Richard Todd Canton knows all too well that when tragedy strikes, you can either triumph or fail.

When he was accused of a sexual offense while working as a teacher's assistant, he looked right into the lens of a television camera and said he'd stood up for every kid in town, and he hoped that someone would stand up for him. Almost everyone did exactly what he asked.

A tireless worker, he's also been a waiter, a store clerk, a television host, an author, and a newspaper column writer-all at the same time. Long hours have been tough, but he's gotten satisfaction out of the work.

In this series of vignettes, he urges readers to:

• Never give in to labels or opinion; be your own person.
• Never give up on yourself or others will surely follow.
• Accept the things you cannot change like death; embrace both good and bad memories, and keep marching.
• Make something good out of life's toughest situations.

Through a divorce and losing family members and friends, there were times Canton felt lost, but he's always managed to survive. You can, too, with the realizations in Life Doesn't Have to be Perfect to be Wonderful.