Stone Soup

Do you know the tale "Stone Soup"? Basically, hungry travelers arrive in a village where people aren't willing to share food. The travelers have an pot in which they put water and a stone and proceed to "cook". Curious people start coming up to watch, and the travelers inform them that they are making a great soup - but it is just missing a little "something". The villagers become interested in the stone soup and start contributing a little bit of this and that - until the travelers truly have a nourishing soup.

Much of that story conveys how Verify-ED continues to grow. Although we have never been in a situation where people have been unwilling to help, we know that we would not have gotten this far without the invaluable input from so many wonderful people. We know firsthand that people are very willing to assist, and if they cannot help directly they will make sure to find someone who can. Our goal is to utilize the great information we receive to move forward - which is not always easy.

In recognition of this collaborative nature, we added a new feature to our newsletter where we ask our readers for their ideas and insights on various topics. I suggested the name "Stone Soup" because I felt that it best described what we are doing. Unfortunately, not everyone knows the story, so it was determined that the meaning of the name would have been lost. Personally, I think that it would have been a great opportunity to share a nice Grimm tale - but, oh well ;-)

We named the new section "My 2 Cents" in recognition that if everyone "adds their 2 cents" we can build an amazing, profitable company. The image of money when it comes to business is always good!

We also considered "unsolicitedadvice" and "peter" (the sage in the comic strip B.C.), but it seemed that if most people didn't' get the "joke" the point would be lost.

So, to everyone who gets my humor - THANKS!