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WITandWISDOM(tm) - October 19, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "We tire of pleasures we take, but never of those we give." - John Petit-Senn Pulpit Pieces Weekly, http://www.net153.com/best.htm ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Maxwell Maltz tells the story of a man who'd been severely injured while attempting to rescue his parents from a fire. His heroic efforts proved to be in vain, though. His morn and dad died in the burning house. During his rescue attempt the fire had scorched his face and disfigured it. He was so ashamed of his appearance after that he refused to allow anyone—including his wife— to see his face. For help, she went to Maltz, a plastic surgeon. "Not to worry," he assured her, "I can restore his face." Despite the good news, the wife still felt disheartened. Her husband had always refused any medical treatment. Assuming he wouldn't change his mind, she said to Maltz, "I want you to disfigure my face so I can be like him! If I can share in his pain, then maybe he will let me back into his life." Maltz tried to mask his horror at the request. He refused to perform the operation, but was so moved by this woman's love for her husband that he went to visit her husband. Through closed door, he yelled, "I'm a plastic surgeon. I want you to know that I can restore your face." No reply. "Please, won't you come out? At least let me see your face. At least talk to me." Silence. Still speaking through a door, Maltz told the man of his wife's request. "She wants me to mutilate her face in order to make her face like yours. She hopes that you will then let her back into your life. That's how much she loves you." Ever so slowly the doorknob turned. Maxie Dunnam, This Is Christianity (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994), pp. 60-61, http://isbn.nu/0687084105 ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Random Acts Of Thinking Technology is invading everything these days. My alphabet soup has a spell-checker. Don't panic, but there has been an alarming increase in the number of things you know nothing about. My doctor told me there are now more than seventy million people who are overweight. These are, of course, round figures. Over the last two years, I've quadrupled my net worth. Sadly, four times nothing is still nothing. Success is where preparation and opportunity meet. Failure is where they meet and can't stand each other. Fish swim in schools. I wonder what subjects they study? I bet some of them take debate. Did I tell you about the time Wisconsin held a contest to come up with a new state slogan? One angry woman who was sick and tired of all the tourists suggested, "Smell Our Dairy Air!" So I'm looking in the mirror the other day and I finally realized my hair is not parted or unparted ... it's departed. Source: Mark Mail, http://mrhumor.net/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: The telephone solicitor selling basement waterproofing must have thought she'd died and gone to heaven when she reached my very polite and patient son on the phone. At the end of her long sales pitch, she asked, "Do you mind if we send out someone to give you an estimate?" "Not at all," my son said. "When would be a good time?" she asked. My son answered, "Just as soon as I dig a basement." Source: Clean Hewmor, mailto:clean-hewmor-subscribe@welovegod.org ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Bike Helmets Percentage of parents who say their children always wear bike helmets: 70 Percentage of kids who say they do: 51 Percentage of adults who say they do: 38 Percent chance a bicycle-related injury involves a brain injury: 12.5 Percentage of bicycle-related deaths attributed to head injuries: 60 Source: Health, October 2004, http://www.health.com/health/