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WITandWISDOM(tm) - June 30, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things. - Robert Brault Source: Carol's Thought for Today, http://users.adelphia.net/~mrs.carol ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Photographer Nick Ut received a Pulitzer Prize for a dramatic war-time picture taken in Viet Nam. You may remember seeing it. The picture shows a little girl in agony walking naked down a country road amongst other weeping children. Dark smoke hangs heavily in the sky behind the fleeing group. The child's arms are painfully outstretched and her face is contorted in an expression of terror and misery. A Napalm bomb, dropped on her village, seared off the little girl's clothing and severely burned her skin. The date is June 8, 1972. The child, Kim Phuc, was carried by Nick to a truck and transported to an area hospital. She cried over and over, "Non'g Qu'a. Non'g Qu'a," which means "Too hot! Too hot!" Kim hovered between life and death. She required 17 different surgical operations and months of rehabilitation. Today, she lives in Canada and has become an important spokesperson on issues of peace. "Pain never disappears," Kim says. "You just learn how to deal with it." In 1996 she was asked to say a few words at the Viet Nam War Memorial in Washington D.C. Kim talked about forgiving those people who were responsible for all the misery and suffering inflicted that tragic day. She said, "Even if I could talk face to face with the pilot who dropped the bombs, I would tell him we cannot change history but we should try to do good things for the present and for the future to promote peace." It was a message of forgiveness. She knew that her acts of reconciliation were the bricks that could pave the only true road to peace. Kim could easily spend the rest of her life blaming others for her suffering. She could have grown up a bitter and resentful woman. Instead, she made a courageous choice - a choice for peace. It's a choice none of us can escape. Steve Goodier is the editor of The Life Support System, a motivational e-newsletter delivered daily to 85,000 subscribers in over 100 nations. His inspirational newsletter and books are available through his website at http://www.lifesupportsystem.com Source: Life Support System, mailto:LifeSupport-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Kim Foundation International, Healing Children of War http://www.kimfoundation.com/en/ ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Gerhard Schneider, 72, from Brandenburg an der Havel near Potsdam said for weeks a large stork has been following him and his wife when they leave the house and tapping on their farmhouse window day and night if they stay in. "It's become a real nightmare, he's either knocking on the window or sitting on my car waiting for us. "All the doors on my car have been scratched and we can barely leave the house. The bird acts as if we're on his property," said Schneider. The couple have now appealed for help from stork experts. Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: On a beautiful summer's day, a father and his eight-year-old son were lying on the grass by the river bank, looking up at the sky and watching the wisps of clouds float gently overhead. After a few minutes of silence, the boy turned to the father and said, "Dad, why are we here?" "That's a good question, Son. I think we're here to enjoy days such as this, to experience nature in all its glory, etc., etc., etc., etc.... Does that answer your question, son?" "Not really, Dad. What I meant was, why are we here when Mom said to pick her up over an hour ago?" Source: Daily Funnies, http://zinester.com/mpb/ml_fs.cgi?topic=25438 ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: NEW YORK (UPI) -- Harry Ettling's 1982 Honda Civic has endured a major accident, more than 170,000 miles of wear and even a riot, but the New Yorker still won't get rid of it. The New York Daily News reports that Ettling has repaired damage to the car from a variety of sources over the years, yet won't rid himself of the clunker as long as it still runs. "People actually recognize me in other sections of town because of the car," Ettling told the Daily News. "The reactions range from laughter to anger to kindred spirits giving me the thumbs up, and everything in between." The most notable damage occurred when the car was flipped over by rioters during the 1992 Washington Heights riot. "When the car got turned upside down, that was really the beginning of Harry's car as we know it today," Steve Alcott, Ettling's neighbor in the Inwood area of Manhattan, said. "The guys in this neighborhood are really into their cars, and can't believe someone would drive something that looks like that. But it's a great car -- it'll get you where you're going. And junk is in the eye of the beholder." Copyright 2006 by United Press International For more on the story and a picture visit: http://tinyurl.com/mrfls Source: Weird News - Trivia, http://tinyurl.com/9kf44