Ray’s Daily
May 5, 2020
The time for action is now.
It’s never too late to do something.
Carl Sandburg
Ray’s Daily first published on May 5, 2004
Since fully retiring I have learned just how important Sandburg’s message is to those of us who have the ability to choose how we spend our time. I only wish I had taken his advice more seriously early in life. I cannot remember a period as full and rewarding as now. Possibly it is because I have not learned all the reasons why not, it seems that more is achievable than I ever thought possible. Maybe I am in my second childhood, if so I would recommend it to everyone.
I never would have thought that I would be able to participate in the rewards ceremonies at our region’s Special Olympics, work at an Art Fair helping people find out where they can buy great products made by third world artisans, help at a community outreach programs that will match volunteers with sixty of our local non-profit organizations, or help to secure what is needed to build a world class international facility here in my city. The list goes on and on. Yesterday I attended a seminar on China, signed up for a number of lectures and events that run the gamut from Ancient History, a Vaudeville retrospective, global issues discussion groups, to an evaluation of TV news in the 21st century, and more. In addition almost every week includes a service project or two. But the best part of my days are meeting with old and new friends over breakfast or lunch and getting with you via the daily.
Our cruises are exciting, our adventure trips are exciting, our visits to other countries is exciting, and best of all most days here are exciting. So give yourself a break today go out and play and do some good at the same time.
~~~
Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
Chinese Proverb
~~~
Every morning Custer rode through the Indian Reservation on his horse accompanied by his faithful Indian scout. And every morning as he rode past the Indian chief he was greeted with the gesture of first a finger raised vertically – then the finger thrust horizontally.
Eventually Custer said to his scout “I know what the chief means by the vertical finger, but what’s the significance of the horizontal one?”
The scout replied “Chief, him no like your horse either!”
~~~
Noah was a trusting soul. Imagine going out in a wooden boat with two termites on board.
~~~
What we say, what we mean
Project slightly behind original schedule due to unforeseen difficulties–We got so sick of working on this that we decided to do something else.
Major Technological Breakthrough–Back to the drawing board.
Developed after years of intensive research–It was discovered by accident.
Customer satisfaction is believed assured–We are so far behind schedule that the customer will be happy to get anything at all from us.
The design will be finalized in the next reporting period–We haven’t started this job yet, but we’ve got to say something.
Test results were extremely gratifying–It works, and are we surprised.
Extensive effort is being applied on a fresh approach to the problem–We just hired three new guys; we’ll let them kick it around for a while.
Preliminary operational tests are inconclusive–The darn thing blew up when we threw the switch.
The entire concept will have to be abandoned–The only guy who understood the thing quit.
Modifications are under way to correct certain minor difficulties–We threw the whole thing out and are starting from scratch.
~~~
If you wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes. If you don’t wait for tomorrow, tomorrow comes.
African proverb
~~~
At the Henry Street Hebrew School, Goldblatt, the new teacher, finished the day’s lesson. It was now time for the usual question period.
“Mr. Goldblatt,” announced little Joey, “there’s somethin’ I can’t figger out.”
“What’s that Joey?” asked Goldblatt.
“Well accordin’ to the Bible, the Children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, right?”
“Right.”
“An’ the Children of Israel beat up the Philistines, right?”
“Er–right.”
“An’ the Children of Israel fought the ‘gyptians, an’ the Children of Israel fought the Romans, an’ the Children of Israel wuz always getting in trouble somewhere, right?”
“Er, yes, you could say that,” agreed Goldblatt. “So what’s your question?”
“What I wanna know is this,” demanded Joey. “What wuz all the grown-ups doin”?
~~~
Women have many faults.
Men only have 2
Everything they say,
And everything they do.
~~~
Son: Dad, would you do my arithmetic for me?
Dad: No, son, it wouldn’t be right.
Son: Well, at least you could try.
~~~
The trouble with current times is that the future is not what it used to be.
~~~
This will make you believe that we CAN make a difference when we give a child the gift of our time.
A young family moved into a house, next door to a vacant lot. One day a construction crew turned up to start building a house on the empty lot.
The young family’s 5-year-old daughter naturally took an interest in all the activity going on next door and spent much of each day observing the workers.
Eventually the construction crew more or less adopted her as a kind of project mascot. They chatted with her, let her sit while they had coffee and lunch breaks, and gave her little jobs to do here and there to make her feel important.
At the end of the first week they even presented her with a pay envelope containing two dollars.
Her mother said all the appropriate words of admiration and suggested that they take the two dollar “pay” she had received to the bank the next day to start a savings account for her.
When they got to the bank, the teller was equally impressed and asked the little girl how she had come by her very own pay check at such a young age. The little girl proudly replied, “I worked last week with the crew building the house next door to us.”
My goodness gracious,” said the teller, “and will you be working on the house again this week, too?”
The little girl replied, “I will if those jerks at Home Depot ever deliver the darned sheet rock!”
~~~
The number of people watching you is directly proportional to the stupidity of your action.
~~~
To laugh often and love much; to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children, to earn the approbation of honest critics; to appreciate beauty; to give of one’s self, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived–that is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
~~~
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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