I am no theologian, and do not have the answers to these questions, and one of the reasons I enjoy the animals on the farm so much is that they don't think about their pain, or question it, they accept it and endure it, true stoics. I have never heard a donkey or cow whine (although I guess dogs do). I told my friend this: pain, like joy, is a gift. It challenges us, tests, defines us, causes us to grow, empathize, and also, to appreciate its absence. If nothing else, it sharpens the experience of joy. The minute something happens to me that causes pain, I start wondering how I can respond to it, what I can learn from it, what it has taught me or shown me about myself. This doesn't make it hurt any less, but it puts it, for me, on a more manageable level. I don't know if there is a God, or if he causes me or anybody else to hurt, or if he could stop pain. I try to accept it and live beyond it. I think the animals have taught me that. The Problem of Pain is that it exists, and is ubiquitous. The Challenge of Pain is how we respond to it.
“After being accused of bribery (patronage jobs in exchange for being able to name candidates for District Attorney and City Controller) by Democratic City Chairman Peter Camiel, and being challenged by the Philadelphia Daily News to a lie detector test with himself, Commerce Director Harry Belinger, and Camiel, Rizzo accepted and said, "if this machine says a man lied, he lied." After the machine showed that Belinger and Rizzo were lying and Camiel was not, and he was asked about what he thought of lie detectors, he said, "that machine is full of crap."”
“Wayne did a great job. Sometimes when you're lying back there, you can stay out of trouble. It looks like that's what Wayne did. He said he really enjoyed himself and it really was a different race. The race wound up being a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. I thought we'd see a little more side-by-side racing. The carnage was a more than we've had in a long time, so that's the bad part. Overall, Wayne did a great job.”
“The operating environment for automotive supply companies remains as challenging as ever with a lot of uncertainty in the North American markets. Our formula for success remains unchanged. We will continue focusing on those areas within our control, executing with discipline on the fundamentals and maintaining a relentless focus on controlling costs. We should also continue to benefit from our balance and diversification in terms of products, markets served and our customer base as well as from a strong new product and technology pipeline designed to help Tenneco win incremental OE and aftermarket business.”
“Financial services executives in banking, brokerage and insurance firms certainly understand the data that they create and manage every day has great importance to critical tasks like compliance reporting. But bad data can have an even greater impact throughout the broader enterprise -- especially with revenue generation or customer satisfaction and loyalty programs. In addition to a powerful educational opportunity, the town hall atmosphere gives financial executives a rare chance to pose their questions and data challenges to two of the industry's most recognized data experts, and share best practices approaches with their peers.”
“A farmer who had a quarrelsome family called his sons and told them to lay a bunch of sticks before him. Then, after laying the sticks parallel to one another and binding them, he challenged his sons, one after one, to pick up the bundle and break it. They all tried, but in vain. Then, untying the bundle, he gave them the sticks to break one by one. This they did with the greatest ease. Then said the father, Thus, my sons, as long as you remain united, you are a match for anything, but differ and separate, and you are undone.”
“2005 was very much a lukewarm, kind of tread-water year for small businesses. That has to do with the challenges facing small businesses: Costs went way up during the year, health care is up double digits, fuel, raw materials, oil for delivery trucks, all that was significantly higher than it was in the past. On top of that is uncertainty in the marketplace. Are we in a recession or in growth mode? Ask four different economists and you'll get four different answers. And as an owner of a business, it's very difficult to figure out how to operate in an uncertain marketplace.”
“Before we get into Baltimore there are going to be a variety of changes and obviously we are hoping to take advantage of them. The biggest challenge at the moment is to keep pushing at all times. The first week was very intense because everyday we saw one or two boats which made it very easy to drive everybody in the team. The last five to six days we haven't really seen another boat so it's like racing an imaginary electronic opponent. It's so important to keep fighting all the way to the end of this leg.”
“As more wireless companies encourage customers to try new services, it's becomes more difficult for the customer service representatives to be fully trained and kept apprised on the latest products being introduced. The downside is the carrier runs the risk of decreasing customer satisfaction and losing customers to other carriers. Since future switching levels are three times as high among customers who need to re-contact the carrier two or more times to get the inquiry resolved, the challenge for wireless providers is to provide contact channels that can offer an informative and efficient experience for their customers.”
Contemplate for a moment hiking up a wild and rugged mountain. The mountain itself is a challenge, as well as the experience of beauty and danger. To reach the top, a person must persevere. The higher one goes up the mountain the more one can see of the landscape around. There is, in seeing an expansive view, a natural delight and exhilaration that anyone who makes the effort feels. This natural delight corresponds to the spiritual joy of gaining a higher perception of life. Mountains correspond to heaven. The delight of gaining an elevated view on a mountain is the reflection (correspondence) of spiritually gaining wisdom in one’s soul.