Many years ago, I went to hear Doctor Martin Luther King, Sr. King said his mother had told him to always thank God for what was left. And that was something to think about: if you've got enough breath left to complain, you have something left. I thought that was very impressive, and I really made a mental note of it.

Some years later I went back to Atlanta to Ebenezer Church, and by this time Dr. King had lost A. D. and M. L., his two sons, and his beloved wife had been shot to death right before his eyes at the organ in that very sanctuary. Guess what the old man was saying? 'Thank God for what's left.' There's always enough left in life to make it worth living.