Ray's Daily

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people.  Of course, that is not true.  Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing.

Walter H. Judd

Just a couple of quick thoughts before I get into the excuses.

I was an early voter yesterday and while I was standing in a pretty long line I started talking to others who were there to vote. What impressed me was how serious these folks were and how knowledgeable they were about the candidates and the issues. I have often raised concerns about those who vote who watch a political commercial or two. Possibly this year will be different because of the serious problems we face, I hope so.

Last Saturday I visited my local Sport Clips barber shop where my all time favorite barber practices her trade. I was surprised to see a counter full of baked goods that I soon learned where baked by Amy and her fellow barbers to raise money to buy phone cards for the military serving in Iraq so they can call home over the holidays. Most everything on sale cost only a dollar and I don’t know how much they raised or how many cards they will be able to buy, but I do know they spent time doing something they could do to make our world a little better. They didn’t have to do it but they cared enough that they did. If everyone would give just a little of their time like my friend Amy has done we could work miracles while feeling good about it in the process.

OK here are the excuses; I have an early morning breakfast meeting today followed by a mid-morning lecture and then an early evening seminar. That is besides the normal stuff so I hope you enjoy another dusted off old Daily.

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From the October 29, 2001 Daily

Over the years we collect memorabilia of all kinds. In my case most have been in the form of plaques, certificates, awards, photos, and the like. I plastered my office walls and filled my shelves with these things as the years went by. I often wondered if I did that because of some sort of ego trip or because I needed the reinforcement that comes from knowing someone else thought you did something that had merit, I never learned the answer.

It is only lately that I have discovered the true value of revisiting the things we save from the past. Each is like a snapshot frozen in time that brings back memories of friends, events, and in some cases accomplishments. In total they are like brushstrokes on the canvas that is our lives. Each event is a brick in the platform that we build that allows us to reach for the stars. Without them everyday would be like the last and reaching for the stars would be too great a challenge.

~~~

Our lives would run a lot more smoothly if second thoughts came first.

~~~

One day, two out-of-work ventriloquists are talking on the phone to each other and lamenting their condition. The older one says, "Just between you and me, I’ve been moonlighting lately as a medium."

The young ventriloquist is quite impressed. "Really?" he says. "I didn’t know that you were psychic!"

"Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not," confesses the older man. "But what I did was rent a storefront and bought a small round table, a crystal ball, and a turban. Then, when people come in, I throw my voice and they think that they’re talking to their dead relatives."

"What a great idea!" says the young ventriloquist.

"You should try it too," suggests the first man. "You’ll see, it works great."

The next day, the young man goes out, rents a little storefront, and buys a table, a crystal ball, and a turban. He opens up for business, and an hour later a middle-aged woman walks in. She sits down at the table across from the ventriloquist and asks him, "Can you put me in touch with my long-lost husband?"

"I sure can!" he answers. "Why, for just a hundred dollars, you can hear your husband speak to you from behind that curtain over there. Now I must warn you that his voice might sound a little different, but that’s because he’s talking to you from the spirit world."

"That’s wonderful," says the woman eagerly.

"For a hundred and fifty dollars," the ventriloquist says, "you could have a two -way conversation with your husband, and talk back and forth with him."

The woman’s voice rises in anticipation as she asks, "You mean, I could communicate directly with my dear departed Hubert?"

"Not only that," says the ventriloquist, getting just as excited as the woman. "For two hundred dollars, you could actually carry on a two-way conversation with your husband while I’m drinking a glass of water!"

~~~

I am having an out of money experience.

~~~

How many of these do you remember?

 1. Metal ice trays with levers

 2. Telephone party lines

 3. 45 RPM records

 4. Soda machines that dispensed glass bottles

 5. Tableside jukeboxes in coffee shops

 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

 7. Butch wax

 8. Newsreels before the movie

 9. The unholy trinity: Hitler, Mussolini and Franco

10. Eisenhower, Normandy and D-Day

11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive-6933)

12. Peashooters

13. Howdy Doody

14. Candy cigarettes

15. S&H Green Stamps

16. Hi-fi’s

17. Wire recorders

18. Mimeograph paper

19. Blue flashbulbs

20. Beanie and Cecil

21. Roller skates with keys

22. Cork popguns

23. Drive-in movies

24. Studebaker and Nash automobiles

25. Wash tub wringers

26. Rotary dial phones

IF YOU REMEMBERED…

  0-5 = You’re still young

 6-10 = You are getting older

11-15 = Don’t tell your age

16-20 = You’re older than dirt!

Over 20?… even dirt isn’t as old as you

~~~

An archaeologist is the best husband a woman can have.

The older she gets, the more interested he is in her!

~~~

Several women appeared in court, each accusing the other of the trouble they were having in the apartment building where they lived. The judge, with Solomon-like wisdom decreed, "I’ll hear the oldest woman first." The case was closed for lack of evidence.

~~~

Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you sit there.

~~~

On their 50th wedding anniversary and during the banquet celebrating it, Tom was asked to give his friends a brief account of the benefits of a marriage of such long duration.  "Tell us Tom, just what is it you have learned from all those wonderful years with your wife?" Tom responds, "Well, I’ve learned that marriage is the best teacher of all. It teaches you loyalty, meekness, forbearance, self-restraint, forgiveness — and a great many other qualities you wouldn’t have needed if you’d stayed single."

~~~

My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.

CHARLES F. KETTERING

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