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WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 24, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust Source: Mark Mail, http://mrhumor.net/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: The TV show 60 Minutes ran a segment that tells us something important about fatherlessness. The park rangers at a South African wildlife preserve were concerned about the slaughter of 39 rare white rhinos in their park. It turned out that the rhinos were killed not by poachers but rather by juvenile delinquents—teen elephants. The story began a decade ago when the park could no longer sustain the increasing population of elephants. They decided to kill many of the adult elephants whose young were old enough to survive without them. And so, the young elephants grew up fatherless. As time went on, many of these young elephants roamed together in gangs and began to do things elephants normally don't do. They threw sticks and water at rhinos and acted like neighborhood bullies. Without dominant males, the young bulls became sexually active, producing excessive testosterone and exhibiting aggressive behavior. A few young males grew especially violent, knocking down rhinos and stepping or kneeling on them, crushing the life out of them. Mafuto the gang leader eventually had to be killed. The park rangers theorized that these young teen-aged elephants were acting badly because they lacked role models. The solution was to bring in a large male to lead them and to counteract their bully behaviors. Soon the new male established dominance and put the young bulls in their places. The killing stopped. The young males were mentored—and saved. Citation: Ken Sowers, Mentor, Ohio; 60 Minutes (1-20-99). Source: Leadership Weekly, http://tinyurl.com/fqm43 ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: I was helping to unload some food from the back of my pickup at P.A.L.S., our animal rescue place, when I looked into the reception area. There were three couples talking to the director. Their four children were, I knew not who belonged to who, were running around looking at all the cats and puppies, squealing with delight at all the offerings. I could tell the kids would have taken everything there if they had things their way. I love to get in on these moments so I eased into where I could hear what was transpiring. Chris was telling them the adoption costs, which includes all shots and spay/neutering. $35.00 for a kitty, $60.00 for a puppy under three months and $70.00 for a dog over three months old because we give them rabies shots. I've done this before, keep in mind. "Chris, have you told them about the money back special on the older dogs?" I said winking. She always takes the clue even though she doesn’t have a clue about what I'll come up with from time to time. She goes along knowing I'll make good on whatever scheme I ply on the adopters. "Ladies, gentlemen, children, today we have a money back offer on our older dogs of your choice. You pay today and one year from now you bring them back for their shots and checkup and get your money back. CAN you beat a deal like THAT!?" I said sounding like a used car salesman. The whooping started; the kids were really tugging at mom and dad now. There was no getting out of taking a pet home. Chris cringed and went into the office. "Come outside to the kennels and let’s see just what we can come up with." I said while the kids started really whooping it up, beating us all to the door. With the kids out there the dogs were ecstatic, rearing up licking through the wire, tails wagging, some bouncing on their hind legs happy to see kids again. "Here we have a thoroughbred cross between a golden retriever and a shepherd, this is a gentle dog, GOOD with children and BAD with intruders once she settles down into her new home. And here we have another special cross, a lab and sheltie, it loves to retrieve (I hopefully speculated) so you will need lots of sticks and balls. AND here we have a racer so if you have bicycles or scooters you will have constant companionship." I ranted on and on showing them what we had available. The kids wanted them all as they listened to my carnival style selling points. One couple with the two kids got two and the other couples took one each. They bought collars and leashes as well as ordered nametags since the kids had already named their new family members before the deals had been finished. They paid and we told them that they will get a checkup notice in the mail a year from now so they will have to come in for their refunds and to enjoy their new friends. I told Chris to call me next year when they are scheduled to come in and we'll settle up. Who said money can't buy happiness? Liar liar, pants on fire! © 2005 Mark Crider, mailto:mark@cccoating.com ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: I'm sure there's no truth to the rumor that a major hotel chain is considering buying the Leaning Tower of Pisa, remodeling and redecorating it and opening it as the "Tiltin' Hilton". Submitted by Lorraine ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Thanks to our Soldiers!!! If you go to this website you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can’t pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services. http://www.letssaythanks.com Submitted by Ron and Carole Maki