April 19, 2015
A reminder God didn't
create us all alike
You may have
seen this, however, it is worth a second look!
Two Choices
What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My
question is:
Would you have made the same
choice?
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, the father of one of the
students
delivered a speech that
would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its
Dedicated staff, he offered a question:
'When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does, is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.
Where is the natural order of things in my son?'
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled comes into
the
world, an opportunity to
realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes in the way other people treat that child.'
Then he told the following story:
Shay and I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think
they'll
let me play?' I knew that
most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father also
understood that if my son
were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some
confidence to be accepted by
others in spite of his handicaps.
I approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around
for
guidance and said, 'We're
losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll
try to put him in to bat in
the ninth inning..'
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.. I watched with a small tear
in my
eye and warmth in my heart.
The boys saw my joy at my son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his
way, he was
obviously ecstatic just to
be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as I waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at
bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know
how to
hold the bat properly, much
less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the
Plate, the pitcher, recognizing that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved
in a few
steps to lob the ball in
softly so Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The game would now be over.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out of reach of all team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first!
Run to first!'
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled.
Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!'
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The smallest guy on their team
who
now had his first chance to
be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so
he,
too, intentionally threw the
ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'
Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction of third
base,
and shouted, 'Run to
third!
Shay, run to third!'
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home!
Run home!'
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his
team
'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a
piece of
true love and humanity into
this world'.
Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so
happy,
and coming home and seeing
his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages
about
life choices, people
hesitate.
The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too
often
suppressed in our schools
and workplaces.
If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your
address
book who aren't the
'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well, the person who sent you this believes that
we all can make a
difference.
We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the 'natural order of things.'
So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:
Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities and leave the world a
little bit
colder in the process?
A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.
You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward
May your day, be a Shay Day.
MAY GOD BLESS EVERYONE WHO
DECIDES TO PASS THIS ON IN
MEMORY OF SHAY .
January 23rd 2015
Thomas
Jefferson
His Portrait is on the Two $2.00
Dollar Bill.
This is amazing.
There are two parts.
Be sure to read
the 2nd part (in RED ).
Thomas Jefferson
was a very remarkable man who started
learning very
early in life and never stopped.
At 5, began
studying under his cousin's tutor.
At 9, studied
Latin, Greek and French.
At 14, studied
classical literature and additional languages.
At 16, entered
the College of William and Mary.
Also could write in Greek with one hand
while writing the same in Latin with the
other.
At 19, studied
Law for 5 years starting under George Wythe.
At 23, started
his own law practice.
At 25, was
elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
At 31, wrote the
widely circulated "Summary View of the Rights of British America"
And
retired from his law practice.
At 32, was a
delegate to the Second Continental Congress.
At 33, wrote the
Declaration of Independence.
At 33, took
three years to revise Virginia's legal code and wrote a Public
Education
bill and a statute for Religious Freedom.
At 36, was
elected the second Governor of Virginia succeeding
Patrick
Henry.
At 40, served in
Congress for two years.
At 41, was the
American minister to France and
negotiated commercial treaties with
European nations
along with Ben
Franklin and John Adams..
At 46, served as
the first Secretary of State
under George
Washington.
At 53, served as
Vice President and was elected
president of the American Philosophical
Society.
At 55, drafted
the Kentucky Resolutions and
became the active head of Republican
Party.
At 57, was
elected the third president of the
United
States.
At 60, obtained
the Louisiana Purchase doubling
the nation's
size.
At 61, was
elected to a second term as President.
At 65, retired
to Monticello ..
At 80, helped
President Monroe shape the
Monroe
Doctrine.
At 81, almost
single-handedly created the University of Virginia and served as its
first
president.
At 83, died on
the 50th anniversary of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence
along
with John Adams.
Thomas Jefferson
knew because he himself studied the previous failed attempts at
government.
He understood
actual history, the nature of God, His laws and the
nature
of man. That happens to be way more than what most
understand
today.
Jefferson really
knew his stuff.
A voice from the
past to lead us in the future:
John F. Kennedy
held a dinner in the White House for a group of the brightest
minds
in the nation at that time. He made this statement: "This is
perhaps
the assembly of
the most intelligence ever to gather at one time in
the White House with the exception of when Thomas Jefferson
dined
alone."
"When we
get piled upon one another in large cities, as in
Europe,
we shall
become as corrupt as Europe
."--
Thomas
Jefferson
"The
democracy will cease to exist when you take away from
those
who are
willing to work and give to those who would
not." --
Thomas
Jefferson
"It is
incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it
goes.
A
principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of
the
world."
--
Thomas
Jefferson
"I
predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the
government
from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care
of
them."--
Thomas
Jefferson
"My
reading of history convinces me that most bad
government
results
from too much
government."--
Thomas
Jefferson
"No free
man shall ever be debarred the use of
arms."--
Thomas
Jefferson
"The
strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms
is,
as a
last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government."
--
Thomas
Jefferson
"The
tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to
time
with the
blood of patriots and
tyrants."--
Thomas
Jefferson
"To
compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which
he
disbelieves
and
abhors is sinful and
tyrannical." --
Thomas
Jefferson
Thomas
Jefferson said in 1802:
"I
believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties
than
standing armies.
If the
American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of
their
currency,
first by
inflation, then by deflation,
the
banks and corporations that will grow up around
the banks
will
deprive the people of all property -
until
their children wake-up homeless on the continent their
fathers
conquered."
I wish we could
get this out to every American!
I'm doing my
part.
So Please do
yours.
Wonder
how many kids today could even answer one of these questions
1895: 8th Grade FINAL
EXAM
What it took to get an 8th
grade education in 1895....
Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents
stated that they only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out..
Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895?
This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina ,
Kansas , USA . It was taken from the original document on file at the
Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina , and reprinted by
the Salina Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina
, KS - 1895
Grammar (Time, one hour) 1. Give nine rules for the use of capital
letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
3.. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4.. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of 'lie,''play,' and
'run..'
5.. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the
practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes) 1... Name and define the Fundamental Rules of
Arithmetic..
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. Deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. Wide. How many bushels of wheat
will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at 50cts/bushel, deducting
1,050 lbs. For tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a
school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs.. Coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent..
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. Long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640
rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes) 1. Give the epochs into which U..S. History is
divided
2.. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus
3.. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln , Penn, and
Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849, 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour)
[Do we even know what this
is??] 1. What is meant by the following: alphabet,
phonetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3... What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong,
cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u..' (HUH?)
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two exceptions under each
rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: bi, dis-mis, pre,
semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that
indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane
, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays...
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of
diacritical marks and by syllabication...
Geography (Time, one hour) 1 What is climate? Upon what does climate
depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver , Manitoba , Hecla ,
Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S. Name all the republics of
Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of
rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth.
Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.
Gives the saying 'he only had an 8th grade education' a
whole new meaning, doesn't it?!
Also shows you how poor our education
system has become
May 1st:
BILL WINSTON: SYSTEM OF GOD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC2I5wZ2vCg&feature=em-share_video_user
Don’t Quit!
When things go wrong as they sometimes
will,
When the road you’re trudging seems all
uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are
high,
When you want to smile but you have to
sigh
When cares are pressing you down a
bit,
Rest if you must, but don’t you
quit!
Life is strange with its twists and
turns,
As everyone of us sometimes
learns,
And many a failure turns
about,
When he might have won if he stuck it
out.
Don’t you give up though the pace seems
slow,
You might succeed with another
blow,
Often the goal is nearer
than
It ever seems to a faint and faltering
man,
Often the struggler has given
up,
When he might have captured the victor’s
cup,
And, he learned too late, with a groan and
frown,
How close he was to the golden
crown.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of
doubt,
You never can tell how close you
are,
It may be near when it seems so
far,
So, stick to the fight when you’re hardest
hit,
It’s when things seem worse that you must not
quit.
I Will
Act Now!
I will act now! I will act now! I will act now!
Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words
become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking
of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my
success.
I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk
where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest.
I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labour of
the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a
failure.
I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another
and lost to me forever.
This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.
By Og Mandino
Positive thinking is a choice!
John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good
mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I
were any better, I would be twins!” He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, John was there
telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious,
so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it!’ ‘You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you
do it?’ He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today... You can choose to be
in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood I choose to be in a good mood.’ Each time something bad
happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it.. I choose to learn from it. Every time
someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life. I
choose the positive side of life.
‘Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.
‘Yes, it is,’ he said. ‘Life is all about choices.. When you cut away all the junk, every
situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your
mood.
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line:It’s USUALLY your choice how
you live your life.’
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry
to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him
when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60
feet from a communications tower.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released
from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident.
When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be
twins...Wanna see my scars?’
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone
through
his mind as the accident took place.
The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of
my
soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied. ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I
remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could
choose to die. I chose to live.’
‘Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked.
He continued, ‘...the paramedics were
great.
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they
wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In
their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.’
‘What did you do?’ I asked.
‘Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John. ‘She asked if I was
allergic to anything ‘Yes, I replied.’ The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a
deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity’’
Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live.
Operate on
me as if I am alive, not dead.’
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because
of his
amazing attitude...I learned from him that every day we have the choice
to live fully.
Attitude, after all, is everything
.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about
itself.. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about
yesterday.
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