Ray’s Daily
November 29, 2017
Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.
Today I get to go to my ophthalmologist to see how much my eyesight has improved after my recent eye surgery. I hope he is as pleased with the result as I am.
Later I will be joining the staff at my former employer as they celebrate a dear former colleagues retirement. One of the best things I ever did in my career was to hire her to assist with implementing a major global public health project. It was through her efforts that we made the progress we did.
She was an excellent working partner and a valued friend. I retired some time ago but my friend stayed on filling various roles while helping the organization thrive. So, I wish you well Joan Wilson, I know Kiwanis International is grateful for all you have done and I am grateful for all you did for me.
I wonder sometimes if we miss seeing the contribution some folks have on the wellbeing of others, They don’t look for recognition they just do their good work, there secret, they care. Here is a story that reminds me of the many people who made a difference in my life.
A Special Teacher
Years ago a John Hopkin’s professor gave a group of graduate students this assignment: Go to the slums. Take 200 boys, between the ages of 12 and 16, and investigate their background and environment. Then predict their chances for the future. The students, after consulting social statistics, talking to the boys, and compiling much data, concluded that 90 percent of the boys would spend some time in jail.
Twenty-five years later another group of graduate students was given the job of testing the prediction. They went back to the same area. Some of the boys – by then men – were still there, a few had died, some had moved away, but they got in touch with 180 of the original 200. They found that only four of the group had ever been sent to jail.
Why was it that these men, who had lived in a breeding place of crime, had such a surprisingly good record? The researchers were continually told: “Well, there was a teacher…” They pressed further, and found that in 75 percent of the cases it was the same woman.
The researchers went to this teacher, now living in a home for retired teachers. How had she exerted this remarkable influence over that group of children? Could she give them any reason why these boys should have remembered her? “No,” she said, “no I really couldn’t.” And then, thinking back over the years, she said amusingly, more to herself than to her questioners: “I loved those boys…”
Author – Bits & Pieces
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I always prefer to believe the best of everybody, it saves so much trouble.
Rudyard Kipling
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The minister of a city church enjoyed a drink now and then, but his passion was for peach brandy. One of his congregants would make him a bottle each Christmas. One year, when the minister went to visit his friend, hoping for his usual Christmas present, he was not disappointed, but his friend told him that he had to thank him for the peach brandy from the pulpit the next Sunday.
In his haste to get the bottle, the minister hurriedly agreed and left. So the next Sunday the minister suddenly remembered that he had to make a public announcement that he was being supplied alcohol from a member of the church. That morning, his friend sat in the church with a grin on his face, waiting to see the minister’s embarrassment.
The minister climbed into the pulpit and said, “Before we begin, I have an announcement. I would very much like to thank my friend, Joe, for his kind gift of peaches and for the spirit in which they were given!”
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Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.
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Old Granny Annie was known as a hard drinker but a steady and responsible one. And so when the family were gathered at a family celebration, old Annie took a big glass of Southern Comfort, then asked for an eyedropper, everyone was curious. They were even more curious when Annie took the eyedropper and put exactly three drops of water in the whiskey glass.
“Tell me, Annie one of the family asked, “why are you doing that?”
“Well, I’ll tell ya somethin’. I can still drink more Southern Comfort than any of you lot and hold it better, too. I’ve always been mighty proud of my ability to drink and hold my own! But to tell ya the truth, everyone, I can’t hold my water like I used to!”
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Know what I hate? I hate rhetorical questions!
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A woman goes into a sporting goods store to buy a shotgun. “It’s for my husband,” she tells the clerk.
“Did he tell you what gauge to get?” asked the clerk.
“Are you kidding?” she says. “He doesn’t even know that I’m going to shoot him!”
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There is absolutely no excuse for a wife to have an inferiority complex. All she has to do to avoid or cure it, is to be sick in bed for a day and leave her husband to manage the household and the kids.
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Learn to splel, danmit!
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Lisa was out driving her car and while stopped at a red light, the car just died. It was a busy intersection and the traffic behind her was starting to pile up. The guy in the car directly behind her was honking his horn continuously as Lisa continued to try getting the car to start up again.
Finally Lisa gets out of her car and approaches the guy in the car behind her. “I can’t seem to get my car started,” Lisa said, smiling. “Would you be a sweetheart and go and see if you can get it started for me. I’ll stay here in your car and lean on your horn for you.”
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You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than fifteen years to people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@gmail.com. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are more than 2000 readers from around the world.
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