Ray's Daily

Ray’s Daily

September 21, 2021

http://rays-daily.com

I have learnt how to live… how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch.

Audrey Hepburn

My life has been filled with opportunity and reward. First in the Navy, then a thirty plus year career in the computer industry followed by ten years working for Kiwanis Internationls partnership with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF).

My work wuith Kiwanis and UNICEF was my most rewarding activity. Audrey Hepburn had passed but her UNICEF legacy continued on, her warmth, humanity and love for the world’s children was an inspiration to thousands. Sir Roger Moore often remarked on how her spirit motivated his UNICEF efforts. She truly was someone very special.

Audrey Hepburn

Internationally renowned actress Audrey Hepburn was a tireless advocate for children’s rights.

Soon after becoming a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1989, she went on a mission to Ethiopia, where years of drought and civil strife had caused terrible famine. After visiting UNICEF emergency operations, Audrey talked about the projects to media in the United States, Canada and Europe over several weeks, giving as many as 15 interviews a day. It set a precedent for her commitment to the organization.

In the years that followed, Audrey made a series of UNICEF field trips, visiting a polio vaccine project in Turkey, training programmes for women in Venezuela, initiatives for children living and working on the street in Ecuador, projects to provide drinking water in Guatemala and Honduras, and radio literacy programmes in El Salvador. She saw schools in Bangladesh, services for impoverished children in Thailand, nutrition initiatives in Viet Nam and camps for displaced children in Sudan.

Audrey worked fervently for UNICEF. She testified before the US Congress, took part in the World Summit for Children, launched UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children reports, hosted Danny Kaye International Children’s Award ceremonies, designed fundraising cards, participated in benefit concert tours and gave many speeches and interviews promoting UNICEF’s work.

She received the United States’ highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1992. That year, though ill with cancer, Audrey continued her work for UNICEF, travelling to France, Kenya, Somalia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Audrey was born on 4 May 1929 in Brussels, Belgium. Her father was an English banker and her mother a Dutch baroness. She studied ballet, but a small part in a French film led the French writer Colette to ask her to play the title role in Gigi, which Colette had adapted for Broadway. The same year, Audrey landed the lead role in the film Roman Holiday, with Gregory Peck, the first of a long list of American movie classics in which she starred.

Towards the end of the 1960s, she retired from acting to dedicate herself to family life, emerging only for a handful of films in the 1970s and 1980s. She devoted the final years of her life to UNICEF.

Audrey Hepburn died at her home in Switzerland on 20 January 1993.

~~~

Giving is living. If you stop wanting to give, there’s nothing more to live for.

Audrey Hepburn

~~~

~~~

“Are you my caddie?” asked MacTavish.

“Aye, sir,” replied the boy.

“And are you any good at finding lost balls?”

“Aye, sir.”

“Right, then. Find one and let’s get the game started.”

~~~

If you want long friendships, develop a short memory.

~~~

A six-year-old ran up and down the supermarket aisles shouting frantically, “Marian, Marian!”

Finally reunited with his mother, he was chided by her, “You shouldn’t call me ‘Marian.’  I’m your mother, you know.”

“I know,” said the child, wise beyond his years, “but the store is full of mothers!”

~~~

“The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven.”

John Milton

~~~

PROCRASTINATOR’S CREED

NOTICE: You may wish to delay reading this until you have more free time.

1. I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already.

2. I shall never move quickly, except to avoid more work or find excuses.

3. I will never rush into a job without a lifetime of consideration.

4. I shall meet all of my deadlines directly in proportion to the amount of bodily injury I could expect to receive from missing them.

5. I firmly believe that tomorrow holds the possibility for new technologies, astounding discoveries, and a reprieve from my obligations.

6. I truly believe that all deadlines are unreasonable regardless of the amount of time given.

7. If at first I don’t succeed, there is always next year.

8. I shall always decide not to decide, unless of course I decide to change my mind.

9. I shall always begin, start, initiate, take the first step, and/or write the first word, when I get around to it.

10. I will never put off tomorrow, what I can forget about forever.

~~~

“Great opportunities to help others seldom come, but small ones come daily.”

Ivy Baker Priest

~~~

Once upon a time there lived three men: a doctor, a chemist, and an engineer. All three had offended the king and were sentenced to die on the same day.

The day of the execution arrived, and the doctor was led up to the guillotine. As he strapped the doctor to the guillotine, the executioner asked, “Head up or head down?”

“Head up,” said the doctor.

“Blindfold or no blindfold?”

“No blindfold.”

So the executioner raised the blade, and z-z-z-z-ing! Down came the blade — and stopped barely an inch above the doctor’s neck. Well, the law stated that if an execution didn’t succeed the first time the prisoner had to be released, so the doctor was set free.

Then the chemist was led up to the guillotine.

“Head up or head down?” said the executioner.

“Head up.”

“Blindfold or no blindfold?”

“No blindfold.”

So the executioner raised the blade, and z-z-z-z-ing! Down came the blade — and stopped an inch above the chemist’s neck. Well, the law stated that if the execution didn’t succeed the first time the prisoner had to be released, so the chemist was set free.

Finally the engineer was led up to the guillotine.

“Head up or head down?”

“Head up.”

“Blindfold or no blindfold?”

“No blindfold.”

So the executioner raised the blade, but before he could cut the rope, the engineer yelled out:

“WAIT! I see what the problem is!”

~~~

“I can testify to what UNICEF means to children, because I was among those who received food and medical relief after World War II. I have a long-lasting gratitude and trust for what UNICEF does.”

Audrey Hepburn

~~~

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than twenty 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@comcast.net. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are hundreds of  readers from around the world.