Pep Talk: "Timeless Advice"

Anybody remember the name Lloyd Shearer? Perhaps a better question is, “Do you remember the name Walter Scott?”

Don’t scramble your brain too much. Here’s some info straight from Wikipedia: Lloyd "Skip" Shearer (December 20, 1916 – May 27, 2001) was a celebrity gossip columnist. From 1958 to 1991 he wrote “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade" in Parade magazine. In this column he used the name Walter Scott and discussed rumors about celebrities using a question and answer style. Today, it sounds like he would have been perfect to write for Star, Us or People. Hey, darling wife makes me read them each weekend.

Anyway, Shearer began writing in high school, continued through collegiate studies at the University of North Carolina and then, in 1941, was drafted into the U.S. Army. The New York City native continued to write for the military magazine YANK. After the Second World War, Shearer became a correspondent for the NY Times before landing at Parade and starting the gossip column under the Walter Scott name. He wrote the column for more than 30 years before the progression of Parkinson’s disease forced him to retire.

I had never heard of the man until a recent speaking engagement. I was delivering remarks about Victory’s A Stronger Cord wellness outreach movement to members of the University Hills’ Rotary Club. One of the club members, responsible for delivering weekly inspirational thoughts, offered up this gem, attributed to Shearer from late 1984. It was directed toward motivating folks for the upcoming year of 1985. 

The truth of Shearer’s words still ring true today. He starts with: “No one will ever get out of this world alive. Resolve, therefore, to maintain a reasonable sense of values.”

• Take care of yourself. Good health is everyone’s major source of wealth. Without it, happiness in almost impossible.
• Resolve to be cheerful and helpful. People will repay you in kind.
• Avoid angry, abrasive persons. They are generally vengeful.
• Avoid zealots. They are generally humorless.
• Resolve to listen more and talk less. No one ever learns anything by talking.
• Be wary of giving advice. Wise men don’t need it and fools won’t heed it.
• Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and wrong. Sometime in life, we have been all of these.
• Do not equate money with success. There are many successful moneymakers who are miserable failures as human being. What counts most about success is how a person achieves it.

Eight wise thoughts about productive values and winning this roller coaster journey we call life. Let’s live them this week. Thanks Lloyd, aka Walter. Regardless of your name, the advice is timeless!