| Prior Date | Back to Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WIT & WISDOM - October 27, 1998 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: The problems of victory are more agreeable than the problems of defeat, but they are no less difficult. - Sir Winston Churchill [1] ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: When I was about 13 and my brother 10, our father promised to take us to the circus. But then at lunchtime there was a phone call--some urgent business that required his attention downtown--and we braced ourselves for disappointment. But then we heard him say, "No, I won't be able to come down. It's going to have to wait." He came back to the table and mother smiled, "The circus keeps coming back, you know." "I know," he said, "but childhood doesn't." After all these years I remember that moment. And I knew from the sudden glow of warmth that no kindness is ever really wasted or completely lost. Because the only thing you will take with you to heaven is your family. From A TOUCH OF WONDER, By Arthur Gordon [2] ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: IF 99.9% IS GOOD ENOUGH THEN. . . 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily 114,500 mismatched pairs of shoes will be shipped/year 18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled/hour 2,000,000 documents will be lost by the IRS this year 2.5 million books will be shipped with the wrong covers Two planes landed at Chicago's O'Hare airport will be unsafe every day 315 entries in Webster's Dictionary will be misspelled 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written this year 880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips 103,260 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly during the year 5.5 million cases of soft drinks produced will be flat 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly 3056 copies of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will be missing one of the three sections A typical day would be 24 hours long (give or take 86.4 seconds) [3] ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: My children were pretending to be preparing for a long trip in a covered wagon. They loaded in bags of salt, beans, seeds, nails, and other necessities for survival. After the last blanket and tool were in place they settled into their seats on the front of the wagon and said their good-byes. As they pretended to get the horses moving, my 8 yr.-old daughter called back over her shoulder, "We'll send an e-mail when we get there!" - Lin Vickery [4] ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: The Italian sculptor Agostino d'Antonio worked diligently on a large piece of marble. Unable to produce his desired masterpiece, he lamented, "I can do nothing with it." Other sculptors also worked this difficult piece of marble, but to no avail. Michelangelo discovered the stone and visualized the possibilities in it. His "I-can-make-it-happen" attitude resulted in one of the world's masterpieces - David. [5] ~~~~~~~ CONTRIBUTORS: [1] (INSPIRE [2] (Steve Heese via Mikey's Funnies [3] (Just 4 Laughs! Http://www.GeoCities.com/Hollywood/Set/6993) [4] ("The Sixth Sense" <6th- Sense@ClearVista.com>) [5] (Louise Maxwell) |