“Why not? We need to come back at him! We can’t let him get away with that!”
“Okay,” Joe agreed, “then here’s my statement. Are you ready?”
Yes, I thought to myself, now we’re cookin? Joe will say this much better than fever could.
“Go,” I said, my fingers poised.
Joe dictated a one-sentence statement: “I’m sorry to see my opponent doing this to himself.”
“That’s it?” I burst out. “That’s it?”
“That’s it,” Joe repeated.
“But what about all those things he said?”
“We can drop down to his level,” Joe said quietly, “or we can rise above it. Which do you
choose?”
“But, but—”
“—Which do you choose?” Joe asked again.
I glanced at the pages I had written. I reread the first couple of paragraphs. Then I tore them
up.
“Good choice,” Joe said and he patted me on the shoulder. “You grew up tonight.”
Now I want to tell you something about that life experience that you may not realize.
What?
When you use the insight that you gained there, you are using God. When you use that story
in a book like this, you are using God. Because you have taken a gift I have given you and
sent it to all the world.
Do you see? This is more than an interesting anecdote. This was more than a simple life
episode. You brought this to your Self, and now you’ve shared it with us, for a reason. You
seek to change your Self and change the world.
The telling of stories from your life in this book is about much more than satisfying the
curiosity of your readers about your past. It is about causing others to remember what they,
too, have always known.
Now here is the symmetry, here is the perfection in the design: it was clear to your soul thirty
years ago what persons, places, and conditions would provide perfect experiences that
would prepare you to play your role in changing the world. It was also known to your soul that
should you choose those experiences, what you received from them would have lasting value
that you would use thirty years later.
Whoa.
Do you really think anything happens by accident?