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WITandWISDOM(tm) - May 22, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: There are no menial jobs, only menial attitudes. - William J. Bennett Source: Carol's Thought for Today, http://users.adelphia.net/~mrs.carol ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Tony and Tracy were newlyweds when they went to a friend's wedding. Tony drank too heavily and when a seductive former girlfriend grabbed and kissed him on the lips, Tony kissed her back in a totally inappropriate way. Tracy was furious. The next day Tony was full of remorse. He apologized, sent flowers, pledged his absolute fidelity and begged for forgiveness. Finally, Tracy agreed to forgive him. Yet in the following months she repeatedly referred to the incident. Finally, Tony protested, "Look, I admitted I was wrong and I've done everything I could to make amends. You said you'd forgiven me. Why do you keep rubbing my nose in it?" Tracy said, "I have forgiven you but I haven't forgotten what you did and I don't want you to forget it either." Clearly, Tracy hadn't really forgiven Tony and she was using her husband's indiscretion as power over him. True forgiveness involves more than saying the words. It involves "letting go" in a way that frees both parties from grudges and guilt. The phrase "forgive and forget" is often used because without forgetting there is no true forgiveness. "Forgetting" doesn't mean that we don't remember an incident. It means that we voluntarily let go of our right to punish an offender, that we fully and unconditionally release the wrongdoer from further penalty as if a moral debt has been cancelled. When a relationship has been damaged by a hurtful act, the victim can choose to hold on to righteous anger and pain or let those things go so that the wound can heal and the relationship can flourish. In the end, holding on to a grudge could do more damage to Tracy's marriage than Tony's indecent kiss. Forgiveness doesn't come naturally and it isn't easy, but it's both generous and wise. This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts. © 2006 Josephson Institute of Ethics; reprinted with permission. Michael Josephson, one of the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier youth character education program, CHARACTER COUNTS! For further information visit http://www.charactercounts.org Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright (c) ACTS International, 2004, http://www.actsweb.org/subscribe.php ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: If you ever testify in court, you might wish you could have been as sharp as this policeman. He was being cross-examined by a defense attorney during a felony trial. The lawyer was trying to undermine the policeman's credibility.... Q: "Officer -- did you see my client fleeing the scene?" A: "No sir. But I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender, running several blocks away." Q: "Officer -- who provided this description?" A: "The officer who responded to the scene. " Q: "A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?" A: "Yes, sir. With my life." Q: "With your life? Let me ask you this then officer. Do you have a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?" A: "Yes sir, we do!" Q: "And do you have a locker in the room?" A: "Yes sir, I do." Q: "And do you have a lock on your locker?" A: "Yes sir." Q: "Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with these same officers?" A: "You see, sir -- we share the building with the court complex, and sometimes lawyers have been known to walk through that room." The courtroom erupted in laughter, and a prompt recess was called. Submitted by B. B. ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: My 8 year old autistic son and me were driving in the car recently, and I had my Bible in there. He picked it up and it was marked in Romans 10. So I told him to reed verses 9 & 10. IT is King James Version so it has all the haths believeths and so on. Anyway, after asking me what all those words mean, like hath, which means has, and believeth which means believes, he said to me, God wrote the Bible, didn't he? I said, "yes he did". He thought for a minute and then said, "does God have a lisp?" My wife nearly died laughing when I related that story to her. – By Jonathan Burchard, Perth, Western Australia Submitted by Jonathan Burchard ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: When she learned I was going on vacation to Europe, my grandmother asked me to buy her a specific type of tinned salmon because, she said, it was delicious and available only in Scotland. I picked up three cans as Granny had requested, and packed and unpacked them as I continued my travels. Just before I returned home, I was once again putting the salmon back in my luggage when I noticed printed at the top of one of the tins: "Made in the U.S.A. Submitted by Lorraine