Better A Broken Promise Than None At All

Thanks for nothing Mr. Twain!

What was Mark Twain thinking when he made the quote, "Better A broken promise than none at all"? Did he know that the world is full of some people who have no problems not keeping their promises? I'm talking about situations where someone has specifically agreed to do something and then totally flakes out at the last-minute without any sort of excuse, explanation or note from their mother or doctor explaining their absence.  Some people seem to think that it is OK not to keep a promise and that not keeping a promise is "no biggie."  News flash - it is a "biggie." It's a huge deal to the other person or people who were counting on you, especially if that person was a child!

I don't want anyone to read into my ranting here. I had a great childhood and there is no person who is the specific target of my rant...this time! I am just an equal opportunity Greek ranter and today I chose to rant about people who make promises only to break them later.

We all know people who have had someone break a promise and not live up to what they said they would do. It sucks, doesn't it? You are blindsided when it happens. You think good of all mankind and do not foresee the broken promises coming. I know for me, since I'm Greek I like to talk and when a person breaks a big promise with me it leaves me speechless without anything to say. Me speechless? Well you then know it was a big deal to me.  I am sure a broken promise is a big deal to anyone who is the unfortunate recipient of it!

So what does a person have if they do not have the word or the honor of another person? I say they have nothing. No one will trust them, no one will respect them and most certainly no one will want to be associated with them. When I make a promise to someone -- it's as good as being written in stone!! I know I will try my darndest to live up to any promise I make. That's just the way I was raised.

Likewise, if you make a promise to me and then you find out you're not going to be able to live up to that promise - then come tell me. I'm a big girl, I've got my big Greek girl underpants on. I can handle it, really I can. In life stuff happens to everyone and I understand that. But don't try to pretend you never made a promise or worse yet, totally ignore me or the person you made a promise to. Human noggins are like an elephants noggin...only slightly larger and less wrinkly and they also never really forget. They might forgive, but some people never forget.

Just to break a promise for no good reason is uncalled for. Especially in situations where someone was really depending on others and now there is no other way for them to get something done. I guess some people do not have a conscience or a sense of responsibility anymore.

Here are a couple of good quotes on promises:

• Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once.  ~Norman Vincent Peale

• A promise made is a debt unpaid.  ~Robert Service

• We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot.  ~Abraham Lincoln

• A promise is a comfort for a fool.  ~Proverb

• Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.  ~Benjamin Franklin

I am not saying all people break promises. But for the ones who do, shame on you. You promise breakers sure let down the rest of humanity.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

Promise Keepers

What is it about some people who have no problems not keeping their promises? I'm talking about situations where deal points have even been agreed upon, contracts have been signed -- and yet some people seem to think that it is OK -- that not keeping a promise is "no biggie." News flash - it is a "biggie." It's a huge deal to me!

I don't want anyone to read into my ranting here. My life is not spinning out of control and no my manager Mr. Bricks is not the reason for my rant...this time! (I'm watching you like a hawk Mr. Bricks) It's just I recently had someone break a promise and not live up to what they said would do for me and it's kinda left me speechless. I was blindsided. I did not see it coming. You know me, I'm Greek. I like to talk. So if someone's broken promise to me left me speechless, you know it was a big deal - just sayin'

So what does a person have if they do not have their word or their honor? I say they have nothing. No one will trust them, no one will respect them and most certainly no one will want to be associated with them. When I make a promise to someone -- it's as good as being written in blood. I will try my darndest to live up to the promise I made.

If you make a promise to me and then you find out you're not going to be able to live up to that promise - then come tell me. I'm a big girl, I've got my big girl underpants on. Stuff happens to everyone and I understand that life happens. But don't try to pretend you never made a promise or worse yet, totally ignore me. I'm like an elephant...I never forget. I forgive, but I don't forget. Just to break the promise for no good reason is uncalled for. Especially in this situation where I was depending on someone else and there is no other way for me to get it done. I guess some people do not have a conscience or a sense of responsibility.

Here are a couple of good quotes on promises:

• Promises are like crying babies in a theater, they should be carried out at once. ~Norman Vincent Peale

• A promise made is a debt unpaid. ~Robert Service

• We must not promise what we ought not, lest we be called on to perform what we cannot. ~Abraham Lincoln

• A promise is a comfort for a fool. ~Proverb

• Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies. ~Benjamin Franklin

I am not saying all people break promises. But for the ones who do, it sure lets down the rest of humanity. However, no matter how often I may be dissapointed by others, with my faith I always remember that God is the one person who will always keep his promises. When God gives an unconditional promise, there are no "if’s," "and’s," or "but’s" about it! God says, "I WILL DO SOMETHING" and it does not matter if men like it or don’t like it, believe it or don’t believe it--God is still going to do it! An unconditional promise means that GOD WILL do what He promised no matter what! And that makes me smile at the times other people's promises go unfullfilled.

Well thanks for listening to my rant about those who don't keep their promises. I will be back tomorrow with a whole new attitude. I promise.

Blessings,

Ava

xox

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Will I Work Out

When I say I want to work out, this is one way I roll, "Tae Bo". When I was in Los Angeles I had the opportunity to work out with Boot Camp work out master Billy Blanks. After each work out I could hardly walk for days! But I wouldn't trade the experience for anything!

So, usually when I talk about working out I am talking about strapping on my sneakers, putting in a DVD of Tae Bo, P90X, Insanity, Jillian Michaels, or pounding the pavement on a nice long run outside.  Booting up my iPod and thinking about nothing else for the next hour or so except sweating.

But there is another meaning to "work out" that sometimes also leaves me all sweaty and light-headed. And that is, will I work out or will I fail when I attempt to do something I have never done before? Nowadays when you fail, you don't just fail - you Epic Fail. Nice, who's the Einstein that came up with that one? I'd like to go and bop them upside the head for that.

Epic Fail is such the rage these days that it has three, count 'em three, different explanations in the widely used Urban Dictionary:

1. epic fail

When something can be seen to be a total failure
Urban dictionary?

EPIC FAIL!
2. epic fail

The highest form of fail known to man. Reaching this level of fail means only one thing:
You must die, or the world will fail itself due to such an extreme level of failage.

3. Epic Fail
Epic- Anything great, spectacular, or large/monumental in nature
Fail- An inability to complete an objective, task or job either assigned or volunteered for.

Epic Fail -A mistake of such monumental proportions that it requires its own term in order to successfully point out the unfathomable shortcomings of an individual or group.


EXAMPLE
Mr. Bricks: Uh, Ava? I started working out!
Ava: That's great what are you doing?
Mr. Bricks: I started eating the Quarter Pounder w/Cheese instead of the McRib. Because the Quarter Pounder weighs more - doesn't that mean I will get more exercise by picking it up and putting it down more than a McRib?
Ava: Epic Fail Mr. Bricks, Epic Fail.

Nobody in life likes to hear that they failed at anything, even my poor old manager Mr. Bricks. We all would like to think that whatever we want to do or whatever we try to do it will work out. I think we all need encouragement and we need to learn to encourage others. Somewhere along the line most of what we do in life has become us against them, winners vs losers, the top dogs vs the under dogs, etc.

There is no wonder people fear failing because our society has put so much emphasis on finishing first in everything. I think all of this added pressure has intimidated some people into not even trying new things. It is much easier playing it safe and not risk becoming an epic failure at something.

That hasn't always been the case for everyone. Here is a list of people who knew it would eventually work out:

Abraham Lincoln was a failure as a businessman. As a lawyer in Springfield, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. He turned to politics and was defeated in his first try for the legislature, again defeated in his first attempt to be nominated for congress, defeated in his application to be commissioner of the General Land Office, defeated in the senatorial election of 1854, defeated in his efforts for the vice-presidency in 1856, and defeated in the senatorial election of 1858. At about that time, he wrote in a letter to a friend, "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth."

Sigmund Freud was booed from the podium when he first presented his ideas to the scientific community of Europe. He returned to his office and kept on writing.

Thomas Edison's teachers said he was "too stupid to learn anything." He was fired from his first two jobs for being "non-productive." As an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, "How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?" Edison replied, "I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps."

Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math.

Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry.

Henry Ford failed and went broke five times before he succeeded.

R. H. Macy failed seven times before his store in New York City caught on.

E. W. Woolworth was not allowed to wait on customers when he worked in a dry goods store because, his boss said, "he didn't have enough sense."

How's your cell phone working out for you??? When Bell telephone was struggling to get started, its owners offered all their rights to Western Union for $100,000. The offer was disdainfully rejected with the pronouncement, "What use could this company make of an electrical toy."

"Only Those who dare to fail greatly can achieve greatly"


Robert F. Kennedy

Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. Jordan once observed, "I've failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeed."

Babe Ruth is famous for his home run record, but for decades he also held the record for strikeouts. He hit 714 home runs and struck out 1,330 times in his career.

Hank Aaron went 0 for 5 his first time at bat with the Milwaukee Braves.

During Troy Aikman's first NFL season he threw twice as many interceptions (18) as touchdowns (9) . . . oh, and he didn't win a single game.

Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas." He went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland. In fact, the proposed park was rejected by the city of Anaheim on the grounds that it would only attract riffraff.

Charles Schultz had every cartoon he submitted rejected by his high school yearbook staff. Oh, and Walt Disney wouldn't hire him.

After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, read, "Can't act. Can't sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little." He kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home. Astaire once observed that "when you're experimenting, you have to try so many things before you choose what you want, that you may go days getting nothing but exhaustion." And here is the reward for perseverance: "The higher up you go, the more mistakes you are allowed. Right at the top, if you make enough of them, it's considered to be your style."

After his first audition, Sidney Poitier was told by the casting director, "Why don't you stop wasting people's time and go out and become a dishwasher or something?" It was at that moment, recalls Poitier, that he decided to devote his life to acting.

When Lucille Ball began studying to be actress in 1927, she was told by the head instructor of the John Murray Anderson Drama School, "Try any other profession."

The first time Jerry Seinfeld walked on-stage at a comedy club as a professional comic, he looked out at the audience, froze, and forgot the English language. He stumbled through "a minute-and a half" of material and was jeered offstage. He returned the following night and closed his set to wild applause.

Charlie Chaplin was initially rejected by Hollywood studio chiefs because his pantomime was considered "nonsense."

Decca Records turned down a recording contract with the Beatles with the unprophetic evaluation, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on their way out." After Decca rejected the Beatles, Columbia records followed suit.

In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired Elvis Presley after one performance. He told Presley, "You ain't goin' nowhere, son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."

Van Gogh sold only one painting during his life. And this to the sister of one of his friends for 400 francs (approximately $50). This didn't stop him from completing over 800 paintings.

Louisa May Alcott author of Little Women, was encouraged to find work as a servant by her family.

Emily Dickinson had only seven poems published in her lifetime.

Richard Bach's story about a "soaring eagle" was turned down by 18 publishers. Macmillan finally published Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1970. By 1975 it had sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. alone.

21 publishers rejected Richard Hooker's humorous war novel, M*A*S*H. He had worked on it for seven years.

27 publishers rejected Dr. Seuss's first book, To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

So it's all mind over matter -- will what you want to do with your life work out or will it just be an epic fail. It's your choice friends!

And I want to leave you with a quote:


"Never ever give up. If you do, only then do you have a chance of an Epic Fail!" -- Ava Aston 2010


Blessings,

Ava

xox