1 Doug Ryder redyr4@yahoo.com 1 2009-11-04T03:23:53-07:00 1027 314 We were coming home one Sunday afternoon from a fun filled weekend at our ranch in South Texas. I remember the conversation was starting to get a little grumpy in the car with my two girls. Mom and Dads tempers were as well. As we were driving down a long stretch of deserted road, we came upon an elderly gentleman having trouble with a flat tire. I said we should stop and lend a hand for this poor guy. I got a resounding NO from my passengers. You should never stop out on deserted roads in the middle of nowhere Daddy, plus were hungry and the next DQ is coming up soon. Well…I did stop; I asked the girls to lock all the doors and said I would only be a minute. The elderly man had been there for well over an hour in 95-degree hot humid weather. He was confused as to how all this new tire changing stuff worked. I smiled and asked if I could lend a hand. Well in no time I had his tire fixed and all his stuff put back in his trunk and he was on his way. My girls watched this whole experience through the window of our suburban. My littlest commented that that was a really nice thing to do Daddy and it really didn’t take that long. The coolest thing that happened was the elderly man as it turned out was one of my wife’s father’s best friends from years ago. My father-in-law passed away 35 years ago but it sure made all of us feel good. Not to mention that building anger that was in the car before I stopped was gone, it was replaced with conversation on how to lend a hand when someone needs help! 2009-11-04T03:23:53-07:00 1 Randy G. gollay@comcast.net 1 2009-09-11T12:19:38-06:00 995 302 What I’ve learned from my wife would astound you! It’s theoretically simplistic, emotionally hygienic, morally sincere, and spiritually uplifting. She never went to college and reading books is not her passion. Her repertoire doesn’t consist of greed, disrespect, or ego. Bridget can’t stand up. She can’t walk - not even a baby step. She can’t even hold a baby in her arms. She has MS. The damage done to her body has no known reversible cure. As the disease progresses it exacerbates the devastation physically and emotionally, not only to her, but also to her loved ones. Nevertheless, she’s a terrific role model as a mother of an eleven-year-old (going on eighteen!) and wife to a man who’s been accused of selective hearing! All the excruciating pain, the hospital surgeries, pharmaceutical pill popping, daily needle shots, drug infusions, multiple doctors visits, lab and blood tests, physical and occupational therapies, etc… only temporarily circumvents what some octogenarians experience before they pass on. She’s half that age. Her disease has been present for half of that. One minute you’re healthy and the next… Things you take for granted, like: driving, shopping, bathing, baking and even going to the bathroom, can’t be done by herself. I can go on, but I'll spare the specifics because it’s not appealing. It’s not fair that a lady as sweet as she is would be burdened with this type of challenge. In LIFE, anything can happen. So what have I learned by being married a quarter century to this angel? No man is an island. God put all of us here for a reason. If we can’t count on each other, there’s no hope for mankind. If we abandon our ways in adversity, we have our work cut out for us. If we deal with complications by avoidance or irrationality, no positive gain is inevitable. Faith, love, and honest hard work are our only hope! Muscles, money, and luck will only carry us each so far. Kisses, smiles, hugs and handshakes can carry us a lot farther. There are many frail-appearing "Bridget’s" that you will refute or embrace on your journey through life. Those opportunities you engage will not only enrich your bloodstream, but assist you in understanding what strength really is!! That wow factor is what our daughter and her generation has to have from us. Nothing short of that will do. 2009-09-12T00:00:17-06:00 1 kit.trina@hotmail.com 0 2009-07-06T19:18:57-06:00 928 278 In tenth grade, I began volunteering at a veterinary hospital that was run by a family friend in order to get experience for what I thought would be my future job. As it turns out; the experience I gained at the hospital taught me the opposite: that my future was not in veterinary medicine. However, there is one particular Saturday morning that taught me something maybe more important.\r\n\r\nThe hospital was in the middle of one of the poorer sections of the city and we frequently had people come in who could just barely pay for the most basic treatments. On this Saturday a man and his young son, who was probably about 7 years old, walked in with a small cat in a cardboard box. I remember the cat had an eye infection but the man could not afford to pay for the cost of the medicine in addition to the exam and the rabies vaccination. When he asked where the nearest animal shelter was his son cried and started to argue with his father. Out of the blue an older women who was sitting in the waiting room stood up, walked up to the counter, and told the man that she would pay for anything that he could not afford. The man thanked her and the son got to keep a healthy cat.\r\n\r\nI had always thought that it was the right thing to do�help out a needy person�but only ever saw people commit random acts of kindness on TV or in movies. The woman in the vet's office taught me that these things do happen in real life, and should happen more often. When I am hesitant to be the first person to help someone whose papers have flown out of his hands or someone who is in need of any sort of help, I remember this woman, and have the courage to step up to the plate. Sometimes other people follow.\r\n 1 2009-09-12T00:00:16-06:00 1 bass7668@comcast.net 0 2008-01-09T18:13:52-07:00 418 134 My name is Joey and I’m 15 years old. Up until I was about 13 years old, I grew up a really unstable home. I failed just about every class I took because I felt like I had no meaning in the world, and I was hanging out with the wrong crowd. \r\n\r\nEverything changed when I met a man named John, a counselor who my mom sent me to, who changed my life in a whole new way. John told me that if I could get good grades, have no negative police contact, do at least 60 hours of community service, and stay sober, he would take me on the "2Xtreme Dream" trip. \r\nThe “2Xtreme Dream” was a trip to southern Russia to climb Europe's tallest mountain, Mt. Elbrus, standing at 18,510 feet. The trip was paid for by a non-profit organization. The trip also included doing community service to help the Chechen orphans. There were 10 guys ranging from age 14 to age 19 that participated on the trip. Some of the guys had more extreme stories than I did and some not so extreme. We all had to work together to summit that mountain. The whole trip was based on the metaphor, "life is a mountain." Every step you take is a step toward success. I am writing this not for myself, but for the man who changed my life and the lives of many other young men. To learn more about my trip and the man that changed my life go to the 2Xtreme website.\r\n\r\nHere is what I wrote in my blog:\r\n\r\nThe 2Xtreme trip changed my life. Making it to the top of Elbrus was something I never thought I could do from the beginning. Many people told me I was never going to be able to do it but that’s one of the things that helped me make it to the top, to prove them wrong. Being at the top of the mountain was the best feeling I have ever had and I’ll never forget that moment. I know now that I can do anything I want if I put my mind to it. The trip has made me look at life in a whole different way, like how the Chechen kids had gone through so many bad things but are still so happy. The trip really made me realize we really do live in a wonderful country. I never thought that I would be able to go without my family and friends for 16 days, but on the trip I made new friends who I will never forget. The coolest thing about the guys on the team is they’re not like my other friends who tell me I have to do illegal things to be cool or fit in. The guys on the team are the some of the best guys I’ve ever met. I’m so thankful for John and what he does so I can do what I did, and also be able to meet kids that have gone through stuff like I have so that I am able to relate to. The “2Xtreme Dream” taught me so much--like how incredible it feels to accomplish such a huge thing as summating a mountain. Thank you everybody that was a part of this--you guys helped me become a better person.\r\n\r\n 1 2009-09-12T00:00:16-06:00 1 0 2006-08-22T10:36:50-06:00 82 67 Like most of my fellow actors in New York I was "between jobs" and making ends meet as a lunch waiter in a small high quality Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. I was a lousy waiter. I enjoyed the customers and didn't mind the work, but my ADD kept me from coordinating all the details a good waiter needs to coordinate. I was doing my best and scraping by on a few kind tips before they had the good sense to terminate my employment, but on my final shift something interesting happened.\r\n\r\nI was waiting on an attractive African American couple, a man and a lady who seemed to be on a "first date." Perhaps it was his intense attention to her and her slight controlled discomfort that made me believe so.\r\n\r\nWhen it came time to order, he made certain that her order was exactly, precisely what she wanted. Then for himself he ordered a glass of water and some lemon slices...and asked for more bread. OK...no problem; I'm a starving actor, maybe he is too. The lemonade he made for himself and bread was free and he was buying a meal for the lady, that was alright with me. I had to admire his boldness and sympathized with his situation. But as the lunch hour began to wane, and I saw him stacking coins on the table I began to get a little perturbed. He was counting out the exact change for the lunch and it wasn't likely to include a tip.\r\n\r\nAs his "date" stood to go to the restroom I walked up to the table to collect the coins. This man then turned his attention to me and saw the look on my face. He said, "What's the problem, all the money is there." "It's customary to include a tip," I said through a slight smirk as I counted the coins into my hand.\r\n\r\nWithout blinking he replied, "I have a tip for you; shake my hand." I looked at him as though I didn't want trouble and began to dismiss him as though I didn't need his "tip" whatever he intended by it. I turned to head back to the register but he followed me and holding his hand out said again; "Shake my hand."\r\n\r\nReasoning briefly I decided to just go along with it. I puffed through my nose, and grabbed his hand for a quick shake.\r\n\r\nTo my surprise, he pulled his hand away and said, "That's not a hand shake." He had my attention. In my momentary silence, he spoke again; "You want your tip, hold out your hand." Can you believe I really didn't want to? But his gaze was not threatening, his lady friend had returned to witness this tiny event, and I simply obeyed.\r\n\r\n"Now this is a handshake," he said as his hand reached for mine. "You see, the webs of our thumbs meet, that's how we know we're touching one another...then we look right into each others eyes and allow our hands to embrace...not too hard to prove we're macho, just like this, you see?"\r\n\r\nA slight smile had come over his face as he noticed; I had gotten the connection!\r\nThis was the best tip I ever got as a waiter; and one of the best in my life. 1 2009-09-12T00:00:15-06:00 1 0 2006-08-22T08:09:37-06:00 47 33 I had just graduated from medical school in India some 5 years ago. It was a time where (like all other classmates) I was standing at the crossroads of my career.\r\n\r\nChoosing a specialty for a physician is always a difficult decision. Alumni can play a significant role in a career direction. I was fortunate in meeting one such individual. He has mentored me closely ever since I met him. If I have achieved anything in my professional life, I owe it in no small measure to him.\r\n\r\nPerhaps, far more significantly, he has provided the impetus to lead an unpretentious life characterized by an unparalleled devotion to work.\r\n\r\nHis persona was typified by his car. He drove a ramshackle Indian vehicle despite drawing an internationally comparable salary.\r\n\r\nI often used to wonder why someone who has no dearth of financial resources chose to travel in such a vehicle. Today I have realized that his car was simply a vehicle for traveling from one place to another. When one's drive in life is one's work, the car one drives is simply incidental! 1 2009-11-11T14:09:28-07:00 1 0 2006-08-22T08:01:02-06:00 42 28 My life began similarly to most of the kids in my family, with a mother who did the best she could before the father screwed up enough times and she left. That's the way it is in my family, you grow up not knowing what a father is and no one is there to teach you.\r\n\r\nConsequently, I developed the usual problems with alcohol and drugs and spent seven years as a street kid, landing in rehab when I was 20. Inside I met my counselor, Bill, and he taught me a lot of things. The main thing was the gift of giving.\r\n\r\nIt was the night before a significant event and I was very nervous. Bill saw this and suggested that we go for a walk. As we walked and talked, Bill suggested we go for a coffee. I told him I was broke but when I got paid, I would pay him back. He stopped then and looked at me in a serious, but loving way and said, "No, you won't."\r\n\r\nHe followed by telling me that I didn't owe him anything and he was doing this because he could. He then told me something that has followed me to this day, "One day you'll be around someone and they'll need a coffee, and you'll be able to buy it for them. That's how you can pay me back."\r\n\r\nI'm a youth worker now; far away from the life I had ten years ago. My job is simple, I buy kids coffee. Bill taught me how to do that. 1 2009-09-12T00:00:15-06:00 1 0 2006-08-22T07:49:12-06:00 36 22 I love it at night. It's peaceful. And when it cools down I sometimes do some ironing. I don't really care for it. I work full time and too busy for most housework. I remember the old woman who taught me to iron. I was about 15 and somehow got a live-in job taking care of a woman who had been an able-bodied, healthy woman until the accident or tumor or something that caused her to be paralyzed. I think the county (who was heavily involved in our family life at the time) arranged the whole thing.\r\n\r\nThe woman had an electric wheelchair. She could move her head and arms but not her hands or fingers. She had this clamp attached to her arm and I'd have to open it and put a cup or pencil in it and then she could maneuver it. She would tell me how to do things. She would instruct me in great detail on the correct way to do things. She taught me how to make gravy with corn starch, perfectly. Her home was perfect and beautiful. She would follow me around in her electric wheelchair to make sure I did everything EXACTLY right. I'm sure she had been a perfect homemaker. She would have me fold everything, including socks and underwear. I was used to just throwing it in a drawer. She had me iron sheets and pillow cases. I would grumble silently and wish terrible things on her. She taught me the right way to make a bed and tuck the corners. No such thing as fitted sheets. I know sometimes she'd get frustrated and impatient with me. I knew she wanted to grab it and do it herself. But she never yelled or scolded. Only insisted I do it right. I didn't like it much, but I did it.\r\n\r\nToday I can iron pretty well. I know where to start on a shirt, the right way to do the collar and sleeves, and to not run over the buttons. Now that I think about it, I don't think she was an old lady. I think she might have been about my age now. Anyway, when I iron, I think of her and silently thank her for all the things I learned when I thought I was the giver. So much more than just the tasks I performed. 1 2009-09-12T00:00:15-06:00 1 0 2006-08-22T07:35:15-06:00 31 17 When I was twenty, I won a statewide pageant. Along with the scholarship came the opportunity to be a guest in other pageants and parades, and also to compete for the national title. I felt so happy and blessed each time I read another news clipping about my reign.\r\n\r\nI was so proud of the gown I'd designed and I met some of the nicest people from all over. But then when I lost the national pageant, I felt so disappointed. I didn't feel successful anymore.\r\n\r\nMy mother looked at me with so much love I could feel it. She told me three things. She told me to focus on the fact that I got there by hard work and determination. She told me to be proud that I had given it my best effort. Then she told me to turn the corner so I wouldn't miss the next great thing in my future.\r\n\r\nNow I am the mother of twelve-year-old twin sons. And I teach Jay and Lee to focus on the good things in their lives, to learn from disappointments, and then turn the corner to greet the next great events in their future. 1 2009-09-12T00:00:15-06:00