Each morning when I open my eyes, I say to myself: “I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.”

- Groucho Marx

In our day, power is most often associated with force, drive, push, violence, and intensity.  Modern man has never explored the tremendous power latent in gentleness.

Away back in the sixth century before Christ, the Chinese philosopher Lao-tze listed gentleness as the first quality required of a leader. “I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize,” he said.  “The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others.

“Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.” 

- Author unknown

“The real purpose for discipline is not to punish, but to teach kids how to behave in socially acceptable ways, and how to control normal emotions, like anger, frustration and jealousy.”

Dr. Kathy Merritt,
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Duke University