Excellence

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“It is not success that makes one excellent. It is the ability to strive to succeed when everything is telling you that you must fail. To be excellent, we must persevere against every failure until we succeed, and then do it once again.”
-Jayson Schwinn

I guess I'm old.

When I started Gun's Quotes on Facebook, I really wasn't sure how it would go, if anybody would care, if all my non-Michigander friends would think I'm weird (beyond what they already think, that is) or if I would keep up with it any longer than a month. Looking back on the previous quotes and subsequent stories in the archive, it looks as though I mostly am trying to impart wisdom upon those of you crazy enough to still be here after 3 1/2 months, by quoting people smarter than I am. Since we all know that wisdom is reserved for old people, and since I am their messenger, I guess I qualified myself.

However, who's REALLY old now is my cousin, Jayson. You see, over the course of this Blessed Thanksgiving weekend, my cousin, Jayson (quoted above) got married. He and his beautiful wife, Kara, exchanged their vows on Saturday. The wedding was gorgeous, the reception a blast, and dinner was my 3rd Thanksgiving meal of turkey and stuffing this past week. I think I gained 10 pounds.

So since my cousin is officially a married man now, I think it only appropriate that I place him in the "wise" category, and share with all of you some of the wisdom that he has found during the course of his lifetime.

It is one of those quotes where I don't need to give much of an explanation as to what it means, or how it applies.

So, to you, Jayson and Kara, I give my most heartfelt congratulations, and wish you a most Blessed, Happy, Long, and EXCELLENT marriage!

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!

Thanksgiving

For five years the Gun's Quotes have always used the exact same quote for this week, Thanksgiving week. After you read the quote you'll understand why.

This quote is old, and I suppose I must state that. Also, some of the statistics are admittedly subjective, meaning that how it defines certain terms dictate how accurate the numbers are. Nevertheless, my goal of this quote is not to give you a statistical education. No, my goal for this week is to help you gain perspective. So here we go:

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a warm place to sleep… you are richer than 75% of people in this world.

“If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, spare change in a dish some place…you are among the top 8% of the wealthy.

“If you woke up this morning with more health than illness…you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

“If you have never experienced the dangers of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of physical starvation…you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

“If you can attend a church or temple meeting without the fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death…you are more blessed than three billion people in the world. (HALF the world’s population)

“If your parents are still alive and still married you are very rare; representing 33% of the population in the United States!

“If you hold your head up high, with a smile on your face and are truly thankful…you are truly blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

“If you can, hold someone’s hand, hug them, or even touch them on the shoulder… because you can offer a healing touch. You have more than what most people in the world can imagine.

“If you can read this message you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all. (Regardless of language)”
-Multiple sources, mostly anonymous

Our society views holidays as days when we can get out of school, get off of work, and gorge ourselves silly with food and drink. We find family and friends to spend time with, and generally have a good time. I hope that this week, especially after reading this week's quote, you at the very least consider that Thanksgiving is not just another day, not just a day of fun and festivities, but a day that really has meaning. That meaning is that you have reasons - a lots of them - to be thankful for what you have.

So, over the course of Thanksgiving and in the weeks to come, I challenge you to do these things:

THINK - Think about how jealous the world is of what you have. Even you poor college and high school students are thousands of times richer than many of your peers in 3rd-world countries.
THANK - I would advocate thanking God for the many blessings He has given you, but even if you have different beliefs, at least thanking your parents, grandparents, other family, or friends for helping to make you who you are today.
GIVE - Donate to charity. Help with Habitat for Humanity. Work a day at a soup kitchen. Drop cans off at a can drive. It doesn't matter what you give, just do it. Please don't waste your time and gifts on yourself. You can afford to help somebody else out who needs help.

I hope y'all have a very Blessed, Meaningful, Happy Thanksgiving.

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!

Fornicating Pretzels

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“Do not fornicate my pretzels!”
-Aaron Ingrassia

An introduction is in order. Let me introduce you to my good friend, Aaron.

Aaron is one of the funnest guys I know. Always having an upbeat attitude and always so happy to see his friends again, he does not find difficulty in finding cool things to do.

....but, even if you were caught with him in the dullest city in America, you could be rest assured that you would be entertained by his many comments (sometimes intentional, sometimes not...) that make absolutely no sense whatsoever, and I swear that sometimes he made up totally random stuff just so that he could get on the Gun's Quotes one more time.

He currently holds the Gun's Quote record for most nonsensical quotes in a year. (2003) This week's quote is one of them.

So, there you go, Aaron. Now you can quit bugging me about your internet debut. :)

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!

Another Face

Gun’s Quote-of-the-Week:

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourselves another.”
-William Shakespeare

This week's Gun's Quote inspiration comes from a friend of mine whose friends made a video on YouTube.

I have been trying to make friends down here in my new "home" in suburban Kansas City. You know what? It's hard. This isn't like college where you are daily surrounded by literally hundreds of other people your age. Now don't get me wrong, I work in a very young office, but even then, it's only about 15 guys, and we don't have the same interests.

I joined the Young Adults group at church, and volunteered for the Life Teen program, which is essentially the high school Youth Group. Anybody who knows me knows that I love to get involved with stuff and help people out where/when I can.

This past week I was reminded that I do not have many strong relationships with the people around me yet. I went to the first Young Adult Bible Study, and was "the new guy." Nobody knows how to talk to you, and you don't know how talk to other people. You end up having that pointless small-talk conversation with others, if you have any conversation at all.

The teens had a Halloween Party on Wednesday, which was nice, but still, I haven't been there long enough to be someone to converse with yet.

Friday night, just when I thought I was going to go the entire week visiting all these groups and not feeling like a part of any of them, the music minister at church (who is roughly my age and lives by himself, for now) shoots me a Facebook message and suggests doing something together that night.

Finally! A friendship!

Then tonight at church, a couple of the teens seem to finally be warming up to me as well. I'm learning names, we can have a conversation that isn't incredibly uncomfortable, etc.

We all put on faces. Whether we admit it or not, sometime in our life, we weren't exactly honest with somebody else. Maybe it wasn't a matter of honesty... maybe we just simply withheld the truth.

My bit of "withholding truth" was the fact that the last couple of weeks were, well, kinda rough. Nobody likes being alone, and everybody wants somebody to talk to, but sometimes, it's just easier to pretend like nothing is wrong and go with the flow because we would rather people not know anything about us than to know that we are hurting, even if it's just temporary or minor. I am guilty as charged.

So why throw it out there now? I'm not looking for pity points, but I am looking to be more authentic to myself, and others. I don't benefit from not telling my friends the truth, they don't benefit from hearing me tell stories, and vice-versa.

So, this week, the challenge to everybody is to find at least one friend and honestly share with him/her where you are at in your life. No faces. No gimmicks. Just let it out. Be authentic.

Enjoy the video.

Video Credits: Stephanie Bruning, Hudson Kemna, Hilarie Andrews, Maddison Tobin, Mallory Dahmer, David Weber, Jeff Burnett.
Video link: http://www.youtube.com/wat​ch?v=NMccLTozR1s

…and that’s why it’s a Gun’s Quote!