Rick Kraft

Roswell

Local Attorney and Syndicated Columnist at Freelance

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Articles

Choosing discipline over excuses

6 days ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

Which defines your life: discipline or excuses? Your answer to this truly determines who you are. These two characteristics are at totally different ends of the spectrum. You are living your life somewhere on this spectrum. Victims use excuses, heroes use discipline. Victims blame their problems on others. Heroes take action to rise above. A disciplined life is a proactive life. A life of excuses is one that is reactive. A disciplined life looks inward. A life of excuses points at others.
A father’s wisdom passed on to a son

1 week ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

Today is Father’s Day. You would not be here today without your father. There is just something about fathers and the wisdom they hold. Several years ago, my son-in-law, Wes, was out visiting and we were talking about parents’ impact on children. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a slip of paper that he has carried with him for almost ten years. It was a handwritten note from his father.
Are you getting better or is this it?

2 weeks ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

I assume it’s your desire to be the best version of you that you can be. You only have one journey through this thing called life. And only so many trips around the sun. Today you have less trips left than you have ever had before. Are you the best version of you? To answer this question, you need to ask what does the best version of you look like? Would your definition of the best version of you look any different than your family’s definition? You want your children to grow and thrive.
Visiting a land across the pond

3 weeks ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

The first floor is actually the second floor. Bathrooms are called loos. American electronics do not plug into their plugs. Their traffic lights turn yellow before turning green. Even worse, they drive on the wrong side of the road!My wife and I recently spent three weeks in the United Kingdom. We enjoyed traveling with a group of 23 others from the United States. We traveled across England and Wales for two of our United Kingdom weeks.
The unwavering nature of home plate

1 month ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

I am a big fan of baseball. My father was a big baseball fan. His father was a big baseball fan. I guess you could say I inherited it from the generations ahead of me!I grew up following baseball. I had a baseball dice game that I played for hours and hours, carefully keeping records for each individual player and standings on how each team performed. I attribute learning math skills through this process to my scoring 99.9 percent in the country on my ACT college test.
To the class of 2025: Bend history

1 month ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

The energy, the excitement, and the enthusiasm is always amazing. Photos and flowing tears. Family and friends, some of whom have traveled great distances, anxiously awaiting the ceremony. High school seniors are finishing a dozen years of schooling and about to gain their independence. Excited teenagers all dressed up in their caps and gowns ready to make the rite of passage on to life’s next challenge. Graduating from high school is a big deal.
Things my mother always told me ...

1 month ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

My mother always told me, “When you wash your hands in the sink, the dirt is supposed to wash down the drain, not be wiped on the towel.” My mother generally told me this in an agitated voice, obviously upset because the hand towel by the sink was covered in dirt and had to be put in the wash again. She couldn’t understand how a young man who seemed to always have dirty hands could not learn that the object is for the dirt is to go straight from his hands down the drain.
Lord, at the end of my days, let me be spent

1 month ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

I am grateful for the blessing of writing the weekly “Just A Thought” columns. Last Thursday was the 25th anniversary of the column’s first being published. I’d like to start year 26 by sharing my favorite column of the past quarter century with you. It is a flashback with a heartfelt message:On the day that my body is lowered into its grave, I want my life to be completely spent.
What happens in the exchange zone?

2 months ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

It is what happens in the exchange zone that counts. We hold the baton we run with for such a short period of time. We receive it from another, carry it for a while, and then hand off to the one who follows. In track and field competitions, there are team relay events. In these events the goal is for a team of runners to cover the course as quickly as possible carrying a baton from the starting line to the finish line.
Always do this in remembrance of me

2 months ago | rdrnews.com | Rick Kraft

Everyone reading this has had some common experiences. We grew and developed in our mother’s womb. We entered this world as a newborn child. During the early years of our lives we were entirely dependent on others. Common experiences — no exceptions. We will all have a common experience in the future. When our days are through, our human life will leave our human body. The body we leave behind will be the responsibility of others to take care of. Our body will be disposed of in some form or fashion.