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WITandWISDOM(tm) - August 23, 2005 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. – Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose-Driven Life: What On Earth Am I Here For? http://isbn.nu/0310210747 Source: Guideposts, Copyright (c) January 2004, http://www.guideposts.org ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: On a stormy day in March, 1776, a sloop sailed out of New York harbor on the first part of a long trip to Canada. Tom, a 15-year-old cabin boy, had watched four passengers come aboard— Dr. Benjamin Franklin; Samuel Chase; Charles Carroll, a wealthy Roman Catholic, and John Carroll, a priest. The revolt of the colonies against King George of England wasn't going well, and the Americans wanted the help of Canada in the fight. The problem was that most Canadians were French Catholics with the right to 'worship openly, something the people couldn't do in the thirteen colonies. In fact, the colonies had openly criticized Canada for allowing this freedom. This criticism had upset Canadian Catholics. During the long, hard trip it bothered Tom that his idol. Dr. Franklin, was in the company of the Carroll brothers. And to top it all, the Canadian Government officials wouldn't even meet with the Americans, so the trip came to nothing. Dr. Franklin had been sick with boils on his legs and back when he started to Canada, and now he had a high fever. As Tom helped him into bed one night he asked, "Doctor Franklin, why are you spending so much time and energy with Catholics?" The man looked surprised. "Tom, our country needs help from everyone— Catholics included— if it is going to maintain its freedom." Exasperated, Tom cried, "But you have always been a freethinker. Dr. Franklin. You don't share their beliefs!" "Well, Tom," Franklin said, "let me tell you what I believe. I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. I believe that the most acceptable service we can give Him is doing good to His other children. I take these to be the fundamental points in all religion, and I respect them wherever I meet them." Source: Climbing Jacob's Ladder, by Jeanne Larson & Ruth McLin, © Copyright 1979 by Review and Herald Publishing Association ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: A cow has been put in prison after it was blamed for a road accident in Colombia. The cow was wandering along a road in Giron when was hit by a woman on a motorcycle. The woman was not badly hurt but police decided the cow was a danger and 'arrested' it. Officers were unable to find out who owns the car and are keeping it in the town's prison. A police spokesman said: "If it was a person who caused the accident, he or she would be behind bars, so why not a cow?" Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: A young schoolboy was having a hard time pronouncing the letter ''R,'' and all the other kids were, of course, teasing him about it. To help him out, the teacher gave him a sentence to practice at home: ''Robert gave Richard a rap in the ribs for roasting the rabbit so rare.'' In class a few days later, the teacher asked the boy to recite the sentence out loud. The boy nervously eyed his classmates--many of them already laughing at him--then replied, ''Bob gave Dick a poke in the side because the bunny wasn't cooked enough.'' Source: Cybersalt Digest, http://www.cybersalt.org/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Percentage of New Yorkers aged 25 to 30 still living with their parents: 30 Percentage of all e-mail in the U.S. that is spam: 83 Number of students and faculty at Taylor University in Indiana who recently broke the world record for the most people playing leapfrog: 927 Cost of four years' tuition at Taylor University: $77,800 Decimal places to which Japanese scientists have estimated pi: 1,241,100,000,000 Number of peanut butler sandwiches the average child will eat before high school graduation: 1,500 Source: The Oregonian, Copyright (c) June 2, 2004, http://www.oregonian.com/ Submitted by Barbara Henry