WITandWISDOM(tm) - January 31, 2005
ISSN 1538-8794
~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS:
~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS:
The trees grew right up to the old dirt road. This was real wilderness in northern British Columbia, Canada. Two lumbermen were jolting along the rough road in their jeep when they heard screams coming from nearby.
"Couldn't be more than a few hundred yards away. Let's go down that dim, overgrown trail and investigate."
"But we don't have a gun, Fred. It might not be too safe."
"Listen, I couldn't sleep tonight wondering what's making those unearthly yells. Something is in trouble and I mean to find out."
Together they plunged down the trail. Near a huge spruce tree sat a half-grown bear, bawling, with a paw in the jaws of a steel trap.
.
"He must have been there a long time. Look, he's gnawed off all the underbrush, and even scratched the ground clean trying to find roots to eat. Poor thing is starving. Why can't those scoundrels who set traps at least come around often and check them?"
"Too bad we don't have a gun to put him out of his misery."
"I think we can help him without a gun. His screams and yells are not rage. That poor bear sounds to me like he's crying, pleading for help, and I aim to help him."
Fred got close to the bear. It took all his strength to depress the strong steel springs. The bear stopped crying. He remained motionless except that he leaned his furry body against the man. Finally the paw was free and Fred stepped back.
The two men watched, wondering whether the bear would turn on them in anger because of his pain. First, he lifted his paw, wiggled it back and forth and looked it over carefully. Then he turned and looked at the two men. Never had they seen such a look in an animal's eyes. It just couldn't be interpreted in human language, for how can a bear express love, gratitude, joy at being free, and eagerness to quench his thirst and satisfy his hunger. Finally, after a long time the bear turned and hobbled off to the woods. As the men watched him go to his freedom their hearts were too full to speak.
Truly, it is your own soul that is nourished when you are kind.
Source: Stop, Look and Listen by Eileen E. and Jay H. Lantry, Copyright(c)1976 by Review and Herald Publishing Association, LCCN 75-32229
Submitted by Mary Thayne
~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT:
It seems that this man felt like a complete failure with no reason to go on living. He decided that he wanted to commit suicide, but he really wanted to make sure it worked. He assembled various items. These included a rope, a pistol, and a cup of poison. He went down to climb a tree which grew over the river. It was wintertime.
He tied the rope over a limb of the tree and put his neck into it. He drank the cup of poison, and took the pistol in hand so that he could shoot himself when he jumped. That way, he would die from the poison, from being shot, from hanging, and when he landed in the river, he would drown. What's to lose?
Well, when he jumped, the jolt made his arm jerk, so that although he pulled the trigger, the bullet didn't go into his head, but hit the rope and broke it in two. This caused him to fall into the icy river, and the sudden cold caused him to throw up the poison he had taken. The pistol went to parts unknown.
With the sudden change of plans, this would-be suicide took stock of his circumstances. He had no rope, no pistol, no poison, and he felt very cold. It seemed that the best thing to do would be to swim to shore and find some way to get warm! Maybe he didn't want to commit suicide after all! He was even a failure at that!
Written 1/4/05 by La Verne Northrop from a story heard fifty-some years ago
~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING:
After reviewing his teenage son's report card, an irate father exclaimed, "Five Fs? How could you make five Fs? This is the worst card you've ever had!"
"What do you think it is, Dad," the boy asked, "heredity or environment?"
From 'It's Always Too Soon To Quit', by Lewis R. Timberlake, p36.
Submitted by Kiri Christina Hyatt
~~~~~~~ TRIVIA:
Hidden beneath the ground is a vast, intricate system of tough, twisting roots from the trees, plants, and grasses of the world. They all begin with the first tiny root that grows from the seed. Equipped with a hard tip, this root can push against unyielding substances. In fact, scientists have officially measured the tip of a wild oat plant, not counting the root hairs, that grew fifty-four miles in eighty days. The roots of a crested wheat plant grew 315 miles in three years, an average of one hundred miles per year, but not in a straight line, of course.
How does this hard little root tip make its way through the solid earth where there are so many obstacles? Growing pressure has a power of about three pounds, but that could never penetrate rock. God has made the cells at the end of the growing tip sensitive to hardness. When the tip hits resistance it bends away, or wiggles in and around impenetrable barriers. Instead of pushing straight ahead, it grows in a spiral or cork-screw motion.
In addition to the rotating motion and ability to grow in any direction, the tiny cell can swell. When billions of cells do this at the same time, the pressure becomes very great. Thus the horizontal pressure is greater than the forward thrust. No wonder roots can act as a wedge and split rocks, cement, or tough wood.
Source: Stop, Look and Listen by Eileen E. and Jay H. Lantry, Copyright(c)1976 by Review and Herald Publishing Association, LCCN 75-32229
Submitted by Mary Thayne
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