Category Archives: good

Mar 30 0 comments
good, Mark Twain

To Be Good

To Be Good mug
To Be Good by NapkinDad
Create custom imprinted coffee mugs at Zazzle

Why do you think people become preachers and teachers anyway!  I know how easy it is to tell others how to be good, after all a lot of my drawings and commentaries are all about that, and I think it’s a pretty cool thing to do with my life.


But, a critical part of what I do is examine myself to see if I can honestly say I am following my own advice.  Sometimes I am, sometimes not so much. I don’t avoid topics just because I struggle with them, I wouldn’t say much of anything if that were the case.

But, just like a good preacher, I do try to get across that I am preaching first to myself.  If I need to learn something it’s often through talking to myself via my writing and drawing that I get the chance to clarify and refine what it is I am hoping to achieve or become.

It’s after that I am hopeful what I have come up with will help others as well.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens), 1835-1910, American author and humorist
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One year ago today at the NDD – Resentment is Like Taking Poison



Jan 18 0 comments
good, Islam, Muhammed, quiet, Silence

>Silence #1

>

Someone you know needs this on a coffee cup

Being one who comes from a long line of talkers, I should talk, right?  Well, I may not be the silent type but I am the good disposition type and I am quieter than I used to be.  So, I am making progress.

What about you, are you adept at either of these? Tell us how, give us pointers!
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by Muhammad, 570-632 CE, Founder of the religion of Islam

Sep 04 1 comments
good, W. H. Auden

>We Are Here On Earth To

>

A Vintage Napkin from 2002 that I put in my daughters’ lunches.
So now you know why you are here. Next question.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by W. H. Auden, 1907-1973, American poet

Apr 12 4 comments
good, Marty Coleman

>The World Becomes

>

I started out doing these drawings for my teenage daughters many years ago. Because of that I have a number of teenagers who follow the blog. Some even have their own blogs. It’s great to see their perceptions as they grow.

Today I read a post where the young person had come to a realization that she needed to bring positive people into her life, people who look at the world and see the good. She isn’t unaware of the hardships, the disappointments and the pain of life. But she sees no value in surrounding herself with people who ONLY see that. Who have created a world for themselves where that is all they pay attention to. Their attitude has created their negative world.

She is leaving that behind and finding people who are inclined towards the good in life. I am proud of her for coming to that understanding. It will likely be something she will have to remind herself of again and again through life. But how cool is it to see someone understand that early on.

Drawing, commentary AND quote by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Inspiration by ‘Thoughts of a Contemplative Daughter‘ blog.

Jan 18 0 comments
artist, becoming, change, good, William Shakespeare

>Striving To Be Better, Oft

>I love the grand gesture. I love the big proclamations of gratefulness, love. I love the big confessions and repentences, as seen on TV and sometimes in real life. I am a sucker for them.

But, sometimes those gestures can backfire. Sometimes they are overblown hyperbole; goals not attainable, transformations not sustainable. They come from the right place. They are the soul feeling guilty, the heart needing absolution and a gigantic conversion seems to be just the right thing.

I will no longer be the dog, the ass. I will BECOME the good man, the redeemed woman, the solid citizen, the consummate artist we say to ourselves as we cement our resolve to be better.

But the truth of life is that we backslide. The truth of life is that we return to who we didn’t want to be. We don’t completely return. We don’t not make progress. But we don’t usually stay up in the stratosphere of our epiphanies. What we really do is slowly become. We slowly transform. Yes, sometimes it’s faster than other times. But life transformation is not the montage with music score, it is a barely perceptible change in most cases.

It would be so much more fun if it were like in the movies, wouldn’t it? Maybe it would be. But now that I am older I am glad it isn’t. I like the slow change, the real change of becoming better where you don’t lose the good you already are.

Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman of The Napkin Dad Daily

Quote by William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, English playwright


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