Choices

Another good one from Helen Elaine

 

and

 

According to Truthorficitions.com http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/godsperfection.htm , the following story is The Truth: 
This story has a source which TruthOrFiction.com has been able to trace.  It's attributed to Rabbi Paysach Krohn, a popular lecturer and best-selling author of the ArtScroll Maggid series of short stories.  In a message to TruthOrFiction.com, Rabbi Krohn said, "Every single word in the story is accurate. I heard it from Shaya's father himself - who is a close friend of mine"

 

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, every thing 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 a sked, '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 I 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 te am'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!

 

 

~ ~ ~ ~

 

Would you let Shay play?   Make every day a Shay day!

Everyday Value

Helen Elaine passed on this email she received.. Thanks!  I have not had the chance to check it out yet.  If you do, please let me know your results.

 

She wrote :) This past weekend I was at Kroger. I needed

 60 W light bulbs and Bounce dryer sheets.

 

I was in the light

 bulb aisle and right next to the GE brand I normally buy was

 an off brand labeled "Everyday Value." I picked up

 both types of bulbs and compared the stats - they were the

 same except for the price. The GE bulbs were more money than the

 Everyday Value brand but the thing that surprised me the

 most was the fact that GE was made in MEXICO and the

 Everyday Value brand was made in - get ready for this - the

 USA. So throw out the myth that you cannot find products you

 use every day that are made right here - from a company in

 Cleveland OH!  

 

So on to another aisle - Bounce Dryer

 Sheets.....yep you guessed it Bounce was more money and made

 in Canada, the Everyday Value brand was less money and MADE

 IN THE USA!  I did laundry yesterday and the dryer sheets

 performed just like the Bounce Free I have been using for

 years and at almost half the price!

 

 So my challenge to you is to start reading the labels when

 you shop for everyday things and see what you can find that

 is made in the USA - the job you save may be your own or

 your neighbors!

Why Obama is not like Lincoln, but could be

from Liberty Counsel

 

Please help me send a very important message to
                 President Obama on how he could really be like
                 Lincoln -- Mat Staver

 

As you know, President Barack Obama has openly drawn a comparison
between himself and Abraham Lincoln.

 

Obama's presidency is certainly the fruit of Lincoln's work. But to be
like Lincoln, Obama would have to go against public opinion and the
prevailing legal climate to champion a group that has been denied
their inalienable rights.

 

So, how could Obama be like Lincoln?

 

By championing the rights of the unborn -- a group that has been
stripped of all legal rights and discarded, literally, as human
waste by our society.

 

              If Barack Obama wants to be Lincoln, then he must
              stand for the unborn. And the first step is to stop his
              radical abortion agenda.

 

Sadly, President Obama is not off to a good start! Within moments of
his swearing in, his staff posted his 100% abortion agenda on the new
White House web site.

 

He has already signed an Executive Order overruling the Mexico City
policy.  This means that he has forced you and I to fund abortion
in foreign countries.  Outrageous!

We have a lot more work to do.

 

+ + Help me deliver 50,000 petitions to President Obama

Because we want to make the largest impact possible, I have instructed
my staff to deliver the petitions to the White House as soon as we
reach the 50,000 mark.

 

I want to send these petitions before the end of the month, but that
depends on friends like you taking up this cause.

        Please sign our petition opposing Obama's
        radical abortion agenda by going here:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?u=15787&PID=19339812

 

Again, I have instructed my staff to schedule the delivery as soon as
we reach the 50,000 mark. How long will that take? That depends on how
seriously friends like you take up this cause to challenge President
Obama on his abortion agenda.

 

No, Barack Obama is not Abraham Lincoln... but he could be remembered
for championing a great, persecuted minority that currently has NO
legal rights -- America's unborn.

 

Please help me send this message to President Obama as soon as possible
by alerting your friends.

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

Judas Asparagus and others

Thanks for passing this on, Ginger!

Personally, I don't think this sounds like a child. Maybe a teen. But it's a good read. If you don't get it, check out the original. Come to think of it, it's a good idea to check out the original regularly, anyway. B

Judas Asparagus

A child was asked to write a book report on the entire Bible.

This is amazing and brought tears of laughter to my eyes.

I wonder how often we take for granted that children understand what we are teaching???

Through the eyes of a child:

The Children's Bible in a Nutshell

In the beginning, which occurred near the start, there was nothing but God, darkness, and some gas. The Bible says, 'The Lord thy God is one, but I think He must be a lot older than that.

Anyway, God said, 'Give me a light!' and someone did. < /SPAN>

Then God made the world.

He split the Adam and made Eve. Adam and Eve were naked, but they weren't embarrassed because mirrors hadn't been invented yet.

Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating one bad apple, so they were driven from the Garden of Eden.....Not sure what they were driven in though, because they didn't have cars.

Adam and Eve had a son, Cain, who hated his brother as long as he was Abel.

Pretty soon all of the early people died off, except for Methuselah, who lived to be like a million or something.

One of the next important people was Noah, who was a good guy, but one of his kids was kind of a Ham. Noah built a large boat and put his family and some animals on it. He asked some other people to join him, but they said they would have to take a rain check.

After Noah came Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was more famous than his brother, Esau, because Esau sold Jacob his birthmark in exchange for some pot roast. Jacob had a son named Joseph who wore a really loud sports coat.

Another important Bible guy is Moses, whose real name was Charlton Heston. Moses led the Israel Lights out of Egypt and away from the evil Pharaoh after God sent ten plagues on Pharaoh's people. These plagues included frogs, mice, lice, bowels, and no cable.

God fed the Israel Lights every day with manicotti. Then he gave them His Top Ten Commandments. These include: don't lie, cheat, smoke, dance, or covet your neighbor's stuff.

Oh, yeah, I just thought of one more: Humor thy father and thy mother.

One of Moses' best helpers was Joshua who was the first Bible guy to use spies. Joshua fought the battle of Geritol and the fence fell over on the town.

After Joshua came David. He got to be king by killing a giant with a slingshot. He had a son named Solomon who had about 300 wives and 500 porcupines. My teacher says he was wise, but that doesn't sound very wise to me.

After Solomon there were a bunch of major league prophets. One of these was Jonah, who was swallowed by a big whale and then barfed up on the shore.

There were also some minor league prophets, but I guess we don't have to worry about them.

After the Old Testament came the New Testament. Jesus is the star of The New. He was born in Bethlehem in a barn. (I wish I had been born in a barn too, because my mom is always saying to me, 'Close the door! Were you born in a barn?' It would be nice to say, 'As a matter of fact, I was.')

During His life, Jesus had many arguments with sinners like the Pharisees and the Democrats.

Jesus also had twelve opossums.

The worst one was Judas Asparagus. Judas was so evil that they name d a terrible vegetable after him.

Jesus was a great man. He healed many leo pards and even preached to some Germans on the Mount.

But the Democrats and all those guys put Jesus on trial before Pontius the Pilot. Pilot didn't stick up for Jesus. He just washed his hands instead.

Jesus died for our sins, then came back to life again. He went up to Heaven but will be back at the end of the Aluminum. His return is foretold in the book of Revolution.

I didn't know, did you?

This helpful little email was passed on by a friend. Thank you, Helen Elaine!



I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself. B - Me, too. It's true.

Whoever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? You know when you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.


Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, Press here to lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap ro ll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

I'm sharing this with my friends. I hope I'm not the only person that didn't know about this.

Three Words of Wisdom

from DailyGood.org:

--posted by jaydeebug on Jan 1, 2009

One evening I was parked in front of the mall wiping off my car. I had just come from the car wash and was waiting for my wife to get out of work. Coming my way from across the parking lot was, what society would consider, a bum. From the looks of him, he had no car, no home, no clean clothes, and no money. There are times when you feel generous but there are other times that you just don't want to be bothered. This was one of the "don't want to be bothered" times.

"I hope he doesn't ask me for money," I thought.  He didn't.  He came and sat on the curb in front of the bus stop and he didn't look like he could have enough money to even ride the bus.  After a few minutes he spoke.  "That's a very nice car," he said.  He was ragged but had an air of dignity around him.

I said, "Thanks," and continued wiping off my car.

He sat there quietly as I worked. The expected plea for money never came. As the silence between us widened something inside me said, "Ask him if he needs any help."  I was sure that he would say yes, but I held true to the inner voice.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.  He answered in three simple but profound words that I shall never forget.  We often look for wisdom in great men and women.  We expect it from those of higher learning and accomplishments.  I expected nothing but an outstretched grimy hand.  He spoke three words that shook me.

"Don't we all?" he said.

I needed help. Maybe not for bus fare or a place to sleep, but I needed help.  I reached in my wallet and gave him not only enough for bus fare but enough to get a warm meal and shelter for the day. Those three little words still ring true. No matter how much you have, no matter how much you have accomplished, you need help too.  No matter how little you have, no matter how loaded you are with problems, even without money or a place to sleep, you can give help.  Even if it's just a compliment, you can give that.

You never know when you may see someone that appears to have it all. They are waiting on you to give them what they don't have. A different perspective on life, a glimpse at something beautiful, a respite from daily chaos, that only you through a torn world can see.  -- Cal

oh, yeah

A friend sent me this through the email  I am not sure this really happened - no names, dates or places, AND I am afraid I don't think (sadly) that Americans greet our people in uniform warmly everywhere they go - but, it does reflect some of how I feel.  So here it is, anyway - B

 

Love This Comeback

 

One of my sons serves in the military.. He is still stateside, here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him and his troops everywhere he goes, telling me how people shake their hands and thank them for being willing to serve and fight for not only our own freedoms, but so that others may have them also. But he also told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped at yesterday on his way home from the base. He said that ahead of several people in front of him stood a woman dressed in a burkha.

 

He said when she got to the cashier she loudly remarked about the U.S. Flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and touched the pin, and said proudly, 'Yes, I always wear it and probably always will.'

 

The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

 

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward. Putting his arm around my son's shoulders and nodding towards my son, he said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman:

 

'Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen. It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today. But, hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid.

Everyone within hearing distance Cheered!

An Irish Tradition I Think We Should Adopt

from the Wikipedia

Little Christmas, or Nollaig Bheag in Irish, is one of the traditional names in Ireland for January 6, more commonly known in the rest of the world as the Epiphany. It is so called because it was the day on which Christmas Day was celebrated under the Roman calendar, before the adoption of the Gregorian calendar. It is the traditional end of the Christmas season and the last day of the Christmas holidays for both primary and secondary schools in Ireland

Little Christmas is also referred to as Women's Christmas (Nollaig na mBan in Irish), or sometimes even Women's Little Christmas. It is so called because of the tradition, which is still very strong in Cork, of Irish men taking on all the household duties for the day and giving their spouses a day off.  Most women will either hold parties or go out to celebrate the day with their friends, sisters, mothers, aunts etc. Bars (ok, not this part) and restaurants usually have a majority female clientele on this night. Children often buy presents for their mothers and grandmothers, and it resembles Mother's Day in this respect.

Dangerous Dog Toy

KEYWORD: PIMPLE BALL
confirmed onSnopes and Truth or Fiction


Daniel Rechelbacher -
On June 22, 2008 , my 10-year old lab mix, Chai, sustained a severe injury from a product that the company Four Paws, Inc., produces. The toy I'm referencing is the pimple ball with bell (Item #20227-001, UPC Code #0 4566320227 9).

While chewing on the toy, a vacuum was created and it effectively sucked his tongue into the hole in the ball. From speaking with my vet, this likely occurred because there is not a second hole in the ball preventing the vacuum effect from happening. I became aware of this when Chai approached a friend at my home whimpering with the ball in his mouth.

She tried unsuccessfully to remove the ball but the tongue had swollen and could not be released.

again ......I don't see why they couldn't have cut a big hole in the other end to release the pressure ????

Chai was taken to the Animal Medical Center (an emergency care facility in New York City ) and was treated by Dr. Nicole Spurlock to have the ball removed. Because the size of the opening on t he ball was so small, all circulation to his tongue was cut off. The doctors had to sedate him in ord er to remove it. Once the ball was removed, his tongue swelled to the point that he could no longer put it in his mouth. Chai was sent home with care instructions and to be observed overnight for any changes.


By the following morning, Chai's tongue had swollen even more.


This is the dogs tongue not the Toy!
He was taken to his regular vet, Dr. Timnah Lee, for treatment. He was admitted and kept sedated for a period of three days during which time they were treating his wounds and waiting to determine how much of his tongue could be saved. On June 26, 2008 , Chai had his tongue amputated.

He was kept in after-care for an additional three days. On Sunday, June 29th, I brought Chai home from the vet with a barrage of home care instructions, to last for an additional 7 days. His next visit was to have his mouth re-examined and have the feeding tube in his neck removed.

On the way home from the vet we stopped at Petland Discount where I purchased their product to speak to the manager on duty. Upon meeting Chai and seeing his condition, he removed all of the balls in question from the shelves. He also ga ve me the customer service number to their corporate headquarters to request that they refuse to continue purchasing all Four Paws products, but I have not called them as of yet.

Additionally, I shared my story with friends who have a French Bulldog named Petunia. Upon hearing my story, their eyes widened. They explained that the same thing happened twice in one night with a smaller version of the same ball to their dog. Fortunately, they were able to pull it off before the tongue swelled, but not without tremendous effort and pain to the dog. They recalled how horrific it was to hear their dog screaming while they had to pry the ball from her tongue.

To date, my veterinary bills total over $5,000 and I will have regular follow up appointments for some time. Additionally, Chai now requires a much more expensive form of food beca use of this injury, averaging approximately $200 per month.

Additionally, I now have to re-teach my dog to eat, drink and adjust to life without his tongue. Feeding him takes me about 90 minutes twice a day and for at least this first week he is not to be unattended for more than 20 minutes at a time.

I sent this information along with the reference to the French Bulldog to Four Paws, Inc., and it is their position that there just aren't enough instances to do anything about this. I told their insurance company's case manager that was not a good enough excuse. It was inferred that my dogs value wasn't much and that his pain and suffering don't count as he is just a piece of property.