Stories
and Inspirational Messages:
What
A Politiacal Blunder: January 01/20/2000
Submitted by John Baker
Al Gore gave a big speech
this week about how his faith is so "important" to him. In this attempt
to
convince the American
people that we should consider him for president, he announced that his
favorite Bible verse
is--John 16:3.
Of course the speech writer
meant John 3:16, but nobody in the Gore camp was familiar enough with scripture
to catch the error.
And do you know what John
16:3 says?
"And they will do this
because they have not known the Father or Me".
The Holy Spirit works
in strange ways!!! (TOP)
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O
Holy Night:
The International Country
Music Fan Fair in Nashville is always a zoo-like affair with three hundred
or more people waiting in line at John Berry’s booth for autographs, to
take pictures, and to buy memberships and T-shirts. Fans often climb over
the stanchions trying to get a picture and yelling at John to get his attention.
Last year, John and his
wife, Robin, had a great idea for the theme of his booth. They felt it
would be nice to have people come and visit them on their front porch,
so they had the booth made as an identical replica of the porch on the
Berry house. The display kind of depicts how John feels about his fans
- almost like they’re family. Coming onto his front porch at the show was
a very comfortable thing for people.
Fan Fair began on Tuesday
with a full day of interviews followed by over four hours of autograph
signing at the booth. John’s fan club party didn’t close down ‘til 2:30
the next morning.
John started Wednesday
with the Capitol Nashville Showcase. After that, it was back to the booth
where the autograph line began in front of the picket fence leading to
the porch. A separate handicapped area fed into this line. At one point,
I spoke with a woman who explained that she was deaf. She told me how she
listened to John’s music by laying her fingertips on the speakers in her
home. Now, she just wanted to be face-to-face with John. She asked if she
could touch him to really feel what she had been "hearing" through the
speakers with her hands.
I was impressed by the
woman who seemed like a kindly soul with a gentle spirit. In spite of her
handicap, she was independent, positive and confident. Although I knew
John was already exhausted, I was certain he’d want to meet this special
fan. I took the woman over to John, let him know she was deaf and explained
that she had a special request. John had her sit down next to his rocking
chair and got very close. Everyone around kind of stepped back and things
quickly got very quiet. The woman reached up and put her fingertips on
John’s throat. At that point, she asked him to sing. Without hesitation,
and in the middle of June, John broke into "O Holy Night."
You could see a total
transformation on the woman’s face; and then the tears began streaming
out of both of them. Everyone in the surrounding booths stopped talking,
walking and taking pictures. All of us just watched. It was as if everything
in the room had frozen except the two of them.
At the end of the song,
there was a poignant pause followed by tumultuous applause and a standing
ovation for the special moment that all had shared. John reached over and
gave the woman a tender hug. All of us felt the energy pass through them.
The woman didn’t say much after that. Within a moment, she found her friend
and was gone.
By Jean Calvert from Chicken
Soup for the Country Soul Copyright1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
and Ron Camacho (TOP)
(Back to Stories Index)
Mary
Had A Little Lamb:
Submitted by Dave Singer
Mary had a little lamb,
His fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The Lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school each day,
T'wasn't even in the rule.
It made the children laugh and play,
To have a Lamb at school.
And then the rules all changed one day,
Illegal it became;
To bring the Lamb of God to school,
Or even speak His Name.
Every day got worse and worse,
And days turned into years.
Instead of hearing children laugh,
We heard gun shots and tears.
What must we do to stop the crime,
That's in our schools today?
Let's let the Lamb come back to school,
And teach our kids to pray.
If you agree, please pass it on, Thank You and Have a bright and
beautiful day!! (TOP)
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On
That Note:
One year when I was teaching second
grade, a new child entered our class mid-year. His name was Daniel, and he
brought a special light to our class.
Daniel came over to me one afternoon at
the end of the school day. He said, "Ms. Johnson, I have a note for you
from my old teacher. It's not on paper though, it's in my head." Daniel
leaned over and said, "She wanted me to tell you how lucky you are to have
me in your class!"
- By Krista Lyn Johnson from A
4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul Copyright 1997 by Jack
Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Hanoch McCarty & Meladee
McCarty (TOP)
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The Golden Years:
My best friend, Cocoa, and I live in a senior-citizen
apartment complex in a lovely small town. Cocoa is a ten-year-old poodle and I
am a sixty-nine-year-old lady, so you can see we both qualify as senior
citizens.
Years ago, I promised myself that when I retired I
would get a chocolate poodle to share my golden years. From the very first,
Cocoa has always been exceptionally well-behaved. I never have to tell him
anything more than once. He was housebroken in three days and has never done
anything naughty. He is extremely neat - when taking toys from his box to play,
he always puts them back when he is finished. I have been accused of being
obsessively neat, and sometimes I wonder if he mimics me or if he was born that
way, too.
He is a wonderful companion. When I throw a ball for
him, he picks it up in his mouth and throws it back to me. We sometimes play a
game I played as a child - but never with a dog. He puts his paw on my hand, I
cover it with my other hand, he puts his paw on top, and I slide my hand out
from underneath the pile and lay it on top, and so on. He does many amusing
things that make me laugh, and when that happens, he is so delighted he just
keeps it up. I enjoy his company immensely.
But almost two years ago, Cocoa did something that
defies comprehension. Was it a miracle or a coincidence? It is certainly a
mystery.
One afternoon, Cocoa started acting strangely. I was
sitting on the floor playing with him, when he started pawing and sniffing at
the right side of my chest. He had never done anything like this ever before,
and I told him, "No." With Cocoa, one "no" is usually
sufficient, but not that day. He stopped briefly, then suddenly ran toward me
from the other side of the room, throwing his entire weight - eighteen pounds -
at the right side of my chest. He crashed into me and I yelped in pain. It hurt
more than I thought it should have.
Soon after this, I felt a lump. I went to my doctors,
and after X-rays, tests and lab work were done, they told me I had cancer.
When cancer starts, for an unknown reason, a wall of
calcium builds. Then the lump or cancer attaches itself to this wall. When Cocoa
jumped on me, the force of the impact broke the lump away from the calcium wall.
This made it possible for me to notice the lump. Before that, I couldn’t see
it or feel it, so there was no way for me to know it was there.
I had a complete mastectomy and the cancer has not
spread to any other part of my body. The doctors told me if the cancer had gone
undetected even six more months, it would have been too late.
Was Cocoa aware of just what he was doing? I’ll never
really know. What I do know is that I’m glad I made a promise to spend my
golden years with this wonderful chocolate brown poodle - for Cocoa not only
shares his life with me, he has made sure that I will be around to share my life
with him!
- By Yvonne A. Martell from
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor
Hansen, Marty Becker and Carol Kline -
(TOP)
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Smile:
- She smiled at a sorrowful stranger.
- The smile seemed to make him feel better.
- He remembered past kindnesses of a friend
- and wrote him a thank-you letter.
- The friend was so pleased with the thank-you
- that he left a large tip after lunch.
- The waitress, surprised by the size of the tip,
- bet the whole thing on a hunch.
- The next day she picked up her winnings,
- and gave part to a man on the street.
- The man on the street was grateful;
- for two days he’d had nothing to eat.
- After he finished his dinner, he left for his
small dingy room.
- (He didn’t know at that moment
- that he might be facing his doom.)
- On the way he picked up a shivering puppy
- and took him home to get warm.
- The puppy was very grateful
- to be in out of the storm.
- That night the house caught on fire.
- The puppy barked the alarm.
- He barked ‘til he woke the whole household
- and saved everybody from harm.
- One of the boys that he rescued
- grew up to be President.
- All this because of a simple smile
- that hadn’t cost a cent.
- By Barbara Hauck, age 13 from Chicken Soup
for the Teenage Soul Copyright 1997 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor
Hansen and Kimberly Kirberger
(TOP)
(Back to Stories Index)
1) A day without sunshine is like, night.
2) On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3) I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
4) 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
5) I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
6) I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
7) Honk if you love peace and quiet.
8) He who laughs last thinks slowest.
9) The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets
the cheese.
10) I drive way too fast to worry about cholesterol.
11) Borrow money from a pessimist - they don't expect it back.
12) Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have.
13) When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane and going the wrong way.
14) A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
15) Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
16) Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with.
17) You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
18) Two wrongs are only the beginning.
19) The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
20) The sooner you fall behind the more time you'll have to catch up.
21) A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
22) Plan to be spontaneous - tomorrow.
23) Always try to be modest and be proud of it!
24) If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
25) The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes.
26) If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
27) For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism.
28) Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed of checks.
31) No one is listening until you make a mistake.
32) Success always occurs in private and failure in full view.
33) The colder the x-ray table the more of you body is required on it.
34) The hardness of butter is directly proportional to the softness of bread.
35) The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to reach it.
36) To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
37) To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.
38) Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life.
39) Change is inevitable except from vending machines.
40) Get a new car for your spouse - it'll be a great trade!
41) Love may be blind but marriage is a real eye-opener.
42) If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you.
Should you find yourself the victim of other
people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or
insecurities; remember, things could be worse,
you could be them! (TOP)
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Biggest
Mathematical Miracle In The World:
Submitted by Dave Singer
Moses and the people
were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people
requires
a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, it is
reported that Moses would have to have had 1500 tons of food each day.
Do you know that to bring that much food each day, two freight trains, each a
mile long, would be required! Besides you must remember, they were out in
the desert, so they would have to have firewood to use in cooking the food. This
would take 4000 tons of wood and a few more freight trains, each a mile long,
just for one day. And just think, they were forty years in transit.
And oh yes! They would
have to have water. If they only had enough to drink and wash a few dishes, it would take 11,000,000 gallons
each day, and a freight train with tank cars, 1800 miles long, just to bring water!
And then another thing!
They had to get across the Red Sea at night. (They did?) Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the
line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights to get through. So, There had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles
wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night. But then, there is another problem.
Each time they camped at
the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode
Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long...think of it! This
space just for nightly camping. Do you think Moses figured all this out
before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God
took care of these things for him.
Now do you think God has
any problem taking care of all your needs?
(TOP)
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Whatever You
Need:
I was working as a consultant in a beer company,
helping the president and senior vice-presidents formulate and implement their
new strategic vision. It was an enormous challenge.
At the same time, my mother was in the final stages of
cancer.
I worked during the day and drove 40 miles home to be
with her every night. It was tiring and stressful, but it was what I wanted to
do. My commitment was to continue to do excellent consulting during the day,
even though my evenings were very hard. I didn't want to bother the president
with my situation, yet I felt someone at the company needed to know what was
going on. So I told the vice-president of Human Resources, asking him not to
share the information with anyone.
A few days later, the president called me into his
office. I figured he wanted to talk to me about one of the many issues we were
working on. When I entered, he asked me to sit down. He faced me from across his
large desk, looked me in the eye and said, "I hear your mother is very
ill."
I was totally caught by surprise and burst into tears.
He just looked at me, let my crying subside, and then gently said a sentence I
will never forget: "Whatever you need."
That was it. His understanding and his willingness to
both let me be in my pain and to offer me everything were qualities of
compassion that I carry with me to this day.
By Martin Rutte from
Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark
Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss
(TOP)
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Everybody
Can Do Something:
Roger Crawford had everything he needed to play tennis
- except two hands and a leg.
When Roger’s parents saw their son for the first
time, they saw a baby with a thumb-like projection extended directly out of his
right forearm and a thumb and one finger stuck out of his left forearm. He had
no palms. The baby’s arms and legs were shortened, and he had only three toes
on his shrunken right foot and a withered left leg, which would later be
amputated.
The doctor said Roger suffered from ectrodactylism, a
rare birth defect affecting only one out of 90,000 children born in the United
States. The doctor said Roger would probably never walk or care for himself.
Fortunately Roger’s parents didn’t believe the
doctor.
"My parents always taught me that I was only as
handicapped as I wanted to be," said Roger. "They never allowed me to
feel sorry for myself or take advantage of people because of my handicap. Once I
got into trouble because my school papers were continually late," explained
Roger who had to hold his pencil with both "hands" to write slowly.
"I asked Dad to write a note to my teachers, asking for a two-day extension
on my assignments. Instead Dad made me start writing my paper two days
early!"
Roger’s father always encouraged him to get involved
in sports, teaching Roger to catch and throw a volleyball, and play backyard
football after school. At age 12, Roger managed to win a spot on the school
football team.
Before every game, Roger would visualize his dream of
scoring a touchdown. Then one day he got his chance. The ball landed in his arms
and off he ran as fast as he could on his artificial leg toward the goal line,
his coach and teammates cheering wildly. But at the ten-yard line, a guy from
the other team caught up with Roger, grabbing his left ankle. Roger tried to
pull his artificial leg free, but instead it ended up being pulled off.
"I was still standing up," recalls Roger.
"I didn’t know what else to do so I started hopping towards the goal
line. The referee ran over and threw his hands into the air. Touchdown! You
know, even better than the six points was the look on the face of the other kid
who was holding my artificial leg."
Roger’s love of sports grew and so did his
self-confidence. But not every obstacle gave way to Roger’s determination.
Eating in the lunchroom with the other kids watching him fumble with his food
proved very painful to Roger, as did his repeated failure in typing class.
"I learned a very good lesson from typing class," said Roger.
"You can’t do everything - it’s better to concentrate on what you can
do."
One thing Roger could do was swing a tennis racket.
Unfortunately, when he swung it hard, his weak grip usually launched it into
space. By luck, Roger stumbled upon an odd-looking tennis racket in a sports
shop and accidentally wedged his finger between its double-barred handle when he
picked it up. The snug fit made it possible for Roger to swing, serve and volley
like an able-bodied player. He practiced every day and was soon playing - and
losing - matches.
But Roger persisted. He practiced and practiced and
played and played. Surgery on the two fingers of his left hand enabled Roger to
grip his special racket better, greatly improving his game. Although he had no
role models to guide him, Roger became obsessed with tennis and in time he
started to win.
Roger went on to play college tennis, finishing his
tennis career with 22 wins and 11 losses. He later became the first physically
handicapped tennis player to be certified as a teaching professional by the
United States Professional Tennis Association. Roger now tours the country,
speaking to groups about what it takes to be a winner, no matter who you are.
"The only difference between you and me is that
you can see my handicap, but I can’t see yours. We all have them. When people
ask me how I’ve been able to overcome my physical handicaps, I tell them that
I haven’t overcome anything. I’ve simply learned what I can’t do - such as
play the piano or eat with chopsticks - but more importantly, I’ve learned
what I can do. Then I do what I can with all my heart and soul."
By Jack Canfield from Chicken Soup for
the Soul Copyright 1993 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen
(TOP)
(Back to Stories Index)
The
Only Memory That Lingers:
I have many memories about my father and about growing
up with him in our apartment next to the elevated train tracks. For 20 years, we
listened to the roar of the train as it passed by his bedroom window. Late at
night, he waited alone on the tracks for the train that took him to his job at a
factory, where he worked the midnight shift.
On this particular night, I waited with him in the dark
to say good-bye. His face was grim. His youngest son had been drafted. I would
be sworn in at six the next morning, while he stood at his paper-cutting machine
in the factory.
My father had talked about his anger. He didn't want
them to take his child, only 19 years old, who had never had a drink or smoked a
cigarette, to fight a war in Europe. He placed his hands on my slim shoulders.
"You be careful, Srulic, and if you ever need anything, write to me and
I'll see that you get it."
Suddenly, he heard the roar of the approaching train.
He held me tightly in his arms and gently kissed me on the cheek. With
tear-filled eyes, he murmured, "I love you, my son." Then the train
arrived, the doors closed him inside, and he disappeared into the night.
One month later, at age 46, my father died. I am 76 as
I sit and write this. I once heard Pete Hamill, the New York reporter, say that
memories are man's greatest inheritance and I have to agree. I've lived through
four invasions in World War II. I've had a life full of all kinds of
experiences. But the only memory that lingers is of the night when my dad said,
"I love you, my son."
- By Ted Kruger from A 4th Course of Chicken Soup
for the Soul
Advertising
Does Work:
Submitted by Dave Singer
I have always been impressed whenever a
professional athlete credits his/her achievement to the presence of God in their
lives. A great advertising commercial for faith are the remarks that usually
follow the game winning touchdown, basket, putt, puck shot, or homerun. Most
sports teams have maybe one or two gifted athletes that credit their craft to a
higher being, but rarely do you run across an entire team. The St. Louis Rams
football team might be the exception.
All season long, the team repeatedly made clear the source of their
collective strength. It hit me like a lightning bolt just how unique the Rams were as I watched the NFC Championship game. As the game ended, the fans in
and outside of the stadium went wild. In the midst of the bedlam, I saw
something that was rare in professional sports. The entire group of millionaires
got together in a huddle, each man on one knee….and they prayed! Then the
commercial for faith got even bigger as Tampa Bay’s coach quietly joined the
group.
After the game, screaming fans lined the street and honked their car
horns. While they relished the outcome of the game, I could not forget
the sight of the players praying. I kept thinking about how the team quietly
revealed their faith during the season. It started with Curt Warner giving a
surprised unannounced personal testimony at the Billy Graham revival in the
middle of the season. He publicly gave notice that Christ played a special role
in his life and encouraged others. Then there was the car accident that involved
Isaac Bruce in the middle of the season. While driving from practice, his car
lost control and rolled over several times. Although he was not wearing a seat
belt, it was miracle that he walked away without a scratch. When Isaac lost
control, it was reported that he let go of the wheel, threw his hands in the air
and said "Lord, save me." The irony of this story is that the same
incident happened to Isaac’s mother while she was pregnant with him. She too,
let go of the wheel and cried out "Lord, save me." She walked away
from the accident without a scratch.
For me, the story of this season will have nothing to do with winning or losing
the Super Bowl. It is much bigger than that. The story of this season has to do with how easy we take life’s achievements for granted
and fail to give thanks to Him that made them possible. If these high paid
athletes can stop and give thanks publicly, why can't we do it privately?
The purpose of advertising is to convince consumers that they their
lives are incomplete without the product that is being advertised.
Unknowingly, the Rams were used to promote a product that we all need in our
lives…prayer. Unfortunately, although millions watched, I’m willing to bet
that many people missed the message.
When I turned in for bed that night, the last sight I remembered seeing was the autographed Rams football that I had purchased for $140
at an auction
before the season started. I wasn’t smiling because the value of the football
had appreciated to ten times what I paid for it….I was smiling because I saw
the autographed signature of Rams player Terry Holt and next to it was the
scripture Romans 8:31…."If God be for us, who can be against us."
What a great commercial!
Written by a co-worker of Les Wiles
P.S. by Les Wiles: I watched Curt Warner on Wheel of Fortune when he gave God
the credit also. (TOP)
(Back to Stories Index)
Bonehead:
As long as I live, I won't forget when I met Alvin C.
Hass for the first time in 1991. The other inmate in the prison class didn't use
the name "Alvin Hass" when he introduced us - not even close! He
introduced Alvin as "Bonehead." Immediately, I felt uncomfortable with
Alvin's nickname. The tall, soft-spoken inmate wouldn't look at me as he shook
my hand. Needless to say, "Bonehead" was bald-headed. The hair that he
had on the sides went way down past his shoulders. I felt as though I were
staring at him and tried not to look. But there was a large (and very
intimidating) tattoo on top of his bald head. (Yes! A tattoo on his head!) The
tattoo was of Harley-Davidson wings and covered the entire top of his head.
As a teacher, I try to maintain excellent composure
during stressful times, and I made it through that first day of class. At the
end of the period, "Bonehead" slipped me a note while he was filing
out of the classroom. I thought, "Oh no! He's telling me that I'm going to
be 'taken out' by his other "Harley" buddies if I don't give him a
good grade or something like that." A little later, I had a chance to read
the note. It said, "Teach (he always called me "Teach"),
breakfast is an important meal and if you're not in by then you're in big
trouble! - Bonehead, the Mountain Hippie."
Bonehead completed a series of six classes with me over
many months. He was an excellent student who seldom spoke. However, he handed me
a note nearly every day with some type of saying, tidbit, anecdote or other wise
advice for life. I looked forward to receiving them and became a little
disappointed if by chance he didn't give me one. I still have them all today.
Bonehead and I clicked. Somehow, I knew that each time
I opened my mouth to teach, he understood me. He silently soaked up everything I
said. We were connected.
At the conclusion of the course, each student received
a certificate. Bonehead had completed the course doing excellent work the entire
way through and I was excited to give him his certificate.
We were alone when I presented his certificate of
completion. I shook his hand and briefly told him what a pleasure it was to have
had him in my classes and that I appreciated his hard work, excellent attendance
and superior attitude. His response stayed with me and continues to make a deep
impression on my life. In that soft voice of his, Bonehead said, "Thank
you, Larry, You're the first teacher in my life that ever told me I did anything
right."
As I walked away, I was awash with emotion. I could
hardly hold back the tears thinking that in all of Bonehead's growing-up years,
no one ever told him he had done anything right.
Now, I'm from the "old school." I was raised
in a conservative setting and I believe criminals must pay for their wrongdoings
and be held accountable. Yet I've asked myself several times, "Could it be,
by chance, just by chance, that Bonehead's never hearing 'You did that right’
or 'Good job' might have had anything at all to do with why he ended up in
prison?"
That moment's experience implanted into my heart the
desire to make sure I acknowledge, in a positive way, every student that does
something "right."
Thanks, Bonehead, for telling me that I, too, did
something right.
By Larry Terherst from A 3rd Serving of
Chicken Soup for the Soul Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor
Hansen (TOP)
(Back to Stories Index)
Trust:
Having someone's trust is like having money in the
bank. Just like a bank account, you must make deposits if you expect to make
withdrawals.
When you keep your word, it's like making a deposit
into your trust fund. The more often you perform the way you promised, the
larger your balance is. Whenever you break your word, you have made a withdrawal
from your account.
You have a separate trust fund with each person that
you have a relationship with. If you have been making regular deposits into your
account with that individual, when the time comes that you are unable to keep
your word (let's face it, nobody's perfect!), you will still have a large enough
balance of trust to draw from. That person will realize that your account is
still good.
You are trustworthy! -
Matt
Dimaio (TOP)
(Back to Stories Index)
Some Things To
Think About:
Submitted by Dave Singer
1. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
2. Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
3. Why do croutons come in airtight packages? It is just stale bread to
begin, with.
4. Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives
a race car not called a racist?
5. Why is it that no word in the English language rhymes with mouth,
orange, silver or purple?
6. Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
7. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?
8. Why don't tomb, comb, and bomb sound alike?
9. Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
10. If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?
11. Why isn't 11 pronounced onety one?
12. If the singular of GEESE is GOOSE, shouldn't a Portuguese person be called a
Portugoose?
13. If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow
that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged,
models deposed, tree surgeons debarked and dry cleaners depressed?
14. Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as "4's"?
15. Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in
the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet
paint, you will have to touch it to be sure?
16. Are people more violently opposed to fur rather than leather because it's
much easier to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs?
17. If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he
become disoriented?
18. If people from Poland are called, "Poles," why aren't people
from Holland called "Holes"?
(TOP)
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Trouble:
Trouble makes us one with every human being in the
world - and unless we touch others, we're out of touch with life.
If I had a formula for bypassing trouble, I wouldn't
pass it around. Wouldn't be doing anybody a favor. Trouble creates a capacity to
handle it. I don't say embrace trouble. That's as bad as treating it as an
enemy. But I do say meet it as a friend, for you'll see a lot of it and had
better be on speaking terms with it.
Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894)
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All I
Would Ever Need:
I had always felt like a misfit in school. My friends,
although good and true friends, were not in the crowd of popular kids in school.
Besides, I was sure I was funny looking. I just didn’t fit the mold.
Parading constantly before my eyes was "the fun
group" - the popular kids - always laughing and whispering, never sad or
depressed, skipping their way through school, the best of friends. Teachers
loved them, boys loved them, the whole school loved them. I worshipped them and
wanted to be just like them. I dreamed of the day that they would accept me.
My dream came true when I turned fourteen and I tried
out for the cheerleading squad. To my surprise, I was chosen. Almost instantly,
I was thrust into the "in crowd." I felt like a butterfly coming out
of a cocoon. I changed my hair and the way I dressed. Everyone thought the
change in me was fantastic - new clothes, a new group of friends and a new
outlook on life.
Almost overnight, the whole school knew who I was, or
at least they knew my name. There were parties and sleepovers, and of course,
cheering at the games. I was finally one of the popular kids. Everyone I had
hoped to know, I knew. Everything I had wanted to be, I was.
Something strange was happening to me, however. The
more I was included with the "in crowd," the more confused I became.
In reality, these people were far from perfect. They talked behind each
other’s backs while they pretended to be best friends. They rarely had a truly
good time but smiled and faked it. They cared about what I was wearing and who I
was seen with. But they didn’t care about who I was, what I believed in, what
my dreams were or what made me who I was. It was a shock to see them as they
really were, instead of as I had "thought" they were.
I began to feel a huge sense of loss and
disappointment. But worst of all, I realized that I was becoming just like them,
and I didn’t like what was happening at all. I had to get my life back in
order.
I concentrated first on finding out who my real friends
were - the ones who listened and who really cared about me. They were the only
ones who really mattered. I stayed with cheerleading because I really enjoyed
it. But I stopped hanging around with only the popular kids, and I widened my
circle of friends. I found out that my real friends had never left me. They were
simply waiting for me to come to my senses. I finally realized that my original
friends were all I would ever need.
- By Kerri Warren from Chicken Soup for the
Kid’s Soul Copyright 1998 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen,
Patty Hansen and Irene Dunlap
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Nuns in
the Country
Two nuns were driving down a country road when they
ran out of gas. They walked to a farmhouse and a farmer gave them some
gasoline; but the only container he had was an old bedpan. The nuns were
happy to take whatever they were offered and returned to their car.
As they were pouring the gasoline from the bedpan
into the tank of their car, a minister drove by. He stopped, rolled down his
window and said, "Excuse me, sisters. I’m not of your religion, but I
couldn’t help admiring your faith!"
- By Dan Clark from
Chicken Soup for the Country Soul Copyright 1998 by Jack
Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Ron Camacho
- (TOP)
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On
Valentine's Day
An old man got on a bus one February 14th, carrying a
dozen roses. He sat beside a young man. The young man looked at the roses and
said, "Somebody's going to get a beautiful Valentine's Day gift."
"Yes," said the old man.
A few minutes went by and the old man noticed that his
young companion was staring at the roses. "Do you have a girlfriend?"
the old man asked.
"I do," said the young man. "I'm going
to see her right now, and I'm going to give her this Valentine's Day card."
They rode in silence for another 10 minutes, and then
the old man got up to get off the bus. As he stepped out into the aisle, he
suddenly placed the roses on the young man's lap and said, "I think my wife
would want you to have these. I'll tell her that I gave them to you."
He left the bus quickly. As the bus pulled away, the
young man turned to see the old man enter the gates of a cemetery.
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