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WITandWISDOM(tm) - February 5, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Some people are working backstage ... some are playing in the orchestra ... some are on stage performing ... some sit in the audience as critics ... and some are simply there to applaud and appreciate it all. Know what your role is at any given time or place in your life. - Author Unknown Source: Sermon Fodder, http://www.sermonfodder.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Father Forgets By W. Livingston Larned Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone. Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside. These are the things I was thinking, son: I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes. I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor. At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread. And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, "Good-bye, Daddy!" and I frowned, and said in reply, "Hold your shoulders back!" Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your socks. I humiliated you before your friends by marching you ahead of me to the house. Socks were expensive, and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father! Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in, timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes? When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. "What is it you want?" I snapped. You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither...and then you were gone, pattering up the stairs. Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me. What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, reprimanding--this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. It was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years. And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me goodnight. Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt here, ashamed! It is a feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours. But tomorrow I will be a real daddy. I will chum with you, suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual, "He is nothing but a boy, a little boy!" I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your bed, I see that you are still a little boy. Yesterday you were in your mother's arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much, too much. Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: What Your Achoo May Say about You Meet the four sneezer types. Being sick is no fun, but checking out sneeze styles can be a hoot if you remember to stand upwind of the spray. After studying the ways people sneeze, Atlanta-based behavior expert Patti Wood and Steven Lamm, clinical assistant professor of medicine at New York University, drew a conclusion: Sneezers come in four main personality types (see below). Which sneeze is best? "The healthiest way to sneeze," Lamm says, "is in one of the more 'contained' styles, such as the turn-away sneeze." Wood explains why: "A sneeze expels air from the nose at 100 miles per hour, sprays 100,000 bacteria and travels as far as any wind current." Which sneezer are you? The Sensitive Sneezer. One small sneeze and it's over. You're polite, always turning your head away. You're the warm, friendly type who enjoys a relaxed pace. Relationships with others are your top priority. You avoid conflict even if it means making personal sacrifices. The "Be Right" Sneezer. When the big achoo comes, you cover your mouth. You are careful, accurate and a deep thinker. Before speaking, you consider the right words. Detailed and precise, you catch mistakes others miss. You have great insights and opinions, if others would just listen. The Get-It-Done Sneezer. When possible, you hold in your sneeze. But when a sneeze finally escapes, it's a 4.0 on the Richter scale. You are fast, efficient, uncomplicated and self-sufficient. The Enthusiastic Sneezer. When you sneeze, it's in multiples and blow-the-house-down loud. You are a charismatic leader and influencer who is imaginative and intuitive. You seek and cherish relationships with others. By Vyvyan Lynn Source: USA Weekend, January 23-25, 2004, http://usaweekend.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: One weekend my friend, a nurse, was looking after her six-year-old nephew when he fell off a playground slide and hit his head. Worried that he might have a concussion, she checked him all night. Every hour, she'd gently shake him and ask, "What's your name?" Soon, he began moaning in protest each time she entered the room. When she went in at 5 A.M., she found something white on his forehead. Leaning close, she saw a crayon-scrawled message taped to his forehead. It read, "My name is Daniel." Source: Reader's Digest, Copyright (c), http://www.readersdigest.com/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Confectioners at Heart's Desire Chocolates have devised a remedy to California's fiscal crisis - a candy bar dedicated to the state budget deficit. The "California Budget Crunch Bar" is a real Golden State bar, with bits of real orange pulp and chunks of almond mixed into both milk and dark chocolate varieties. "We're donating 10 percent of the proceeds from every Budget Crunch Bar to the California State Education Fund," Diana Calderon of Heart's Desire, says in a statement. The wrapper has a map of California straining against a belt tightly cinched around its waist and the pink foil inside symbolizes the pink slips given workers. (c) Copyright 2003 by United Press International. All rights reserved. Source: ArcaMax Trivia, http://www.arcamax.com For more information about the "California Budget Crunch Bar" visit: http://www.heartsdesirechocolates.com/ |