THE ACHIEVEMENT DIGEST® May 2002     Editor: Gene Griessman, Ph.D. CONTENTS Quotations You Can Use Technology Tips You Can Use Time Saver: Speed Learning Lincoln's Log A Travel Discovery Why I Wrote "The Diversity Creed" "The Diversity Creed" QUOTATIONS YOU CAN USE "No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. Follies which tend toward vice encounter at every stage in free and healthy communities enormous checks and correctives... but follies sustained by lofty ideas go far, and set up strange and sinister reactions."      Winston Churchill "Prohibition" in THE GREAT REPUBLIC:      A HISTORY OF AMERICA. (Random House,1999, pp. 270, 271) "Don't look down on someone just because of where they are. Someday they may be somewhere else looking down on you."      Gene Griessman ******************************************************** TECHNOLOGY TIPS YOU CAN USE   Mysimon(www.mysimon.com)is an excellent website to use for comparative pricing. Simply type in the name of the item you're looking for. It's even better if you know the brand and model number. Up will come a number of companies that stock the item. You will be able to read detailed descriptions of the item, plus information about the company that stocks it.  Sometimes the spread on an identical model of computer, for example, will be several hundred dollars.      However, if you are the kind of person who considers price alone, you could be in for big trouble. Check out the return policy of the company you are considering. The lowest price may be at a company that won't let you return anything. ******************************************************** TIME SAVER: SPEED LEARNING When studying, quickly ascertain what parts of a book or article are least important, or not important at all. Spending time reading what is not important keeps you from what is important. Studying is often a zero-sum game. ******************************************************** LINCOLN'S LOG FOR LINCOLN LOVERS "The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him.  Allow me to assure you that suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation. There may sometimes be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down; and they will succeed too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury. Cast about and see if this feeling has not injured every person you have ever known to fall into it."      Letter To William Herndon, July 10, 1848 For more great Lincoln quotes, go to THE WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY To order, click here ******************************************************** A TRAVEL DISCOVERY Next time you visit Washington, D.C., consider taking a delightful side trip. The region around Harpers Ferry, West Virginia is one of the loveliest spots in America. The site of Civil War battles and John Brown's failed rebellion, it's where the Shenandoah River and the Potomac River merge. Jefferson called it "one of the most stupendous scenes of Nature." And it's only two hours from DC. About 25 minutes from Harpers Ferry there's a wonderful bed-and-breakfast--really, an English manor house. Three stars in the Mobil Guide, it should be four. Filled with paintings and Oriental rugs and antiques, you will love it. Consider ordering the seven-course dinner--$65.Prices for rooms range from $200 to $300 on weekends. But if you call after noon on Friday or Saturday, you can get any room that's available for $129. Anytime, ask for the "procrastinator's special." Hillbrook: A Country House Hotel 800-304-4223 or email at reservations@bookinn.com. ******************************************************** WHY I WROTE "THE DIVERSITY CREED" By Gene Griessman (The complete text of "The Diversity Creed" is below.) "If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."      John F. Kennedy      American University, Washington, D.C. 10 June, 1963      John F. Kennedy never made a more profound statement than this one.  And no President ever had a better dream.      Kennedy’s statement led me to write The Diversity Creed. It was  first published in a book entitled "Diversity. Challenges And Opportunities" that was published by HarperCollins in 1993.      That little book is now out of print, but the creed has taken on a life of its own. It's been published in several versions around the world as a poster and greeting cards, and in collections of quotations on the Internet.      I wrote the creed by asking myself this question:What would the people of earth have to do to create a world safe for diversity?      The creed begins with a preamble on the nature of diversity--which is not something unusual or bizarre. Diversity is the natural order of things. Sameness is what is unnatural.      Diversity is not just normal, it's desirable.  It's nature's way of finding solutions to problems, and creating more survivable creatures. After the preamble there’s a list of the duties for citizens of a diverse world.  Tolerance is the most basic duty. Even ethnocentric individuals can be tolerant. They may think their own way is best; but, at the very least, they can be willing to tolerate those who are different.      Looking for the best in others is a higher duty. Justice means being even-handed in dealing with people who are different. An admonition written in the Book of Leviticus states: "You shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country." (Leviticus 24:22)      Alliances with other people of good will may need to be formed.  Causes must be organized if they are to survive. We should never give up on using existing organizations, or tire of creating new ones to ensure that the diverse world flourishes.      I decided to add an admonition about caring after reading an article about the effects of a diversity initiative at Occidental College. Occidental College recruited a student body that was truly diverse. And the students were getting along well. They were observing many of the duties of the creed. They were tolerant, and they were just. But they had created little homogeneous cliques that studied together, ate together, and partied together. A student was quoted as saying they tolerated one another. Hopefully, he said, one day we will care about one another.      Caring for other people even if they are different is profoundly different from just tolerating them.      We are most like God when we care.      You will find a version of "The Diversity Creed" below. It is copyrighted, but in the interest of spreading its message, you have our permission to reprint it for non-commercial use.      If you would like to purchase a beautiful poster of the creed, we have a very limited supply. To order the four-color poster of "The Diversity Creed," click here: www.achievementdigest.com/ProductOrderForm.html.      My one-man play, "An Evening With Abraham Lincoln" contains a powerful section on diversity. When I performed it for Fleet Mortgage Group’s diversity training program, Patricia Ryan, Fleet’s Director of Compliance, made this comment: "Dr. Griessman as Abe Lincoln brought a powerful message to Fleet’s diversity training program."      Mark B. Van Kirk, a senior manager with Price Waterhouse LLP, who worked with the Fleet program, stated: "His spiritually moving program is a highlight of any event."      For information about a performance for your organization, click: www.achievementdigest.com/MostPopularPrograms.html.      We have produced a beautiful color video of the complete Lincoln performance that contains the diversity module.      This is the live performance before an audience of over 20,000 at the Georgia Dome. To order "An Evening With Abraham Lincoln," click here www.achievementdigest.com/ProductOrderForm.html. (You may also purchase the video at www.amazon.com)      Finally, if you would like a customized presentation on diversity for your organization, please call us at 310-822-1864, or send us an email at gene@achievementdigest.com. ******************************************************** "THE DIVERSITY CREED" Gene Griessman © 1993 I believe that diversity is a part of the natural order of things, as natural as the trillion shapes and shades of the flowers of spring or the leaves of autumn. I believe that diversity brings new solutions to an ever-changing environment, and that sameness is not only uninteresting but limiting. To deny diversity is to deny life, with all its richness and manifold opportunities. Thus, I affirm my citizenship in a world of diversity, and with it the responsibility to: * Be tolerant. Live and let live. Understand that those who cause no harm should not be feared, ridiculed, or harmed, even if they are different. * Look for the best in others. * Be just in my dealings with poor and rich, weak and strong, and whenever possible to defend the young, the old, the frail, the defenseless. * Avoid needless conflicts and diversions, but always be willing to change for the better that which can be changed. * Seek knowledge in order to know what can be changed, as well as what cannot be changed. * Forge alliances with others who love liberty and justice. * Be kind, remembering how fragile the human spirit is. * Live the examined life, subjecting my motives and actions to the scrutiny of mind and heart so to rise above prejudice and hatred. * Care. Be generous in thought, word, and purse.