Before I get to my main topic today, I want to once again encourage all who are properly registered to vote in the ongoing GOP second primary for the U.S. Congress.

Polls are open each day until July 5 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Most of the 17 counties in the 3rd Congressional District will, in this early voting period, provide one central polling location. In Lenoir County that location will be at the Election Board office, 110 S. Heritage St., Kinston.

This second primary will end on July 9, with all polling places open on that date. As I am sure you have noticed, this contest has gotten rather heated in recent days, with Dr. Joan Perry and Dr. Greg Murphy seeking to win on July 9 and then go to the General Election on September 10th to face Democrat Allen Thomas, Libertarian Tim Harris, and Constitutionalist Greg Holt. Let's make our voices heard.

One other item that might be of interest to you: State Treasurer Dale Folwell was a guest on my television program this past week and he shared Information about multi-millions of dollars on hold at the Treasurer's office that have not been claimed. These are funds from various sources such as safe deposit boxes and wills among other things. He recommended that people might want to check this out, and they can do so by going on the internet to NCCash.com, and following the directions.

Now to the heart of today's column.

On April 3, I talked about the difference between self-confidence and ego. In that column I gave an example about how we define self-confidence. Now, I want to give an example of how we might define egoism.

A Texas farmer came up to visit a farmer friend of his here in Eastern N.C. As they were seated on the porch, the Texan asked this friend the following question: "Tell me, Jim, how much of this land is yours?" Jim, being proud of his farm, said, "My property goes all the way to the clearing you see in the distance, and around again to the lake on the south side."

The Texas farmer was not at all impressed. He said, "You mean to tell me that's ALL the land you have? Let me tell you something. On my farm in Texas I can get in my pickup truck and drive all day and never leave my land."

The Eastern N.C. farmer responded, "I know what you mean. I used to have a pickup truck just like that!" What a great response! When our inner voices start telling us negative things, we need to retrain that inner voice to be positive. When we hear someone speaking negatively, we need to say something positive.

Tom Edwards, in a human relations class in Goldsboro three years ago, gave an example of how to do this. He said, "I was among a group of friends when one person, whom I will call John, began making negative comments about an acquaintance whom we all knew. I noticed that some others in the group were beginning to agree with him, so I turned to John and told him how I had recently heard this acquaintance saying nice things about him. John immediately began backing away from his critical comments and started recalling some good things about this acquaintance."

Let's end on a humorous note: Michael's wife, refusing to give in to the looks of growing old, goes out and buys a new line of expensive cosmetics guaranteed to make her look years younger. After a lengthy sitting before the "miracle" products, she asks her husband, "Darling, honestly, if you didn't know me, what age would you say that I am?" Looking her over carefully, Michael replied, "Judging from your skin, twenty; your hair, eighteen; and your figure, twenty-five." "Oh, you flatter me," she gushed, ready to thank him for his comments. But he stops her by saying, "WHOA, hold on there, Sweetie...I haven't added them up yet!"

P.S. Let us know if you've seen Michael!