DALE BROWN ON USING YOUR GREATEST POWER TO DEFEAT

This is courtesy of Bob Starkey's blog at http://hoopthoughts.blogspot.com/

I received this via email from my friend and mentor Dale Brown.  During my tenure under Coach Brown, he was always at his best in difficult times.  A great deal has to do with his attitude and the choice he makes not to accept adversity but to be invigorated by the challenge it creates.  Here is his email:

After a major disappointment or failure to be sad and fearful is not a weakness but you must remember that there is only one power greater than fear and that is faith. The boldness of faith is so powerful that nothing can stop it. Stand firm and persevere. Have courage and wait patiently, and comfort will come when you most need it because God will not abandon you. It has been said that it is only after some painful struggle that one usually finds the deepest peace. Suffering is and always will be a mystery. You don’t explain a mystery; you respect it and trust God with it. If you let adversity whip you it’s because you allowed it. My friend Coach Don Meyer who has suffered unbelievable sickness and injury said, “Peace is not the absence of trouble, trial, and torment but calm in the midst of them.” History is punctuated with instances where people became strongest at their weakest point. Famous historian Arnold Toynbee believed that all people react in one of four ways under the most difficult circumstances:

1. Retreat into the past.

2. Daydream about the future.

3. Retreat within and wait for someone to rescue them.

4. FACE THE CRISIS AND TRANSFORM IT INTO SOMETHING USEFUL.

The greatest power in the world is our power to choose. You have special talents that God has given you, now let God give you peace and hope.

Adversity only visits the strong but stays forever with the weak. Stay Strong and Whip Adversity!

I Can Sleep When The Wind Blows

May we all sleep well.

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him.

"Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!"

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away.

The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

MORAL: When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm.

We, as believers in Christ, secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves in the Word of God. We don't need to understand, we just need to hold His hand to have peace in the midst of the storms. We need to spend time in the presence of the One Who is in full control of every storm in every life. When we know Him well, we will not fear.

I hope you sleep well!

Author unknown

15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another, attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves. You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

What Teachers Make - Taylor Mali

10 Questions That Create Success. Want help focusing on what really matters? Ask yourself these on a daily basis.

By Geoffrey James | @Sales_Source | Jan 23, 2012

Think that success means making lots of money? Think again.

Pictures of dead presidents have never made anybody happy. And how can you be successful if you're not happy? And buying things with that all money isn't much better. A new car, for instance, might tickle your fancy for a day or two–but pride of ownership is temporary.

Real success comes from the quality of your relationships and the emotions that you experience each day. That's where these 10 questions come in.

Ask them at the end of each day and I absolutely guarantee that you'll become more successful. Here they are:

1. Have I made certain that those I love feel loved?

2. Have I done something today that improved the world?

3. Have I conditioned my body to be more strong flexible and resilient?

4. Have I reviewed and honed my plans for the future?

5. Have I acted in private with the same integrity I exhibit in public?

6. Have I avoided unkind words and deeds?

7. Have I accomplished something worthwhile?

8. Have I helped someone less fortunate?

9. Have I collected some wonderful memories?

10. Have I felt grateful for the incredible gift of being alive?

Here's the thing. The questions you ask yourself on a daily basis determine your focus, and your focus determines your results.

These questions force you to focus on what's really important. Take heed of them and rest of your life—especially your work—will quickly fall into place.

The Race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5A1K6TxxM&feature=share&noredirect=1

What Is Really Important?

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schultz, the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. You don’t have to actually answer the questions. Just read questions straight through, and you’ll get the point.

1.Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2.Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3.Name the last five winners of the Miss America Pageant.
4.Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5.Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor or actress.
6.Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one!

1.List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2.Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3.Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4.Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5.Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier? The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones who care!

World’s Greatest Management Principle

You can work
Miracles by having
FAITH in others!
To get the best out
Of others, CHOOSE
To think and
BELIEVE the best
About them.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

- Dylan Thomas

The Road Ahead

Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we
Denounce them and insist,
The only reason we can’t win is the fates
Themselves have missed.
Yet, there lives on the ancient claim—
We win or lose within ourselves,
The shining trophies on our shelves can
Never win tomorrow’s game.
So you and I know deeper down there is a
Chance to win the crown,
But when we fail to give our best, we
Simply haven’t met the test
Of giving all and saving none until the
Game is rally won.
Of showing what is meant by grit, of
Fighting on when others quit,
Of playing through not letting up, it’s
Bearing down that wins the cup.
Of taking it and taking more until we
Gain the winning score,
Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of
Hoping when our dreams are dead,
Of praying when our hopes have fled.
Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,
If bravely we have given all, for who
Can ask more of a man
Than giving all, it seems to me, is not
So far from VICTORY.
And so the fates are seldom wrong, no
Matter how they twist and wind,
It’s you and I who make our fates, we
Open up or close the gates,
On the road ahead or the road behind.

How to Be a Champion

You wonder how they do it and you look to
See the knack,
You watch the foot in action, or the
Shoulder, or the back,
But when you spot the answer where the
Higher glamours lurk,
You’ll find in moving higher up the
Laurel covered spire,
That the most of it is practice and the
Rest of it is work.

By Grantland Rice

I Thank My Competitors

My competitors do more for me
than my friends.

My friends are too polite to point out my
weaknesses, but my competitors go to great
expense to tell of them.

My competitors are efficient and diligent.
They make me search for ways to improve
my products and services.

My competitors would take my business away
from me if they could.

This keeps me alert to hold what I have.

If I had no competitors, I would be lazy,
incompetent and complacent. I need the
discipline they enforce upon me.

I thank my competitors.
They have been good to me.

GOD BLESS THEM ALL

Doing The Remarkable

When it comes to meeting and conquering the negativity in your life, here is a key question: what can you do, starting today, that will make a difference?

What can you do during economic chaos? What can you do when everything has gone wrong? What can you do when you've run out of money, when you don't feel well and it's all gone sour? What can you do?

Let me give you the broad answer first. You can do the most remarkable things, no matter what happens. People can do incredible things, unbelievable things, despite the most impossible or disastrous circumstances.

Here is why humans can do remarkable things: because they are remarkable. Humans are different than any other creation. When a dog starts with weeds, he winds up with weeds. And the reason is because he's a dog. But that's not true with human beings. Humans can turn weeds into gardens.

Humans can turn nothing into something, pennies into fortune, and disaster into success. And the reason they can do such remarkable things is because they are remarkable. Try reaching down inside of yourself; you'll come up with some more of those remarkable human gifts. They're there, waiting to be discovered and employed.

With those gifts, you can change anything for yourself that you wish to change. And I challenge you to do that because you can change. If you don't like how something is going for you, change it. If something isn't enough, change it. If something doesn't suit you; change it. If something doesn't please you, change it. You don't ever have to be the same after today. If you don't like your present address, change it -- you're not a tree!

If there is one thing to get excited about, it's your ability to make yourself do the necessary things, to get a desired result, to turn the negative into success. That's true excitement.

Michael Jordan on Fear

I never looked at the consequences of missing a big shot. Why? Because when you think about the consequences, you always think of a negative result.

Some people get frozen by the fear of failure. They get it from peers or from just thinking about the possibility of negative results. They might be afraid of looking bad or being embarrassed. I realized that if I was going to achieve anything in life I had to be aggressive. I had to get out there and go for it. I don't believe you can achieve anything by being passive. I'm not thinking about anything except what I'm trying to accomplish. Any fear is an illusion. You think something is standing in your way but nothing is really there. What is there is an opportunity to do your best and gain some success. If it turns out my best isn't good enough, then at least I'll never be able to look back and say I was too afraid to try. Failure always made me try harder the next time.

That's why my advice has always been to "think positive" and find fuel in any failure. Sometimes failure actually just gets you closer to where you want to be. If I'm trying to fix a car, every time I try something that doesn't work, I'm getting closer to finding the answer. The greatest inventions in the world had hundreds of failures before the answers were found.

I think fear sometimes comes from a lack of focus or concentration. If I had stood at the free-throw line and thought about 10 million people watching me on the other side of the camera lens, I couldn't have made anything. So I mentally tried to put myself in a familiar place. I thought about all those times I shot free throws in practice and went through the same motion, the same technique that I had used thousands of times. You forget about the outcome. You know you are doing the right things. So you relax and perform. After that you can't control anything anyway. It's out of your hands, so don't worry about it.

--Michael Jordan

John Wooden Quotations

A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.

Ability is a poor man's wealth.

Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

Be prepared and be honest.

Consider the rights of others before your own feelings, and the feelings of others before your own rights.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.

Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.

I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent.

If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?

If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.

It isn't what you do, but how you do it.

It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.

It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.

It's what you learn after you know it all that counts.

Material possessions, winning scores, and great reputations are meaningless in the eyes of the Lord, because He knows what we really are and that is all that matters.

Never mistake activity for achievement.

Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Be prepared and be honest."

"Be quick, but don't hurry."

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

"What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player."

"Winning takes talent; to repeat takes character."

"A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment."

"I'd rather have a lot of talent and a little experience than a lot of experience and a little talent."

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

"If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes."

"It isn't what you do, but how you do it."

"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be."

"Consider the rights of others before your own feelings and the feelings of others before your own rights."

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

"It's not so important who starts the game but who finishes it."

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."

"Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

"The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team."

"Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

"Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts."

"I'm Having a Party"

If you have ever gone through a toll booth, you know that your relationship to the person in the booth is not the most intimate you'll ever have. It is one of life's frequent non-encounters: You hand over money; you drive off.

I have been through every one of the 17 toll booths on the Oakland - San Francisco Bay Bridge on thousands of occasions and never had an exchange worth remembering with anybody.

Late one morning I headed for lunch in San Francisco. As I drove toward one of the booths, I heard loud music. It sounded like a party or a Michael Jackson concert. I looked around. No other cars with their windows open. No sound trucks or outdoor speakers. I looked at the toll booth. Inside it, the man was dancing.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm having a party," he said.

"What about the rest of these people?" I looked over at other booths; nothing moving there.

"They're busy."

I had a dozen other questions for him, but somebody in a big hurry to get somewhere started punching his horn behind me and I drove off. But I made a note to myself: Find this guy again. There's something in his eye that says there's magic in his toll booth. Months later I did find him again, still with the loud music, still having a party.

Again I asked, "What are you doing?"

He said, "I remember you from the last time. I'm still dancing. I'm having the same party."

I said, "Look. What about the rest of the people."

He said. "Stop. What do those look like to you?" He pointed down the row of toll booths.

"They look like toll booths."

"Noooo imagination!"

I said, "Okay, I give up. What do they look like to you?"

He said, "Vertical coffins."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can prove it. At 8:30 every morning, live people get in. Then they die for eight hours. At 4:30, like Lazarus from the dead, they reemerge and go home. For eight hours, brain is on hold, dead on the job. Going through the motions."

I was amazed. This guy had developed a philosophy, a mythology about his job. I could not help asking the next question:

"Why is it different for you? You're having a good time."

He looked at me. "I knew you were going to ask that," he said. "I'm going to be a dancer someday." He pointed to the administration building. "My bosses are in there, and they're paying for my training."

Sixteen people dead on the job, and the seventeenth, in precisely the same situation, figures out a way to live. That man was having a party where you and I would probably not last three days. The boredom! He and I did have lunch later, and he said,

"I don't understand why anybody would think my job is boring. I have a corner office, glass on all sides. I can see the Golden Gate, San Francisco, the Berkeley hills; half the Western world vacations here and I just stroll in every day and practice dancing."

Abraham Lincoln said, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

I would tend to agree.

~ Written by Dr. Charles Garfield who is an expert On Peak Performance and Team Management. ~

DO RIGHT RULES

Our Basketball Rules

1.Relentlessly Pursue Excellence
2.Respect Yourself and Others
3.Take Full Responsibility
4.Faithfully Serve Your Neighbor
5.Develop and Demonstrate Loyalty
6.Put the Team Before Yourself
7.Discipline Yourself So No One Else Has To
8.Make Hard Work Your Passion
9.Be a Competitor
10.Learn to Be a Great Communicator
11.Make Winning an Attitude
12.Handle Success Like You Handle Failure

NEVER DOUBT YOURSELF

By Walter Westfall

If I would leave any thought with someone I would say never doubt yourself. No matter what people say, no matter what you may think sometimes, never doubt yourself. If you believe in yourself you will succeed far more than you will fail. He who possesses a quiet kind of faith in his ability to perform a task already has the task half completed.

Believe in yourself despite setbacks, despite the seemingly immovable obstacles, despite the cold and dark, despite the woe and pain, and eventually your faith will come to fruition, and you will find all those troubles behind you.

The simplest thing in the world is to deride ourselves because we made a mistake, to give up and say, "I'm no good", but the more difficult thing is to believe in ourselves and constructively continue our life. The greatest error in life is to downgrade ourselves. The most horrible tragedies in life have occurred from a lack of faith in one's own self, one's own ability, from a belief that one cannot succeed, but that failure is their sole lot in life.

There seems to be a self uncertainty that builds up in the mind every time one makes a mistake or fails to accomplish a task, and with every successive blunder the uncertainty grows stronger until one doubts one's ability to do anything right. Being human we are host to a number of frailties, each one of which disturbs and depresses us, and makes us doubt our worth. We are not a mechanically precise machine, we are a bundle of nerves which often tangle and get jangled, but are capable of amazing performance.

We have more strength than we believe, there is more fight within us than we know, and far more potential than we could ever call forth or even dream of being possible.

What Winning Leaders Do

In Winning, former General Electric CEO Jack Welch says he found that some ways of leading always seem to work in creating a winning company – and that they became his “rules:”

1.Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach and build self-confidence. Take every opportunity to inject self-confidence into those who have earned it. Use ample praise, the more specific the better.

2.Leaders make sure people not only see the vision, they live and breathe it. There were times I talked about the company’s direction so much in one day, that I was completely sick of hearing it myself.

3.Leaders get into everyone’s skin, exuding positive energy and optimism. Unhappy tribes have a tough time winning.

4. Leaders establish trust with candor, transparency, and credit. Leaders never score off their own people by stealing an idea and claiming it as their own.

5.Leaders have the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls. Don’t run for office. You’re already elected.

6.Leaders probe and push with a curiosity that borders on skepticism, making sure their questions are answered with action. “We’ll look into it,” says Welch, is the all-too-common business head fake.

7.Leaders inspire risk taking and learning by setting an example. There is no edict in the world that will make people take risks or spend their time learning.

8.Leaders celebrate. Celebrating makes people fell like winners.

Drunk Driving Story

From “Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul.” It is a true story as well. This is a sad story, reminding of us the effects of drinking and driving.

Jenny was so happy about the house they had found. For once in her life 'twas on the right side of town. She unpacked her things with such great ease as she watched her new curtains blow in the breeze. How wonderful it was to have her own room. School would be starting; she'd have friends over soon. There'd be sleep-overs and parties; she was so happy. It's just the way she wanted her life to be. On the first day of school, everything went great. She made new friends and even got a date! She thought, "I want to be popular and I'm going to be, because I just got a date with the star of the team!" To be known in this school you had to have clout, and dating this guy would sure help her out. There was only one problem stopping her fate. Her parents had said she was too young to date. "Well, I just won't tell them the entire truth.

They won't know the difference; what's there to lose?" Jenny asked to stay with her friends that night. Her parents frowned but said, "All right." Excited, she got ready for the big event. But as she rushed around like she had no sense, she began to feel guilty about all the lies. But what's a pizza, a party and a moonlight ride? Well, the pizza was good, and the party was great, but the moonlight ride would have to wait.

For Dan was half drunk by this time. But he kissed her and said that he was just fine. Then the room filled with smoked and Dan took a puff. Jenny couldn't believe he was smoking that stuff. Now Dan was ready to ride to the point, but only after he'd smoked another joint. They jumped in the car for the moonlight ride, not thinking that he was too drunk to drive. They finally made it to the point, and Dan started trying to make a pass. A pass is not what Jenny wanted at all (and by a pass, I don't mean playing football). "Perhaps my parents were right...maybe I am too young. Boy, how could I ever, ever be so dumb." With all of her might, she pushed Dan away: "Please take me home, I don't want to stay." Dan cranked up the engine and floored the gas. In a matter of seconds, they were going too fast.

As Dan drove on in a fit of wild anger, Jenny knew that her life was in danger. She begged and pleaded for him to slow down, But he just got faster as they neared the town.

"Just let me get home! I'll confess that I lied. I really went out for a moonlight ride." Then all of a sudden, she saw a big flash. "Oh God, please help us! We're going to crash!" She doesn't remember the force of impact, just that everything all of a sudden went black. She felt someone remove her from the twisted rubble and heard, "Call an ambulance! These kids are in trouble!”

Voices she heard...a few words at best. But she knew there were two cars involved in the wreck. Then wondered to herself if Dan was all right, and if the people in the other car were alive. She awoke in the hospital to faces so sad. "You've been in a wreck and it looks pretty bad." These voices echoed inside her head as they gently told her that Dan was dead.

They said, "Jenny, we've done all we can do. But it looks as if we'll lose you too."

"But the people in the other car!?" Jenny cried.

"We're sorry, Jenny, they also died." Jenny prayed, "God, forgive me for what I've done. I only wanted to have just one night of fun.

"Tell those people's family, I've made their lives dim, and wish I could return their families to them. Tell Mom and Dad I'm sorry I lied, and that it's my fault so many have died. Oh, nurse, won't you please tell them that for me?"

The nurse just stood there -- she never agreed. But she took Jenny's hand with tears in her eyes. And a few moments later, Jenny died. A man asked the nurse, "Why didn't you do your best to bid that girl her one last request?"

She looked at the man with eyes so sad. "Because the people in the other car were her mom and dad."