Greetings!
A few shipments
arrived this week. If you log
into your account at www.toywonders.com, before clicking on
any of the links below, you will see wholesale pricing -as well
as a picture.
Forgot your
password? (click
here) and enter your email address.
DIECAST
Collectible Model Cars And More
TOYS
To remove
yourself from our mailing list, please log into your account at
Toy Wonders, modify personal information and uncheck the option
Keep me informed about new products and offerings. Or reply to
this email and say unsubscribe.
Thank you
Lu
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700
That
Fleeting Apparition
By Lu Su
Toy Salesman, Philosopher, Jackie Chan of all Trades but Master
of none.
As
business entrepreneurs we are all driven to be “successful”.
We all want to be successful. If we were to delve into man's
psyche, we would probably see that the less secure we are with
ourselves, the greater our need to appear successful in front
of others. So what is success? Is it something tangible?
Is it something to be displayed? Perhaps some state of mind? One
thing I am willing to bet, is that the great majority of us have
never taken the time to define success. I can see why too.
In
America we live in a culture with much noise –mainly in
the form of food, news, and entertainment. All three operated
at 24/7, 365 days/year. One evening while out of town on
business, I decided to do what is instinctual for all cavemen.
I picked up a weapon, pointed it, and started hunting. After
searching through all the channels, I came to the stark realization
that it literally took 20 minutes to cycle through the entire
offering. So I suggest that anyone that has stock on companies
that manufacture round TV dials, to quickly liquidate your holdings.
Television all by itself is fully capable of consuming ones free
time. Now add internet service and you exponentially multiply
the number of ways that I can be entertained. Add wireless
service and the noise can follow you. With 24 hour sports
channels, food convenience (where now a 10 minute wait at any
coffee shop is now deemed unacceptable) and non-stop entertainment,
who has time to figure out what this little thing called success
is?
Lord
Acton, a British historian, made a very astute observation between
power and men. In 1887 he said, “Power tends to corrupt,
absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely. Great men are almost
always bad men.” Aside from having more noise and
better toys, man himself has not changed all that much since 1887;
so I would argue that his thesis is still true today. Moreover,
I would dare to extrapolate on Sir Acton’s hypothesis and
say that the American culture (as well as many other Western cultures)
which is becoming more secular in nature, tends to corrupt.
And a fully secularized culture will corrupt absolutely.
Could this have something to do with Muslim extremists’
actions against our way of life? I am too busy watching
an infomercial on how to have firmer buns to answer that question.
As
entreprenuers, we want to be "successful" and accomplish
great thing; but I know the great majority of us neither have
the inclination nor the desire to become “bad men”.
So how can greatness be achieved without going down Corruption
Avenue? I believe the answer lies in defining what a success
life is and then keeping your focus and talents on this fleeting
apparition. Success had better NOT be defined as something
tangible or you are setting yourself up for one big disappointment.
Man’s appetite for possessions is insatiable.
A
friend of mine is a reverend at a church in Germantown, PA.
One of his activities often takes him to hospitals and hospices
to visit sick and terminally ill members. With the large number
of people he has spoken to over the decades, he has told me that
not once has he heard a person on their death bed express regret
for failing to close one more deal, obtain one more account, or
make more money. No matter what economic status one comes
from, they all seem to express regret on some failed relationship
or regret in not spending more time with particular persons.
So could the definition of success have something to do with relationships?
One
of the wisest men that walked upon this earth said, “It
is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of
feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should
take this to heart.” What a really bizarre thing to
say. I would think all of us tough guys would prefer to
be in the company of good friends: a beer on one hand, a chicken
wing in the other, and of course an unobstructed view of the sporting
event playing on the TV, than being in a place that brings tears
to our eyes. I am sure that there are many levels to the
above proverb; but I believe this statement will scratch the surface
on one of the levels: People that have experienced great mourning
know the clarity it brings to their view point on life.
So the former is more likely to help us set our priorities right
and helps to fine tune what a “successful” life is
than a fun party. I think it is no surprise to anyone that I cannot
define what a successful life for you, Dick or Jane; but I can
give you a hint and say that it is probably relationship oriented
-with the right person(s).
Wow
this week I brought you back deep. You got some Lord Acton,
a little King Solomon, history, corruption, and the nature of
man. Since I’m willing to bet the readership of this
newsletter is not apt to read much poetry. I would like
to conclude with some poetic prose.
The
Station
by Robert J. Hastings
Tucked
away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves
on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by
train. Out of the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars
on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle
grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power
plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys,
of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village
halls.
But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain
day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands
will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there so many
wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives
will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly
we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering - waiting,
waiting, waiting for the station.
"When we reach the station, that will be it!" we cry.
"When I'm 18." "When I buy a new 450 SL Mercedes
Benz!" "When I put the last kid through college."
"When I have paid off the mortgage!" "When I
get a promotion." "When I reach the age of retirement,
I shall live happily ever after!"
Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no one
place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is
the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances
us.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when
coupled with Psalm 118:24: "This is the day which the Lord
hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't
the burdens of today that drive man mad. It is the regrets over
yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin
thieves who rob us of today.
So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles, instead,
climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often,
swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less.
Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon
enough.
