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WITandWISDOM(tm) - October 18, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "The moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love." - Henry Drummond Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: A frail black woman and a white police officer named van der Broek faced each other across a South African courtroom. Mr. van der Broek had just been found guilty of murdering the woman's son and her husband. He had come to her home a number of years earlier, shot her son, and burned his body while he and some other officers reveled in the act. Several years later, Mr. van der Broek returned and took away her husband as well. For two years, she heard nothing of him. Then the man came back and led the woman to a place beside a river, where she saw her husband bound and beaten, lying on a pile of wood. The last words she heard him say were, "Father, forgive them," as the officers poured gasoline over his body and set him aflame. In time, however, justice caught up with Mr. van der Broek. He had been found guilty, and it was time to I determine his sentence. The judge asked the elderly woman, "What should be done to this man who so brutally destroyed your family? The woman said, "I want three things, First, I want to be taken to the place where my husband's body was burned so that I can gather up the dust and give his remains a decent burial. "And because my husband and son were my only family, I want, second, for Mr. van der Broek to become my son. I would like him to come twice a month to the ghetto and spend a day with me so that I can pour out on him whatever love I still have remaining within me. "Third," she said, "I would like Mr. van der Broek to know that I offer him my forgiveness because Jesus Christ died to forgive me." Then she walked across the courtroom and embraced Mr. van der Broek. The police officer fainted, overwhelmed by the widow's response. Then quietly, friends, family, and neighbors - all victims of similar oppression and injustice - began to sing "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound." By David Zimmerman, Sapulpa, Oklahoma Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) October 2004, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: A woman returning her rented car to an airport drop-off point - drove the vehicle through a terminal building. The woman was trying to drop the car at the office at Boise Airport in the US state of Idaho. The Idaho Statesman says the "confused senior citizen" followed a sign for terminal access. It's reported she drove the car through a set of automatic opening double-doors, through the terminal and past the baggage claim area. Airport spokeswoman Larissa Stouffer said the woman stopped when she reached the rental-car counter. "The lucky thing is she didn't hit anything," Stouffer said. There was no damage to the terminal building, nobody was hurt and the woman wasn't prosecuted. Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: As a clerk at a university post office, I was greeting patrons with a "Hello" or "Good morning." When a Spanish exchange student approached the counter, I happened to say, "How's it going?" Laying his foreign mail in front of me, he replied, "Airmail." Source: The Funnies, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/andychaps_the-funnies ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: A Macedonian teenager who created his own language, has won a scholarship to the United States. Kire Angelov from Veles said he came up with his own language after getting bored with conventional languages. He's learnt nine languages in all, including one made up by Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien. Along with Macedonian, Kire also speaks English, Italian, Japanese, French, German and Spanish. He told Macedonian daily newspaper Utrinski Vesnik: "I've almost completed my own language that I've called Sinioier. That means the light. I really like speaking it, but at the moment I don't have anyone to practice with." The teenager says he is delighted to have been offered the scholarship, but added: "It's still open whether I can go, as at the moment I don't have the money for a ticket. "But my family are trying to get a loan - so we will see." Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com |