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WITandWISDOM(tm) - November 10, 1999 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: The most effective way to achieve right relations with any living thing is to look for the best in it, and then help that best into the fullest expression. - Allen J. Boone (E- zine: MOTIVATIONAL MAILER Mailto:overcomeunlimited-subscribe@listbot.com) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Bob Butler lost his legs in a 1965 land mine explosion in Vietnam. He returned home a war hero. Twenty years later, he proved once again that heroism comes from the heart. Butler was working in his garage in a small town in Arizona on a hot summer day; when he heard a woman's screams coming from a nearby house. He began rolling his wheelchair toward the house but the dense shrubbery wouldn't allow him access to the back door. So he got out of his chair and started to crawl through the dirt and bushes. "I had to get there", he says. "It didn't matter how much it hurt". When Butler arrived at the pool there was a three-year-old girl named Stephanie Hanes lying at the bottom. She had been born without arms and had fallen in the water and couldn't swim. Her mother stood over her baby screaming frantically. Butler dove to the bottom of the pool and brought little Stephanie up to the deck. Her face was blue, she had no pulse and was not breathing. Butler immediately went to work performing CPR to revive her while Stephanie's mother telephoned the fire department. She was told the paramedics were already out on a call. Helplessly, she sobbed and hugged Butler's shoulder. As Butler continued with his CPR, he calmly reassured her. Don't worry, he said. "I was her arms to get out of the pool. It'll be okay. I am now her lungs. Together we can make it". Seconds later the little girl coughed, regained consciousness, and began to cry. As they hugged and rejoiced together the mother asked Butler how he knew it would be okay. The truth is, "I didn't know", he told her. "But when my legs were blown off in the war, I was all alone in a field. No one was there to help except a little Vietnamese girl. As she struggled to drag me into her village, she whispered in broken English, 'It okay. You can live. I be your legs. Together we make it' ". Her kind words brought hope to my soul and I wanted to do the same for Stephanie. There are simply those times when we cannot stand alone. There are those times when we need someone to be our legs, our arms, our friend. (E-zine: HUMORG Mailto:Judib@kktv.com) ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: QUOTES OF NOTE? I don't care how much you and your cat love each other, if you were one inch smaller than the sweet little kitty, he'd eat you in a heartbeat. - Tom Gard I'm really glad the guy who invented the Ray Gun was named Ray. Being shot with a Fred gun just wouldn't sound as cool.. - Bob Neanover I think that someone must have surveillance equipment set up in my living room, because every once in a while, someone on the TV will tell me what channel I'm watching. That really freaks me out, you know? - Pam Stewart My doctor tells me I suffer from extreme hypochondria. He prescribed a strong placebo, but I don't think it's working. - Fred Marcum (E-zine: AMERICA'S JOKE Mailto:subscribe- aj@listserv.salko.com) ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: There is a story that comes out of Asia about a farmer who saw a tiger's tail swishing between two large rocks. In a moment of haste, he grabbed the tail and pulled. All of a sudden he realized he had an angry tiger by the tail and only two rocks stood between him and the tiger's teeth and claws! So there he remained, afraid to loosen his grip on the enraged animal's tail lest he surely be killed. A monk happened by and the farmer called out in desperation, "Come over here and help me kill this tiger!" The holy man said, "On, no. I cannot do that. I cannot take the life of another." Then he went on to deliver a homily against killing. All the while, the farmer was holding tightly to the tail of an angry tiger. When the monk finally finished his sermon, the farmer pleaded, "If you won't kill the tiger, then at least come hold its tail while I kill it." The monk thought that perhaps it would be all right to simply hold the tiger's tail, so he grabbed hold and pulled. The farmer, however, turned and walked away down the road. The monk shouted after him, "Come back here and kill the tiger!" "Oh, no," the farmer replied. "You have converted me!" (E-zine: YOUR LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEM Mailto:lifesupport-subscribe@topica.com) ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Did you enjoy kaleidoscopes as a child? . . . Here is a web page that helps you create kaleidoscope art quickly: http://www.ben2.ucla.edu/~permadi/java/spaint/spaint.html (Jan Simons) |