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Sorry, but it is religion that taught us that and it is just flat out wrong. Jesus loves all the little children and the grown ups too whether they are gay, wear a turban and carry a gun, or whether they hate America. You may not be able to love them. But you should give Jesus a little more credit. Jesus was not white. Jesus was not American. I know that bothers some people, but it is reality. No one group can lay claim to Him any more than anyone else. And God does not have any preference for one group over an- other. However, we do not like that. We want God to be all ours. We sing God Bless America. Nice song. Nice sentiment. But very exclusive, don t you think? What about God Bless Iraq? or God Bless France? Dickens s Tiny Tim was right when he said, God Bless Us Everyone. My suggestion for you about God is this: Discover for yourself. Read lots of books from many cultures and many religions. Try lots of ccc_winget_ch10_98-106.qxd 5/26/04 2:25 PM Page 106 106 Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life things and ideas and find what works best for you and that brings you the most peace and love and contentment and happiness. And when you have found those things, then you have found God. What do a fundamentalist and a lobotomy have in com- mon? They are both no-brainers. Unknown I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love your- self first, and everything else falls into line. Lucille Ball My religion is very simple my religion is kindness. Dalai Lama People who want to share their religious views with you al- most never want you to share yours with them. Dave Barry ccc_winget_ch11_107-113.qxd 5/26/04 2:25 PM Page 107 CHAPTER 11 Get Smarter On the average, people spend about 100 hours a year reading. Yet they spend nearly 2,000 hours a year watching television. Forty hours a week in front of the tube and only two hours a week looking at something with words on it how can this be? According to the American Booksellers Association: Z' Eighty percent of Americans did not buy or read a book this year. (Congratulations, by buying and reading this book you are al- ready in the top 20 percent of all Americans.) Z' Seventy percent of American adults have not been in a book- store in the last five years. Z' Fifty-eight percent of American adults never read a book after high school. Z' Forty-two percent of university graduates never read another book. Another study reports only 14 percent of our society would go in a bookstore or a library and actually walk out with a book. And only 10 percent of those people would read past the first chapter. 107 ccc_winget_ch11_107-113.qxd 5/26/04 2:25 PM Page 108 108 Shut Up, Stop Whining, and Get a Life On nearly every corner there seems to be one of those mega- bookstores with a coffee shop and music store inside. So how can it be that no one is reading? Well, it is true that book sales are at an all time high. More people than ever are buying books. They just are not reading them. Actually I think people go to bookstores just for the coffee. People Do Not Read A few years ago I did a press run of 10,000 copies of my self-pub- lished book, The Simple Way to Success. After selling over 9,000 copies, we received a phone call from a man saying he had discov- ered my trick. I did not actually know that I knew any tricks. He said that pages 158, 159, and 160 were blank. I did not believe him. I checked, and sure enough those pages in every copy were blank. I had already sold 9,000 copies of that press run and apparently not one person ever made it to page 158. That realization did a lot for my ego. You have to actually read the books. It is great to own them. I love owning my books. But they never really seem to do me much good until I read them. According to USA Today, 43.6 percent of all American adults read below the seventh grade level. And did you know that over half of all high school graduates could not read their own graduation diplomas or even fill out a simple application for employment? How pitiful. Want to have some fun? Ask people you know to name the last five books they have read. If they can name one it will be amazing. While this may be cruel, it will be great fun for you. Then ask them what book they are currently reading. I bet you nine out of ten are not ccc_winget_ch11_107-113.qxd 5/26/04 2:25 PM Page 109 Get Smarter 109 reading anything. By the way, this is a clue for you: Do not hang around people who do not read. HOW TO READ A BOOK 1. If at all possible, buy the book. Libraries are great resources for reference material and for fiction you do not care about keeping after you have read the book. But when you are investing in a book that has life-changing information in it (things you will want to refer to over and over again) you need to buy the book. If you simply cannot afford to buy the book, then go to the library and check it out. How- ever, on the way to the library, kick yourself in the butt for being so broke you cannot afford a book! (There are lots of great used book- stores that sell wonderful books at bargain prices. I saw one of mine for a quarter. What a deal!) 2. If the book is yours, mark it up. Write your name in it. Get a highlighter and mark the parts that say something to you. Make mar- gin notes. When you have finished the book, go to the back of the book and on one of the blank pages write the date and then summa- rize what you learned from that book. In fact, begin this new habit by doing it in this book! 3. Tell everyone what a great book you are reading. This will re- inforce what you are learning. It is also a great way to boost your own ego because it is doubtful they have read any books recently so you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |