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WITandWISDOM(tm) - May 14, 2002 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied. Irish Proverb Source: DailyInBox: Proverbs Plus, http://mailroom.dailyinbox.com/pplus/ Subjects: Dogs ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Elaine arrived at Northern Carribean University in the second semester and went through orientation with barely disguised anger threatening to erupt at any moment. Even after learning the reason for her fury (she'd lost her mother and was feeling totally alone), almost everyone was afraid to approach her. When she walked into the counseling center some time later, I found her almost totally unresponsive; the only words she uttered were various shades of "sure." Through those challenging sessions I tried to remain patient and contained. One afternoon Elaine uttered words that I took to mean "I'm outta here." When she didn't offer an explanation, I asked her to at least call me when she got home. And she did - at 9:00 that evening. My attempt at pleasantries was met only with gruffness on the other end of the line, but I managed to get her telephone number before the monologue ended. When I called the following morning, I got the same cold responses. The counseling sessions that followed Elaine's return to campus were as difficult as before she left, but we continued. Somehow in the process she let me know that, even without my knowing it, I'd managed to answer for her the question uppermost in her mind: Does anyone care? In doing so, she said, I had saved her life. Elaine began opening up emotionally to the students and staff of campus. Then, some months ago, things came to a head when she asked, "Can I call you Mom?" On her most recent birthday I made it formal: "Yes, call me Mom." "You don't know what this means to me," she said tearfully. I think this is what it means to serve on an Christian campus. Can I Call You Mom? By Gloria Roberts Gloria Roberts is vice president for student development at Northern Carribean University. Source: Adventist Review, ISSN 0161-1119, (c) March 14, 2002, http://www.adventistreview.org/ Submitted by Nancy Simpson Subjects: Mothers, Counseling ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: The incredible flight of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old Vietnam veteran and North Hollywood truck driver with no pilot or balloon training, took place on 2 July 1982. Larry filled 45 weather balloons with helium and tethered them in four tiers to an aluminum lawn chair he purchased at Sears for $110, loading his makeshift aircraft (dubbed the "Inspiration I") with a large bottle of soda, milk jugs full of water for ballast, a pellet gun, a portable CB radio, an altimeter, and a camera. Donning a parachute, Larry climbed into his chair from the roof of his girlfriend's home in San Pedro while two friends stood at the ready to untether the craft. He took off a little earlier than expected, however, when his mooring line was cut by the roof's sharp edges. As friends, neighbors, reporters and cameramen looked on, Larry Walters rocketed into the sky above San Pedro. A few minutes later Larry radioed the ground that he was sailing across Los Angeles Harbor towards Long Beach. Walters had planned to fly 300 miles into the Mojave Desert, but the balloons took him up faster than expected and the wind didn't cooperate, and Walters quickly found himself drifting 16,000 feet above Long Beach. (He later reported that he was "so amazed by the view" that he "didn't even take one picture.") As Larry and his lawn chair drifted into the approach path to Long Beach Municipal Airport, perplexed pilots from two passing Delta and TWA airliners alerted air traffic controllers about what appeared to be an unprotected man floating through the sky in a chair. Meanwhile, Larry, feeling cold and dizzy in the thin air three miles above the ground, shot several of his balloons with the pellet gun to bring himself back down to earth. He attempted to aim his descent at a large expanse of grass of a north Long Beach country club, but Larry came up short and ended up entangling his tethers in a set of high-voltage power lines in Long Beach about ten miles from his liftoff site. The plastic tethers protected Walters from electrocution as he dangled above the ground until firemen and utility crews could cut the power to the lines (blacking out a portion of Long Beach for twenty minutes). Larry managed to maneuver his chair over a wall, step out, and cut the chair free. (He gave away the chair to some admiring neighborhood children, a decision he later regretted when his impromptu flight brought him far more fame than he had anticipated.) Source: http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/noose/balloon.htm Su bmitted by Ernest Dobkins Subjects: Balloons ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Village Dry Cleaners has relocated to High Street, right next door to St. Joseph's Church. After March 1, Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness. Source: Clean Laffs, http://www.shagmail.com/sub/sub-jokes.html Subjects: Church ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: University of Washington researchers say that one-third of those exposed to a fake Disneyland ad talking about how they met Bugs Bunny and shook his hand later said the event had actually happened to them. Of course, Bugs Bunny has never appeared at Disneyland because he is a Warner Brothers' character. "The frightening thing about this study is that it suggests how easily a false memory can be created," said one of the researchers. From: Daily University Science News Source: The Oregonian, Copyright (c) December 4, 2001, http://www.oregonian.com/ Submitted by Barbara Henry Subjects: Memory |