Dear Friend,
The scene: Small town in Mississippi, middle of the Great Depression, year 1933.
The atmosphere: almost everyone was poor, everyone helped each other, racial prejudice ruled the day for most people.
Main character: Widowed mother of 12 with a 5th grade education.
Opening scene: Widowed mother lines her kids up in a row to tell them something. Each of the kids is wearing well-worn but very clean clothes.
Widowed mother says to her kids in a confident and stern voice:
“Someday you will stand before a color-blind Lord. Therefore, you will be kind to your black brothers and sisters.”
Next scene: July 1972 in a home in Dallas, Texas.
Main characters: A 46-year-old man and an elderly African American lady.
Opening scene: On the advice of friends, the 46-year-old man invites the elderly African American lady to spend the weekend at his home.
The elderly African American lady has one thing on her mind – Jesus. She says to the 46-year-old man: “Zig, God has been waiting on you a long time, don’t make Him wait any longer."
Next scene: Today – YOU reading this email.
The only reason you have ever heard of Zig Ziglar is the wisdom of his mother. Dad heard his mother say countless times growing up to “be kind to your black brothers and sisters.” This lesson is why Dad had no problem inviting Sister Jessie, the elderly African American woman, into our home. I was seven years old at the time.
Sister Jessie is the one who introduced Dad to Christ – it was that weekend that Dad became a born-again Christian. That was the weekend that everything changed for Zig Ziglar, and the reason you know about him today.
Just think – if my grandmother had been prejudiced, you would never have heard of Zig Ziglar and I would not have had the incredible father that I had.
When you see people, how do do you treat them? Someday you will stand before a color-blind Lord.
You are Born To Win, so go ahead and Live To Win!
Tom
P.S. Today is Day 31 on my 66 Days of Gratitude Journey. Today I am grateful for Dave Ramsey, Seth Godin, and Andy Costa and our Zig Ziglar documentary.
P.P.S. The antonym (opposite) of creativity is prejudice. Think about it.