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WITandWISDOM(tm) - October 1, 1999 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "We don't inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." - Bits & Pieces, July 22, 1993 (Magazine: BITS & PIECES http://www.epinc.com/) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: LOVE IN A PAPER BAG - Robert Fulghum It was Molly's job to hand her father his brown paper lunch bag each morning before he headed off to work. One morning, in addition to his usual lunch bag, Molly handed him a second paper bag. This one was worn and held together with duct tape, staples, and paper clips. "Why two bags?" her father asked. "The other is something else," Molly answered. "What's in it?" "Just some stuff. Take it with you." Not wanting to hold court over the matter, he stuffed both sacks into his briefcase, kissed Molly and rushed off. At midday, while hurriedly scarfing down his real lunch, he tore open Molly's bag and shook out the contents: two hair ribbons, three small stones, a plastic dinosaur, a pencil stub, a tiny sea shell, two animal crackers, a marble, a used lipstick, a small doll, two chocolate kisses, and 13 pennies. The busy father smiled, finished eating, and swept the desk clean - into the wastebasket - leftover lunch, Molly's junk and all. That evening, Molly ran up behind him as he read the paper. "Where's my bag?" "What bag?" "You know, the one I gave you this morning." "I left it at the office. Why?" "I forgot to put this note in it," she said. "And, besides, those are my things in the sack, Daddy, the ones I really like - I thought you might like to play with them, but now I want them back. You didn't lose the bag, did you, Daddy?" "Oh, no," he said, lying. "I just forgot to bring it home. I'll bring it tomorrow." While Molly hugged her father's neck, he unfolded the note that had not made it into the sack: "I love you, Daddy." Molly had given him her treasures. All that a 7-year-old held dear. Love in a paper bag, and he missed it - not only missed it, but had thrown it in the wastebasket. So back he went to the office. Just ahead of the night janitor, he picked up the wastebasket and poured the contents on his desk. After washing the mustard off the dinosaurs and spraying the whole thing with breath-freshener to kill the smell of onions, he carefully smoothed out the wadded ball of brown paper, put the treasures inside and carried it home gingerly, like an injured kitten. The bag didn't look so good, but the stuff was all there and that's what counted. After dinner, he asked Molly to tell him about the stuff in the sack. It took a long time to tell. Everything had a story or a memory or was attached to dreams and imaginary friends. Fairies had brought some of the things. He'd given her the chocolate kisses; she'd kept them for when she needed them. "Sometimes I think of all the times in this sweet life," he mused, "when I must have missed the affection I was being given. A friend calls this 'standing knee deep in the river and dying of thirst." We should all remember that it's not the destination that counts in life, but the JOURNEY. That journey with the people we love is all that really matters. Such a simple truth so easily forgotten. (E-zine: GLORIOUS INSPIRATION Mailto:sharon.unger@usa.net) ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: TRUISMS Where there's smoke, there's a second-hand smoker. Don't bite the hand that's filling your cavity. It's never so bad that it can't get worse. Road rage is fit to be tied up in traffic. Animals in zoos are kept behind bars for their own protection. The average is what we're always above or below. Beware of the innate hostility of inanimate objects. The two riskiest days of the week are today and tomorrow. Any city's streets are safe; their occupants are something else! Horse sense keeps horses from betting on people. A miss is as good as it gets. Borrowed money is the root of all loan sharks. Nothing's either good or bad but plain yogurt. A gross error is 144 times worse than an error. Unless you're in the lead, the scenery doesn't change. There's no place like here. (George Johnson via E-zine: KEITH'S MOSTLY CLEAN HUMOR Mailto:maiser@mail.otherwhen.com?body=subscribe%20mchawlist%0d%0aexit) ~~ ~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Our friends retired to a small Arizona ranch and acquired a few sheep. At lambing time, it was necessary to bring two newborns into the house for care and bottle-feeding. As the lambs grew, they began to follow the rancher's wife around the farm. "What did you name them?" I asked her while visiting one day. "Goodness and Mercy," she replied with a sigh. By Ann Devendorf in "Arizona Highways" [And surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow her, all the days of her life . . .] (E-zine: TERESA'S JOKERS http://www.eGroups.com/list/jo-jokers/) ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: For anyone wanting FREE Bible Software, here's a SuPeR SiTe for you! Here you can download Easton's Bible Dictionary, Nave's Topical Bible, Matthew Henry's Commentary . . . and MORE! So check it out: http://www.ivycenter.com/freebibles/ (E-zine: SuPeR-SiTeS Mailto:patty@lawtonok.net?subject=subscribe) |