Commentary by Ron Walters

I was fortunate at a young age to meet Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, known for authoring “The Power of Positive Thinking,” one of the acknowledged all-time-great self-help books. I was pursuing a sales career in Steubenville, Ohio, and Dr. Peale was the featured speaker at my first chamber of commerce meeting.

Because I had heard about but not read his book, I decided to go early to the meeting and see what it was all about. One of the chamber members introduced me to the man, and I was ushered into a front-row seat. 

What I remember most was the man’s great presence and big booming voice. He began his speech by asking a question: “How many here have problems”?  Nobody raised a hand. Then, in his commanding voice, he said, “Baloney—the only people in this town who don’t have problems are up on the hill in your Union Cemetery. Now be honest. Raise your hand if you have any problems.” 

Everyone in the room put a hand in the air, including me. 

Then, he said:

“Today, I’m going to share with you how to solve problems. Now write this down.”  I took out my notepad and listened intently as he stated his five-step problem-solving theory. 

Step number one: State the problem. So many people don’t even know what the problem is; 

Step number two: Look the problem in the eye;

Step number three: Do not run away; and

Step number four: Find a solution. 

He then paused and in a quieter voice said:

“Step number five is the most important one of all.  He paused again and said, “Don’t find fault.”  He was then quiet for a time that seemed like an eternity. He paced left and right, then told us if we apply this simple five-step process to every problem, then every problem could be solved.

Following Dr. Peale’s appearance at that chamber meeting, I purchased his book and read it several times. Simply stated, it changed my thinking process and I developed a yearning to solve problems. In fact, “No Problem” became my mantra.

Fast forward to 1973. 

I moved my family to Arizona to pursue new horizons. After settling in, I read his book titled  “You Can if You Think You Can. That book, along with “The Power of Positive Thinking,” helped to motivate me to start my own company.

When Dr. Peale spoke several years later at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix he was much older and not as fiery, but with his nonetheless emphatic passion and confidence. He authored several other books, which I have now read and highly recommend.

How does Dr. Peale’s work affect the fast pace of our lives today? Although you’ll find some of it dated, you’ll see that the underlying principles are still useful. It’s also why we’ve decided to use those same basics in offering answers to some of the community issues that you see in your everyday travels.

Feel free to email me at ron.walters@wranglernews.com to express your concerns, frustrations, interests, hopes and, not to be overlooked, the small or large satisfactions you get from living in our local neighborhoods. We’ll do our best to help and even publish some of your follow-up thoughts, provided of course you agree that it’s OK for us to pass your ideas along to others in our community.

Your neighbors, that is.

Ron Walters is this newspaper’s Community Relations director. Reach him at ron.walters@wranglernews.com