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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 8, 2002 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and the strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. - George Washington Carver Source: Caring Quotes: A Compendium of Caring Thought, Published by Caring Institute (Nov 1, 1994) ISBN: 1886450013, http://isbn.nu/1886450013 Submitted by Gary Thietten Subjects: Success, Empathy ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: I suppose one might regard Thomas Edison as one of the world's greatest failures. This man tried more than a thousand different light bulbs until he got it right. Have you ever failed at something a thousand times before you got it right? If you had, your name might be right up there with that of Thomas Edison. Actually Edison didn't think of these failed experiments as failures. He regarded them as steps in a long process. But late in his life something happened to Thomas that would have defeated a lesser man. Thomas Edison's son Charles, one-time governor of New Jersey, tells the story. On the night of December 9, 1914, Edison Industries was virtually destroyed by fire. Edison lost two million dollars that night and much of his life's work went up in flames. He was insured for only $238,000, because the buildings had been made of concrete, at that time thought to be fireproof. Charles was 24; Thomas was 67. The young man ran about frantically, trying to find his father. Finally he came upon him, standing near the fire, his face ruddy in the glow, his white hair blown by the December winds. "My heart ached for him," Charles Edison said. "he was 67 - no longer a young man - and everything was going up in flames. He spotted me. 'Charles,' he shouted, 'where's your mother?' 1 don't know, Dad,' I said. 'Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this again as long as she lives.'" The next morning, walking about the charred embers of all his hopes and dreams, Thomas Edison said, "There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew." Three weeks after the fire, his firm delivered the first phonograph. Source: Never Give Up by Tim Crosby, Copyright (c) 2001 by The Quiet Hour http://www.thequiethour.org/ Subjects: Thomas Edison, Failure, Lightbulbs, Attitude, Fire, Inventions ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: GROANERS How do jockeys determine which horse is the favorite? By taking a gallop pole. (Lederer & Ertner) I was dating a Siamese twin for a while. When she got old, though, I started seeing her sister behind her back. (E4Fun) Before the new spaghetti factory could open, it had to pasta inspection. (Daily Groaner) An unruly circus truck driver refused to tow the lion." (Pun of the Day) Upon removal of his boots at Waterloo, Napoleon could smell defeat. (Mr. G.) Get off the cook stove granddad, you're too old to ride the range. (Bree Schultz) You show me a Philippine contortionist and I'll show you a Manila folder. (Bad Humor) Biology is the only science in which multiplication means the same thing as division. (Randall Woodman) What's the purpose of the propeller on an airplane? To keep the pilot cool. If you don't think so, just stop it and watch him sweat! (Owen Lorian) Source: Gentle Humor, mailto:words@netcarrier.com?subject=GHSubscribe Subjects: One Liners ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: In the Anglican church, each service begins with a greeting. The officiating clergyman says, "The Lord be with you." And the congregation used to respond, "And with thy spirit." But, with the modernising of the liturgy, the response is now, "The Lord be with you." and everyone says, "And also with you." There is the story of the visiting bishop who went to a church where the sound system was old and unreliable. He went to the microphone and tapped it several times and finally said, "There's something wrong with this!" and the whole congregation answered, "And also with you." Source: Peter's Pearls, http://www.peterspearls.com.au Subjects: Church ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: In 1837, President Andrew Jackson erased all but $37,513 of the United States red ink (debt). In his inaugural address, he said, "under every aspect . . . considered it would appear that advantage must result from the observance of a strict and faithful economy. This I shall aim . . . [to] facilitate the extinguishment of the national debt, the unnecessary duration of which is incompatible with real independence, and because it will counteract that tendency to public and private profligacy." Source: Inside Report, April 2002, http://www.amazingfacts.org Submitted by Ted Herr Subjects: Debt, USA |