| December 2004 Newsletter |
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| First
Corinthians 13 - Christmas Version |
If I decorate my
house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights and
shining balls, but do not show love to my family, I'm just another
decorator.
If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies,
preparing gourmet meals and arranging a beautifully adorned table at
mealtime but do not show love to my family, I'm just another cook.
If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home and give
all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it
profits me nothing.
Love stops the cooking to hug the child. Love sets aside the
decorating to kiss the husband.
Love is kind, though harried and tired.
Love doesn't envy another's home that has coordinated
Christmas china and table linens.
Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way, but is
thankful they are there to be in the way.
Love doesn't give only to those who are able to give in
return, but rejoices in giving to those who can't.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all thing,
endures all things.
Love never fails.
Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs
will rust but giving the gift of love will endure.
| The Eve Of Christmas |
Two thousand years have
almost gone by
Since Jesus was nailed on a cross to die
His teachings were done by words and deed
And thousands would listen,
And thousands would heed.
The words of His wisdom, and that of God
As many miles on foot would he trod
Let Peace be on earth, would be His command,
And nothing less, should we demand!
On the Eve of His birth let us all be blessed
And thank our God as we see the end of our quest.
Let us all stand together, as brother and friend
And pledge our love, and respect
To a world without end.
Together we stand, in joy and in sorrow
and praise the birth of Jesus with the light of tomorrow!
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| Everywhere,
Everywhere, Christmas Tonight! |
Christmas in
lands of the fir-tree and pine,
Christmas in lands of the palm-tree and vine,
Christmas where snow peaks stand solemn and
white, Christmas where cornfields stand sunny
and bright. Christmas where children are hopeful and gay,
Christmas where old men are patient and gray,
Christmas where peace, like a dove in his flight.
Broods o'er brave men in the thick of the fight;
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!
For the Christ-child who comes is the Master of all;
No palace too great, no cottage too small.
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| Two Questions? |
Question 1: If you knew a
woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were
deaf, two who were blind, and she had syphilis; would you
recommend that she have an abortion?
Questions 2: It is time to elect a new world leader, and your
vote counts. Here are the facts about the three leading
candidates:
Candidate A: associates with crooked politicians, and consults
with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes
and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day
Candidate B: He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until
noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whisky every
evening.
Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian,
doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn't had any
extramarital affairs.
Which of these candidates would be your choice? |
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Answers: Candidate A is
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler
And by the way: Answer to the abortion question if you said
yes, you just killed Beethoven. |
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| What A Great Answer
|
In case we
find ourselves starting to believe all the anti-American
sentiment and negativity about our government and its policies,
we should remember England's Prime Minister Tony Blair's words
to his own people.
During a recent interview. Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great
Britain was asked by one of his parliament members as to why he
believes so much in America. And does he think America is on the
right track?
Blair's reply — "A simple way to take measure of a
country is to look at how many want in ... and how many want
out."
| ATTITUDE |
The
92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is
fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair
fashionably coifed and makeup perfectly applied, even though
she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her
husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move
necessary.
After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the
nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was
ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I
provided a visual description of her tiny room, including
the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window.
"I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an
eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room.... just wait."
"That doesn't have anything to do with it," she
replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of
time. Whether I like my room or not doesn't depend on how
the furniture is arranged... it's how I arrange my mind. I
already decided to love it..
"It's a decision I make every morning when I wake up.
I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the
difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer
work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that
do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I'll
focus on the new day and all the happy memories I've stored
away ... just for this time in my life.
Old age is like a bank account... you withdraw from what
you've put in .. So, my advice to you would be to deposit a
lot of happiness in the bank account of memories . Thank you
for your part in filling my Memory bank. I am still
depositing.
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
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| A short history
lesson on the privilege of voting... |
The women
were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night,
they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs
and then-warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33
women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk
traffic." They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the
cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night,
bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis into a
dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked
her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was
dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits
describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking,
slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus
unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia
ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists
imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow
Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the
women's only water came from an open pail. Their food—all
of it colorless slop—was infested with worms. When one
of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike,
they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and
poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured
like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the
press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year
because—why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have
to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining? Last
week, there was a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new
movie "Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic
depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could
pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am
ashamed to say I needed the reminder. All these years later,
voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act
of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a
privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient. My friend Wendy,
who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO
movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it,
she looked angry. She was— with herself. "One
thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,"
she said. "What would those women think of the way I
use—or " don't use—my right to vote?
All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women,
but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to
vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over
again." HBO will run the movie periodically before
releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social
studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum. I want it shown on Bingo night, too, and
anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual
idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers
that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in
order. It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies
try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane
so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it
is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was
strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The
doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often
mistaken for insanity." Please pass this on to all the
women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this
right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous
women.
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| Quotes About
Money... |
What this
country needs is a good five-cent nickel. —Frank Adams
A study of economics usually reveals that the best time to
buy anything is last year. —Marty Allen
I hope I don't sound like an old-fashioned
stick-in-the-mud, but when I hear about people making vast
fortunes without doing any productive work or contributing
anything to society, my reaction is:
'How can I get in on that?' —Dave Barry
Credit cards are VERY dangerous. Every time I try to use
one somebody starts chasing me with scissors. —J.
Bothne
Many speak the truth when they say that they despise
riches, but they mean the riches possessed by other men. —Charles
Caleb Colton |
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