Careful, Kids!

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Another great post I just have to share, from one of my favorite authors:

        (by Steve Goodier - http://www.lifesupportsystem.com/ )

The poet maryam kazmi wrote a piece she calls “Just One” that has gotten quite a bit of traction on the Internet. Here is her original:

One song can spark a moment 
One flower can wake a dream 
One tree can start a forest 
One bird can herald spring 

One smile begins friendship 
One handclasp lifts a soul 
One star can guide a ship at the sea
One word can frame a goal

One vote can change a nation 
One sunbeam lights a room 
One candle wipes all the darkness
One laugh will conquer gloom

One step must start each journey 
One word must start each prayer 
One hope will raise our spirits 
One touch can show you care 

One voice can speak with wisdom 
One heart can know what’s true 
One life can make a difference 
You see it’s up to you 

Do you ever think that one person really doesn’t matter? Tabitha Brown proved that one person can make a difference. 

It was 1846. Grandma Brown, as she was affectionately called, joined one of the wagon trains of adventurers hoping to start a life in America’s west. She was 62 years old, only five feet tall and weighed all of 108 pounds when well-fed. Because she was partly paralyzed, she leaned on a cane and walked with a limp.

Along the way, Grandma Brown showed great courage and stamina. As she crossed the American Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains, she nursed the wagon train’s sick. At one point she neared starvation herself after the caravan’s cattle were rustled off by Rogue River Indians.

Once they arrived in Oregon, she started an orphanage and one of the first schools in that part of the country. The so-called academy was established for all people, both rich and poor. The poor attended free while those who could afford paid a dollar a week for tuition and board.

As long as Grandma Brown was able, she worked to keep the institution alive. She attended to the students. She convinced would-be faculty of the need for teachers at the school. Many days found her hobbling about on her lame leg in the kitchen, kneading and baking the necessary daily bread.

Grandma Brown believed that one person can make a difference. Today, the institution she helped to build is still very much alive and well. It is known as Pacific University.

I particularly like how Sydney Smith once put it: "It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can.”
{emphasise mine, /clh}

I think Grandma Brown got that.

-- Steve Goodier
 http://www.lifesupportsystem.com/

New Mantra -- repeat after me

"I'm Not Old Enough To Vote" -- An Important Plea

This is a very well-done video, moving and sensible.  Less than four minutes.   Check it out.  It's going to stay up here until after the election!

Surrender Yer Booty!

Talk like a pirate today and get some free donuts from Krispy Kreme - - Huffington Post article here has all the details!

How to respond to a "border checkpoint" when you are nowhere near the border

There will always be some people who will try to assert authority over you that they simple don't have. 

Know your rights and just say "No, thank you". 

Two inspiring examples in one video, thanks to BrassCheckTV.com

Nuff sed

More Than Just a Day to BBQ

"Labor Day", a US national holiday since 1894, is actually more than just a benchmark as the end of summer, the last day of wearing white clothes without scorn by snotty fashionistas, or a great excuse for a BBQ.   Check it out here at the History.com site or here at the US Department of Labor site, to name just a couple.  While I'm not a big fan of labor unions today, they certainly did a job at the turn of the century (no, I mean the century before this one) for workers all over the US.  Take a minute to learn something about it, eh?

And have an enjoyable BBQ on your day off, wearing white shoes while enjoying the last day of summer!

AT THE COMPLAINT COUNTER

Just have to share a great post from one of my favorite authors:

        (by Steve Goodier - http://www.lifesupportsystem.com/ )

I understand that an Athens hotel posted a sign that read: "Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours of 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. daily." So, visitors and actually expected to complain?

Of course, complaints in themselves are not bad things. I realize that something has to be addressed before it can be fixed, and I believe that there are times when dissatisfaction should be expressed. What's more, I realize that we all have different temperaments. Some people naturally see the glass half full, some see it half empty and some just see that they will probably end up washing it. Some people are naturally more accepting while others complain quickly.

But a tendency to constantly look at what is wrong can become a habit. And habits can take over. I just don't want to become a person who spends a lot of time "standing at the complaint counter."

Like the woman who frequented a small antique shop. She complained constantly about the prices, the quality and even the location.

The shop owners took it in stride, but one day, while ranting about selection, she blasted the clerk with: "Why is it I never manage to get what I ask for in your shop?"

The clerk smiled and replied, "Possibly because we're too polite."

I find that if I fill my mind with the little irritants of life, I have no room, or energy, left for anything that nurtures and feeds my spirit. No room for genuine appreciation. No room for understanding. No room for enjoyment. No room for fond memories. No room for storing a list of things that bring pleasure.

I actually believe there is much to feel good about. Humorist Bob Orben rightly said, "The next time you feel like complaining, remember that your garbage disposal probably eats better than thirty percent of the people in this world." I want to leave room in my mind for a long gratitude list that I can readily recall when I need a boost. I want to notice what's good and right about the world. And I want to fill my heart and head with that which brings some joy so that I may go to bed each evening contented.

Attitudes are habits. Like television producer Barbara Gordon says, "While others may argue about whether the world ends with a bang or a whimper, I just want to make sure mine doesn't end with a whine." I can't put it any better than that.

-- Steve Goodier
http://www.lifesupportsystem.com/

Happy Birthday, America!!!

The Unanimous Declaration of the 

Thirteen United States of America

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed

Take THAT, social networking!

Like my "front lawn"......but at least it's finally gotten mowed!

Decoration Day

Hey, I've got an idea!   Stop by a war memorial, a veteran's park, the VA Hospital, your local cemetery.  Plant a flag.  Buy a veteran lunch.  Take some time this weekend to think of your grandfather, your brother, your father, your uncle, your neighbor, and the various women, along with men, who sacrificed to protect our freedom. 

If you can read this dribble of mine on the internet, thank a veteran.

Fort Rosecrans, 2008

Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed annually in the United States on the last Monday of May. 

Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War  to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. (Southern ladies organizations and southern schoolchildren had decorated Confederate graves in Richmond and other cities during the Civil War, but each region had its own date. Most dates were in May.) By the 20th century Memorial Day had been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars. Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces  (from Wikipedia).

Nuff sed....

Oh, the troubles these computers give us!

Having a love affair with a computer and all it can help us do is definitely a two-edged sword: