Ode to Mr. Sam

Sam Walton was an ordinary man
Who started with a simple plan
His only dream to be the best
Not bigger, but better than the rest

He started with a single store
He never really wanted more
But as his idea gathered steam
His goal became a global dream

He traveled here, he traveled there
He flew in his plane almost everywhere
He visited stores across the land
Talking, serving and shaking hands

He believed his team to be the key
He gave credit to others for all to see
He was quick to diminish his own role
Crediting team success for achieving goals

His associate partners meant so much
He treated them with a personal touch
He cared for them like trusted friends
And they believed in him until the end

"Mr. Sam" is the respectful name
Of this man who sought not fortune or fame
His legacy is the customers served
He'd say he achieved more than he deserved

Sam Walton was an extraordinary man
Who had a passion along with a simple plan
He proved that dreams can come true
If you're willing to do what you have to do

By Michael Bergdahl

The Critic

"It's not the critic who counts: not the man
or woman who points out how the strong
man stumbles or where the doer of deeds
could have done them better. The credit
belongs to the man or woman who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred
by dust and sweat and blood, who strives
valiantly, who errs and comes up short
again and again, because there is no effort
without error or shortcoming, but it is the
man or woman who actually strives to do
the deeds who knows the great enthusiasms,
the great devotions, who spends himself or
herself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if they
fail, at least they fail while daring greatly,
so that their place will never be with those
cold and timid souls who know neither victory
nor defeat."

-- Theodore Roosevelt