“Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams.”
Ashley Smith
One of the things that brighten my life is people like you. Some of you I see often, others, seldom, and some never at all, and yet we are connected. It is who you are and what you do that is special. We may never actually communicate but when our day includes something that we feel good about we may not recognize it but it is a moment that connects us all. It is the good will of others that often motivates us to care for someone else. We may never know the differences we make in someone’s life, but trust me we can make that difference through how we ourselves live.
A guy who contributes many of the ideas you read here is my friend and sometimes traveling companion Ken. Here are some pearls of wisdom he sent me a few years ago, the comments are mine.
- Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind. I have a friend who learned to count to five before she spoke, her life got much better once she did
- You can’t change the past, but you can ruin the present by worrying over the future. I am glad that my character flaws include the inability to worry too much.
- All people smile in the same language. As you know I have traveled extensively and I have found that a smile opens many doors.
- A hug is a great gift… one size fits all. It can be given for any occasion and it’s easy to exchange. To tell the truth a hug is as good for the hugger as for the hugee.
- Everyone needs to be loved…especially when they do not deserve it. Some people are so overwhelmed by anger or loneliness that they become difficult to love, yet no one needs it more. Want to save someone? Then Care for them.
- Everyone has beauty around them but not everyone sees it. There is music appreciation, art appreciation, and best of all life appreciation, just open your eyes and look.
- If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for. How sad it is that some leave no room for happiness.
- Harsh words break no bones but they do break hearts. I sometimes think that the worst thing we can do is to say unkind things to those who care for us.
~~~
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well”
Voltaire
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Comments from 1958:
1. The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt if they will ever catch on.
2. Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime to mail a letter!
3. No one can afford to be sick any more; $35.00 a day in the hospital is too rich for my blood.
4. If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00 nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
5. Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $72,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the President.
6. If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a hair cut… forget it!
7. I’m really afraid that Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.
8. I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, its going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.00
9. When I first started driving, who would have ever thought that someday gasoline would cost 29 cents a gallon! Guess we would be better off leaving the car in the garage.
10. It’s too bad things are tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.
~~~
"I told the doctor I broke my leg in two places. He told me to quit going to those places."
Henny Youngman
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A very genteel Southern lady was driving across the Savannah River Bridge in Georgia one day. As she neared the top of the bridge, she noticed a young man fixen {ready} to jump. She stopped her car, rolled down the window and said, "Please don’t jump, think of your dear mother and father."
He replied, "Mom and Dad are both dead; I’m going to jump."
She said, "Well, think of your wife and children."
He replied, "I’m not married and I don’t have any kids."
She said, "Well, think of Robert E. Lee."
He replied, ”Who’s Robert E. Lee?”
She replied, ”Well bless your heart, just go ahead and jump, you dumb ass Yankee."
~~~
All I ask is a chance to PROVE that money can’t make me happy.
~~~
An elderly man in North Carolina had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back, fixed up really nice, along with some picnic tables, horseshoe courts, and some apple and peach trees. The pond was properly shaped and fixed up for swimming when it was built.
One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn’t been there for a while, and look it over. He grabbed a five gallon bucket to bring back some fruit.
As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. When he came closer, he realized it was a bunch of young women skinny-dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end to shield themselves.
One of the women shouted to him, "We’re not coming out until you leave!"
The old man frowned and replied, "I didn’t come down here to watch you ladies swim naked or make you get out of the pond naked." Holding the bucket up he said, "I’m here to feed the alligator."
Moral of the story: Old men may move slow but can still think fast.
~~~
Am I ambivalent? Well, yes and no.
~~~
Wife to Norm: "What’s your excuse for coming home at this time of the night?"
Norm to wife: "Golfing with friends, my dear."
Wife to Norm: "What? At 2 a.m?!"
Norm to wife: "Yes. We used night clubs."
~~~
Etiquette means behaving yourself a little better than is absolutely essential.
Will Cuppy
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A wife says to her husband one weekend morning, "We’ve got such a clever dog. He brings in the daily newspapers every morning."
Her husband replied, "Well, lots of dogs can do that."
The wife responded, "But we don’t subscribe to any papers!"
~~~
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Albert Schweitzer
~~~
Stay well, do good work, and have fun.
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies.
The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray's Daily 
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