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We've reached the contest deadline, and It's my sad duty to report that we don't have another winner, but tune in for the greatest lesson of all!(Happy Birthday, Susan!) Our King Arthur and the Witch contest is over, and there were several entries, most of which were pretty good and a few that were excellent. Some of you are quite the philosopher, submitting observations that were totally off-topic but still quite astute!I'm also quite proud to report that there was still not a single lame entry, which holds a couple of lessons in itself: "it is far better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt," and "When you don't know, don't try to fake it; listen and learn from those who do know!"There are lessons everywhere you look if you take the time to seek them out. Many people just go through each day doing whatever it takes to get to the end of the day without looking for the lessons each situation has to teach. That's a recipe for stagnation and failure.One of the wisest men I ever knew told me something very early in my career about both life and business that I will never forget: "If you're not growing, you're dying." You grow by seeking out lessons to learn, right?Yeah, I know, shut up and give you the lesson that was missed! See, it's that kind of impatience that drives women into the arms of the gardener, milk man, pool boy, etc. You need to learn the value of anticipation, yet another lesson found where you weren't looking for it.Okay, time for the real lesson, as submitted by a 2006 winner:Hi David,The biggest lesson I saw is contained in the latter half of the story. The Witch is a real witch, until a man makes her happy, and then she is compelled to make him happy. I've noticed in several of your newsletters that you say "If mama ain't happy, nobody's happy, and if mama is happy, everybody's happy." That's the lesson, so I win too!MaxYepper, Max won because he spotted the biggest lesson of all, and the reason behind my choice of domain name, "makingherhappy.com." (And I must commend you all for behaving honorably, because it's obvious that nobody went to my newsletter archive and looked up the winning answer, but that's the only time you'll ever hear me compliment you for not taking advantage of that archive!)I get a lot of flack from some guys (who speak before they read or think) about how I'm promoting ass-kissing and pandering to a woman's whims by having a web site with that name. In a nutshell, they're idiots. Lancelot didn't pander to the witch at all. He did nothing more than empower her to do something that she already had every right to do and was entirely capable of doing it. Other than that, he was just being himself.Real women are the same way! They don't want us to pander to their whims, cater to them, etc. They want us to stand up and act like men, like leaders, like the guys we were born to be, and break up their boredom and tension with a witty remark or adventure of some sort from time to time. They want us to listen to them speak and take them seriously when they're serious, not join in on their drama and help them to drown in it.They want us to tell them when they're being a brat and unreasonable, and help them snap out of it and get back to being happy and having fun. Their emotional nature is at times their greatest strength and at others their greatest weakness, and part of our job as men is to help them keep it from hurting them.When we do our job, we get rewarded with all the fun, nurturing, respect, loyalty, friendship, and support they can muster - they're biologically wired to do it, so you needn't worry about wasting what little time and effort it takes to go back to being yourself and shedding all that man-killing programming we've all received since the 80's that had many of us sitting on the couch watching chick flicks and crying.So there you have it. More or less a dozen good lessons for men about women and life from a simple joke that may have never been intended to do anything but make somebody laugh. Valuable lessons are everywhere, if you take the time to look for them.Speaking of which, I can save you a whole lot of time, because I've got a book for you full of valuable lessons, the combined experience of several hundred couples and my own. Go to http://www.makingherhappy.com and download your copy of "THE Man's Guide to Great Relationships and Marriage" and see what other of life's great lessons about women, committed relationships, and marriage you have been missing. Here endeth the lesson... ;-)In the meantime, live well, be well, and have a wonderful day!David Cunningham"Being a man is something to which one should aspire, not something for which he should apologize." --David Cunningham
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