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WITandWISDOM(tm) - October 13, 2000 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "Emotional illness is avoiding reality at any cost. Mental health is accepting reality at any cost. - M. Scott Peck Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright 2000, www.actsweb.org/subscribe.htm via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A WORD APTLY SPOKEN By Twana Biram Nearly twenty years ago while stationed in England, I met Miko, a beautiful little boy whose parents had just been transferred to England from Italy. My husband's commander phoned me and said, "I need a babysitter for a young couple who have to take the British driving test and cannot find anyone to watch their little boy. Would you be willing?" "No problem!" I agreed lightly. Four hours later I was still trying to cope with a sobbing, nearly hysterical child who spoke and understood no English. Later, I discovered that the father had been on a remote site in Italy, so his wife and his son stayed with her family and conversed solely in Italian. I, on the other hand, spoke no Italian. I'd done two years of high school Latin, but that was not enough to calm the weeping child. I held him, feeling his little body wracked with tears. I tried everything: cookies and milk, my son's cars and trucks, and cartoons. I even took him to my Spanish speaking neighbor hoping the similarities of languages would soothe him. That didn't work either. Finally, out of desperation, I phoned the commander who had been assigned in Italy and yelped, "Help! I cannot get Miko to stop crying. He thinks he's been abandoned. Do you know any Italian at all?" Fortunately he knew the word for "come back." I cobbled together a sentence dredging up old ghosts of Latin words to combine with the Italian verb I had. Very carefully, I held Miko's tear shiny face and said gently, "Mama at Papa returno subito!" Ungrammatical gobbledygook, no doubt, but it reached that little boy's fears and eased them. The rest of the afternoon, he ate and played with my son, occasionally coming back to me asking, "Subito?" Each time I answered clearly and gently, "Si, Miko, subito." What a battle I'd fought to find a simple word or two that won the "war". As the Bible says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver" (Proverbs 25:11, NIV). Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright (c) 2000 www.actsweb.org/subscribe.htm via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Feelings... Pierre and Marie Curie were radiating enthusiasm; Einstein thought it would be relatively easy to attend; Volta was electrified and Archimedes, buoyant at the thought; Ampere was worried he wasn't up to current research; Ohm resisted the idea at first; Boyle said he was under too much pressure; Edison thought it would be an illuminating experience; Watt reckoned it would be a good way to let off steam; Wilbur Wright accepted, provided he and Orville could get a flight; Dr Jekyll declined - he hadn't been feeling himself lately; Morse's reply: "I'll be there on the dot. Can't stop now- must dash" Source: The Funnies, andychaps_the-funnies-subscribe@egroups.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: An Amish man named Smith was injured when he and his horse were struck by a car in an intersection. Smith sued the driver of the car, and the driver's attorney was cross-examining him trying to impeach his testimony. Lawyer: "Mr. Smith, you have told us about all these grievous injuries you suffered in this alleged accident. Isn't it true, though, that you told the investigating officer at the scene of the accident that you were not injured at all?" Smith. "Please let me explain. When the officer arrived on the scene, the first thing he did was walk up to my horse. He said ‘Looks like this one has a broken leg,' and then he took out his service revolver and shot the horse! Then he came up to me and asked me how I was doing. Of course immediately yelled, 'I'm fine!' ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Why are so many weathervanes topped by the silhouette of a rooster? To paraphrase a Bob Dylan song lyric, "You don't need a chicken to tell which way the wind blows." Nevertheless, when you look at many weathervanes, a rooster points the way. What's he doing up there, predicting fowl weather? Believe it or not there's a religious origin to this meteorological icon. In the Middle Ages a Papal edict decreed that the image should appear on top of churches as a kind of wake-up call to parishioners that they should attend services. The image was actually a reference to Peter's betrayal of Jesus, who said, "I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me." The faithful, by attending church, would show that they were not betraying Christ by turning away from Him. Eventually the image became secularized, appearing atop other kinds of buildings on weathervanes. Source: THE JOY OF TRIVIA by Bernie Smith Source: The Daily Trivia, trivia-on@mail-list.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org |