to going after a hard day's work? When you are not feeling well, where do you want to be most? After a trip or a long vacation, what looks good to you? What is your shelter on a stormy day? When you think about parents and childhood, what immediately comes to mind? Where do you retreat to find rest from the toils and annoyances of life? In all the world, where do you feel the most comfortable? If you are lucky, where does your sweetheart live? .

The answer to all those questions, of course, is "HOME" with its oh-so-familiar cracks, creaks, dents and characteristics known only by you. Home is warm! Home is safe! Personally, home is my sanctuary in every aspect of my life. It is my favorite place!
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Oh sure, I enjoy travelling and visiting new places but I do less and less of it as the years pass. In truth, I have everything I need at home. The lure of other places pales in comparison to my desire to be home. I am sure it is that way for most readers of Wrights Lane.
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The word home touches every fibre of the soul and strikes every chord of the human heart. Nothing but death can break its spell. What tender associations are linked with home? What pleasing images and deep emotions it awakens. It calls up the fondest memories of life and opens in our nature the purest, deepest, richest gush of consecrated thought and feeling.
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So many expressions have been coined around home.
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-Home sweet home.
-Home is where the heart is.
-Home is where you hang your hat.
-It takes a lot of livin' to make a house a home.
-There's no place like home.
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Essays, poems and songs have been written about home, the most popular being the 150-year-old song "Home! Sweet Home!"
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"Mid pleasures and palaces though we roam,

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

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Sung like a hymn but originally a secular song, Home! Sweet Home! is a story about somebody going away from home, roaming around, falling on hard times, and then going back home to get a soothing caress from mother and a fond smile from father.

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None of us were yet around at the time, but history records that some 20,000 people gathered in old Castle Garden, New York, to hear Jennie Lind sing, as no other songstress ever had, the sublime compositions of Beethoven, Handel and other music masters. In the middle of her performance it seems that the Swedish Nightingale had a flash of nostalgia. She began to think of her home and paused briefly before pouring forth, with deep emotion, "Home! Sweet Home!"

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The audience could not stand it. An uproar of applause stopped the music. Tears gushed from those thousands like rain.

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Beethoven and Handel were forgotten. After a long pause Jennie resumed the song, her voice seemingly coming from heaven, almost angelic. It was one of those special moments and it was the word home that bound, as with a spell, 20,000 souls that day.

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When we look at the simplicity and brevity of "Home! Sweet Home!" we are moved to ask, what is the charm that lies concealed in this classic song? The answer is easy. Next to religion, the deepest and most endurable sentiment in the human soul is that of our feelings for home. Every heart vibrates to this theme.

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Home has an influence which is stronger than death. It is law to our hearts, and binds us with a spell which neither time nor change can break.

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For me, it is an inspiring hope that, when we separate from this earth, there is an eternal home awaiting us on the other side. Sweet home! Beautiful home! Glorious home! Peaceful home! Home with each other! Everlasting home!.

Through the grace of God, we will always have a place called home.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A LIFE GAME PLAN

I feel compelled to take one more kick at the can before leaving the subject of coaching and youth. I have written and talked extensively on the subject, at the risk of my words falling on deaf ears, but I take one more stab at it here because my life is currently crossed with a number of young people on the cusp of adulthood. We may never walk this way again.

There are two paths in life and it is crucial for the young man or woman, emerging from the relative comfort of their carefree teens, to consider these two ways soberly and earnestly before moving on. If they choose a path that truth and reason tell them will lead to honor, success and happiness, they have chosen wisely. The other path is too well known to need description.

It is a sad awakening when, after a lapse of 20 years, we find ourselves amid ruined hopes -- to sit down with folded hands and say, "So far I have failed. Life really sucks! Is this what I can expect for the rest of my life?" Trust me, I have been there, so naive that I actually thought that my dreams and fantasies alone were enough to carry me through. Only trouble was, I washed out as a student and I had no life game plan beyond baseball at which I was a has-been at 19-years-of-age. In the absence of a plan for my life, I really had to scramble to catch up. Sometimes I think that I am still playing catch up.

The first thing that I had to learn is that life is what you make it. If it is mean and cruel, it is because we make it so. The mystery of our being, the necessity of action, the relation of cause and effect, the dependence of one thing upon another, the mutual influence and affinity of all things, assure us that life is for a purpose and it can be quite fulfilling and wonderful.

Almost too late, I came to realize that at the outset of a career we must form the solemn purpose to make the most and the best of the powers -- the strengths, the talents, the skills -- that we were born with and to turn, to the best possible account, every outward advantage within reach. We are wise, also, to have a contingency or backup plan, should unforeseen circumstances develop in our life.

The purpose of which I speak should carry with it the assent of reason, the approval of conscience and the sober judgement of intellect. It should also embody within itself whatever is vehement in desire, inspiring in hope, thrilling in enthusiasm and intense in desperate resolve. Such a plan of life saves us from many a damaging contest or challenges that offer unhealthy temptations. It will regulate the way we approach our education, sports and recreational activities. For those just starting out in adulthood, I cannot emphasize enough the fact that by studying, training and laboring under the inspiration of such a purpose, there is every possibility of soaring out of sight of those who barely allow themselves to be carried along by the momentum of the machinery to which they are attached.

Many pass through life without even a consciousness of where they are, what they are, and what they are doing. They gaze on whatever lies directly before them in fond amusement lost. In effect, they never grow up!

I like the wisdom of the great football coach Vince Lombardi who said: "The quality of a man's (or woman's) life is in direct proportion to his (her) commitment to excellence, regardless of his (her) chosen field of endeavor."

And speaking of football, the NFL/NFF in the States has created a most commendable program as part of its youth development initiative. "Power 4W" consists of four important elements: Wishpower, Wantpower, Waypower and Willpower, all of which warrant closer scrutiny.

The first step, Wishpower, requires you to think about what you would like your life to be like in five or 10 years from now. Would you like to be in college, or if you are already would you like to be a doctor, business executive, actor or professional athlete? Would you like to have a family? This vision of the future must be your ideal, not what you would settle for. Don't be afraid to dream!

Having thought about the future, you need then to set the proper goals that will get you there. This is the step called Wantpower. Goals are very important because they keep you motivated, give you direction, and give you a sense of pride and accomplishment once you achieve them.

Once you have set your goals, it is important to design a strategy or game plan in order to achieve them. In the Waypower stage it is helpful to complete a goal ladder which will allow you to climb toward you ultimate goal one step at a time and also make progress visible.

Of course, setting goals is much easier than actually achieving them. As I said previously, obstacles with potential to impede your progress, can arise at any time. If you are prepared with an effective defense and have the Willpower to overcome roadblocks, you will be on the way to an ideal future.

When problems arise, as they most assuredly will, take a deep breath, go for a walk, clear your mind so that you can put the situation in perspective. This will then allow you to think of all the choices that you have; which choices will lead you to the right decision and which options will lead to the wrong decision. Finally, respond to the situation with the decision that will get you one step closer to your goal -- an ideal future for you and the special significant others who will come into your life.

Good luck!

A BOY WHO MADE A BIG CATCH

I am introducing a new blog site today, "A Boy Who Made A Big Catch".

.LAD

This is a story about a 14-year-old lad that I took under my wing as a minor baseball bantam coach quite a few years ago. Gary, by his own admission, was "not very good" at baseball but he gave his coach a gift that I will never forget. It is my favorite baseball story. Hope you enjoy it too!

*Click http://dicktheblogster12a.blogspot.com/

YOUNG BILL HAS COME A LONG WAY

Mr. Fastball personified
Bill was a robust 12-year-old, just a little on the heavy side and big for his age. He lived with his parents across the street from us on nondescript old-town Weldon Avenue in St. Thomas. He loved baseball. So did I. It was only natural that we became chums in spite of our 15-year age differential.

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.Photo: Bill's boys celebrate a Canadian Championship victory.
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Bill was always there, appearing out of nowhere the minute I came out of the front door or drove in the driveway. His baseball glove would generally be close at hand. I never had to ask, "Do you want to toss a few?" It was a foregone conclusion.
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I was a year removed from playing in the Senior Intercounty Baseball League and was coaching the St. Thomas Tom Cats in the Junior I-C at the time. I was also sports editor at the St. Thomas Times-Journal, so I was an easy and convenient mark for a kid like Bill. An attentive listener, he was a sponge for my sports trivia.
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He had a quick analytical mind for his age and at times you could almost hear the wheels turning. He was starting to show promise as a peewee pitcher in the St. Thomas Minor Baseball Association, but in playing catch with me he would often mix a softball underhand delivery with his baseball overhand pitches -- a precursor of things to come.
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It did not take long for me to invite Bill to become bat boy for the Junior Tom Cats and he readily accepted, even joining me on road trips. I looked for ways to highlight his name in minor baseball writeups and even took a photo of him for insertion in the newspaper when the occasion called for it. For some reason, I just felt that he needed the encouragement.
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As unbelievable as it seems, the foregoing took place in the mid 1960s. Now, turn the clock ahead some 40 years.
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Bill Horne is one of the most successful and celebrated fastball pitchers and team managers in Canada.
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As a teenager "the kid across the street" turned exclusively to fastball and quickly became a top pitcher in Ontario senior men's competition. He also swung a potent bat, winning the Memorial League batting championship one season. In all, his playing career encompassed an amazing four decades. But it is as a coach and manager that Bill is truly leaving his mark on fastball in Canada.
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He officially moved to coaching in the St. Thomas and District City League in 1985 and his teams promptly carried off five league championships. Since then he has coached at the junior, intermediate and senior levels of fastball in Ontario. Between 1997 and '99, Bill's Fingal Juniors twice won the Ontario Amateur Softball Association Eliminations and advanced to the Canadian Junior Championships three times, winning gold in 1998. Advancing to senior competition in 1999, Bill took his Fingal team all the way to the Canadian Senior Championships and a bronze medal finish.
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He coached the Waterloo Twins for the next three years, placing second in the Canadian Senior Men's Championship in 2000 and 2003, winning Senior Eliminations in 2002. In 2004 Bill took the Union Storm (St. Thomas district) to the Ontario Senior Elimination Championship and another berth in the Canadian Senior Men's Championship tournament.
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The highlight of his coaching career came in 2005 when he put together the St. Thomas Evergreen Centennials from scratch and won the Canadian senior men's championship on home grounds. The team repeated as Canadian champs the following year in Prince George, B.C. Last year the Centennials came away from the championship tourney in Saskatoon with a third-place bronze medal finish.
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He has also coached at five world championship tournaments and has had four Top Ten finishes. Add that to his two gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the Canadians and you have an impressive, unequalled record. He was inducted into the OASA Coaches Honor Roll after his Canadian championship season in 2005.
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Constructively critical and controversial at times, Bill is well respected in the fastball community. "His players love to play for him as indicated by those from across the province who return to play for him each year," commented one supporter. "He just does a remarkable job of putting successful teams together."
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Life has not been all a bed of Roses for Bill and his wife Donna. He dedicated the 2005 Canadian Championship to his 19-year-old daughter Katie who was suffering from aggressive brain cancer. Katie was well enough to work as a volunteer in the tournament and she was at her father's side when he accepted the gold medal symbolic of Canadian fastball supremacy. She passed away several months later after a year-long struggle with the insatiable disease.
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With a piece of his heart missing, Bill has not relinquished interest in the game he loves. Ever the promoter and organizer and in the role of tournament chairman and general manager, Bill has again been instrumental in bringing the Canadian Men's Championship back to St. Thomas this summer, August 30 to September 6. He previously led a large group of St. Thomas volunteers in 1999 and 2005 in obtaining the rights to host the tournament.
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Icing on the cake would be another gold medal for Bill and his Centennials on home ground this summer. Don't discount it!
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Hey Bill, your old chum is dammed proud of you! You no longer need the encouragement, but I'm doing this one last writeup for you anyway!
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Give me a call some time and we'll toss a few.
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*My next post: "No Talent Kid Saved the Day"