ATIRE A PRIMEIRA FLOR

ATIRE A PRIMEIRA FLOR

Glácia Daibert

 

Quando tudo parecer caminhar errado, seja você a tentar o primeiro passo certo;

 Se tudo parecer escuro, se nada puder ser visto, acenda você a primeira luz,
traga para a treva, você primeiro, a pequena lâmpada;

Quando todos estiverem chorando,  tente você o primeiro sorriso;
talvez não na forma de lábios sorridentes, mas na de um coração que
compreenda, de braços que confortem;

Se a vida inteira for um imenso não, não pare você na busca do primeiro
sim, ao qual tudo de positivo deverá seguir-se;

Quando ninguém souber coisa alguma, e você  souber um pouquinho,
seja o primeiro a ensinar,  começando por aprender você mesmo,

corrigindo-se a si mesmo;

 Quando alguém estiver angustiado à procura, consulte  bem o que se passa,
talvez seja em busca de você mesmo que este seu irmão esteja;

Daí, portanto, o seu deve ser o primeiro  a aparecer,  o primeiro a mostrar-se,
primeiro que pode ser o único e,  mais sério ainda, talvez o último;

Quando a terra estiver seca,  que sua mão seja a primeira a regá-la;
quando a flor se sufocar na urze e no espinho,
que sua mão seja  a primeira a separar o joio, a arrancar a praga,
a afagar a pétala, a acariciar a flor;

Se a porta estiver fechada, de você venha a primeira chave;

Se o vento sopra frio, que o calor de sua lareira seja a  primeira proteção
e primeiro abrigo.

Se o pão for apenas massa e  não estiver cozido,
seja você o primeiro forno para transformá-lo em alimento.

Não atire a primeira pedra em quem erra.

De acusadores o mundo está cheio; nem, por outro lado, aplauda o erro;
dentro em pouco, a ovação será ensurdecedora;

 Ofereça sua mão primeiro para levantar quem caiu; 

sua atenção primeiro para  aquele que foi esquecido;

 Seja você o primeiro para aquele que não tem ninguém;

 Quando tudo for espinho, atire a primeira flor;

seja o primeiro a mostrar que há  caminho de volta,

 compreendendo que o perdão regenera,
que a  compreensão edifica,  que o auxílio possibilita,

 que o entendimento reconstrói.

 Atire você, quando tudo for pedra,

a primeira e decisiva flor.

 

 

Taking Care of the Earth Every Day

• Keep Your Neighborhood Clean
  If you see trash on the ground, toss it in a trash can.
• Recycle Cans, Bottles, and Paper
  Save them at home and at school, and help your family recycle them.

• Help Keep the Air Clean
  Ride your bike or walk to school. Too many cars cause a lot of pollution.
• Save Paper
  Use both sides of your paper at school and at home.
  To clean up messes, use sponges or washable cloths instead of paper towels.

• Help Keep the Air Clean
  Ride your bike or walk to school. Too many cars cause a lot of pollution.
•  
• Help Save Energy
  Turn off the lights when you leave the room.
  Turn off the TV when you're finished watching it.
  Don't leave the refrigerator door open. Get what you want quickly.
  
  
  
  And Remember . . .
  
  
  Don't ever think you're not important to our earth. You are!
  
  
   

      

Famous Entrepreneurs

Ray Kroc - McDonald's

"The definition of salesmanship is the gentle art of
letting the customer have it your way."

Growing Up

As a young child, Ray Kroc went with his father to visit a phrenologist - someone who predicts
someone's future based on the shape of a person's head. Kroc was told that he would end up in
the food-service industry. Coincidence or not, Kroc would design the blueprint for the fast-food
industry and lead the largest fast-food company in the world.
Kroc was hard working as a young child. He learned his salesmanship skills through his lemonade
stand ventures and by taking jobs at a grocery store and his uncle's soda fountain.
Kroc quickly grew tired with school and wanted to get into sales. As a teenager, he dropped out
to work as a salesperson for the Lily-Tulip Cup Company. Working long hours and using his
natural charisma, Kroc rapidly rose to become the top salesperson at the company.
While working at the Lily-Tulip Cup Company, one of Kroc's clients was Earl Prince. Prince's latest
venture was trying to sell a new machine he invented called the Multimixer - a milkshake making
machine. Immediately captivated by the invention, the 37 year old Kroc negotiated an agreement
for the exclusive marketing rights and left Lily. Over the 15 years he then sold the Multimixer
across the United States to soda fountain and restaurant owners.
Nearing 50 years of age a new trend began occurring in America - people were leaving the big
cities and headed for the suburbs. As a result, many of the soda fountains and restaurants that
Kroc targeted were closing down operations. With the future looking bleak, there was one small
restaurant, in San Bernardino, California, that placed an order for eight Multimixers. The
hamburger stand was run by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald.
Starting The Business
The McDonald brothers were of particular interest to Kroc not only because they were buying his
Multimixers when everyone else was shutting down but because they had ordered eight
Multimixers. This would allow them the capacity to make 40 milk shakes at the same time.
Curious as to why a restaurant would need to make so many milk shakes simultaneously, Kroc
decided to go to California and pay them a personal visit.
The restaurant was very different from the typical American fast-food drive-in at the time. It has
no indoor seating, was self-service, and offered a very limited menu of hamburgers,
cheeseburgers, french fries, sodas, and, of course, milk shakes. The McDonald brothers had
perfected a system whereby each order would be put together in an assembly-line and would
take less than a minute before the customer had their order in their hands.
Kroc's entrepreneurial mind immediately went to work and he showed the McDonald brothers
how they could expand their restaurant across the country. Kroc would be the obvious
beneficiary by supplying them with all the Multimixers they would need. After presenting the
brothers with his idea, they expressed that they did not have an interest in growing so large. As
he had previously done with the Multimixers, Kroc offered to be their marketing expert and
obtained the exclusive rights to sell the McDonald system.
Kroc's first McDonald's was opened in Des Plaines, Chicago in the spring of 1955. He ensured
that the restaurant was kept spotlessly clean and used it as a show model to sell franchises
across the country. Kroc's model was to collect 1.9% of gross sales, 0.5% of which would go to
the McDonald brothers.
After his first year in operation, he sold 18 McDonald's franchises. He realized, however, that he
was just breaking even after looking over his financials. The 0.5% he was giving the McDonald
brothers was making it nearly impossible for him to turn a profit off of the remaining 1.4%.
Kroc's luck was about to change, however, as he met Harry Sonnenborne, the man who would
show him the secret to making money in this industry.
Building An Empire
The brilliance behind Harry Sonnenborne's model was to sell real estate and not hamburgers. His
suggestion was to purchase or lease the land on which all the McDonald's restaurants were built
on. Franchisees would then pay the company either a monthly rent amount or a percentage of
their gross sales, whichever amount was greater. Under this model, Kroc has assured himself of a
profitable minimum baseline revenue stream from each franchisee. With the new profitable
business model established, Kroc could now aggressively grow his new company.
Kroc believed very strongly that customers should have the same experience in every McDonald's
from coast to coast. He created 'the McDonald's Method' and a 75-page manual that explained
how the restaurant should be run - from how much meat to include in a hamburger to how to cut
the french fries to how often to clean the restaurant. He would later open a Hamburger
University where new franchisees went to learn how to operate a McDonald's restaurant.
Students earned a degree in 'Hamburgerology.'
With rapid growth came excellent feedback from franchisees on how to make the system even
more successful. The McDonald brothers, however, were against making any changes to the
formula they created. After repeated arguments with the brothers, Kroc decided it would be best
to buy them out and remove the conflict. In 1961, Kroc paid $2.7 million in cash to the brothers
for complete ownership.
Having no further obstacles in his way, Kroc continued his aggressive expansion. He set a goal to
establish 1,000 restaurants. By 1965, he had over 700 restaurants opened across America and
McDonald's was the first company in the fast-food industry to go public on the stock market. The
share price quickly rose, making Kroc a millionaire. By 1970, over 1,500 McDonald's were running
around the world.
Part of Kroc's true genius was his ability not to invent something new, but to take an existing
product and refine the business model to the point where it could be immensely profitable. By
the time of his death, the McDonald's golden arches were more recognizable around the world
than the Christian cross.