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            Our, lives are somewhat fixed by fate, partly in the cards.  The power of positive thinking will not turn paraplegics into quarterbacks or the blind into astronomers.

            But when a leopard can’t change its spots, it can change its habits.  Genes may make us susceptible to diabetes, but we can reduce the risk by avoiding obesity.  Nature may play a role in lung cancer, but we can quit smoking.  Inheritance may include a bad heart, but appropriate physical exercise may be a winning card.  For in life, as in poker, you don’t need a royal flush to be a winner.  Sometimes a pair of duces – a weak hand played well – is plenty. - Gerald W. Paul, “Points to Ponder”

Readers Digest, June, 1987, page 171