It is hard to believe that this is volume 7 of my e-letter. When asked how long I've had my business, I still find myself thinking five years, maybe ten years. And yet, this June it will be 15 years since I left the corporate world.

Although I had very good intentions to have my start of the year blog written by now (reviewing how I did on last year's 'three words" and explaining this year's three words), it's still a work in progress. And today is the last day of January. So, I'll simply wish you a wonderful 2012, with the promise of more words of wisdom soon.

A few weeks ago, our Temple (Congregation B'nai Israel in Emerson, NJ) celebrated Freedom Shabbat. It commemorated the birthdays of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (who marched together in the South). Participants picked out quotes from a basket from each of these great men. I'd like to share my quotes with you:

"When the opportunity presents itself for you to defeat your enemy, that is the time which you must not do it. There will come a time, in many instances, when the person who hate you most, the person who has misused you most, the person who has gossiped about you most, the person who has spread false rumors about you most, there will come a time when you will have an opportunity to defeat that person. It might be in terms of a recommendation for a job; it might be in terms of helping that person to make some move in life. That's the time time you must do it. That is the meaning of love. In the final analysis, love is not this sentimental something that we talk about. It's not merely an emotional something. Love is creative, understanding goodwill for all men. It is the refusal to defeat any individual. When you rise to the level of love, of its great beauty and power, you seek only to defeat evil systems. Individuals who happen to be caught up in that system, you love, but you seek to defeat the system." -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The worship of reason is arrogance and betrays a lack of intelligence. The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith." "When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people." -- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

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