Too Busy For a Friend.

Post 230 - - - - - Friday, 15th June, 2007.

Hi Everyone ~ The end of another week here in Australia,
with a day to go in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you
have all had a good week and that the weekend will be a
most enjoyable one for you all. The 15th June is the
birthday of Ms Vickie so I hope she has a lovely day. Why
not pop over and add your wishes ? I was very pleased to
get a comment from our friend Raggedy who I hope is
feeling much better by now. Thanks Raggedy - made my
day. I am doing this a little earlier tonight, so that I can
give my football team, my full attention. That has most
likely ruined their chances!!! But I live in hope !!!

The story I have tonight was sent to me by my long time
friend. It is a good one called "Too Busy for a Friend"
Thank you Barbara. I hope you enjoy it.

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of
the other students in the room on two sheets of paper,
leaving a space between each name.

Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could
say about each of their classmates and write it down. It
took the remainder of the class period to finish their
assignment, and as the students left the room, each one
handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each
student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what
everyone had said about that individual.

On Monday, she gave each student his or her list. Before
long, the entire class was smiling. "Really ?" she heard
whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone !"
and "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of
the comments.

No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She
never knew if they discussed them after class or with their
parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished
it's purpose. The students were happy with themselves and
and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam
and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student.
She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before.
He looked so handsome and so mature.

The church was packed with his friends. One by one those
who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher
was the last one to bless the coffin.

As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as a
pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's teacher ?" he
asked. She nodded "Yes". Then he said, "Mark talked about
you a lot."

After Mark's funeral, most of Mark's former classmates
went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were
there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a
wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he
was killed. We thought you might recognize it."

Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces
of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and
refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that
the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good
things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said.
"As you can see, Mark treasured it , . ." All of Mark's
former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled
rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the
top drawer of my desk at home."

Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding
album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."

Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook,
took out her wallet and showed her torn and frazzled list to
the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said and
without batting an eyelash, she continued, "I think we all
saved our lists."

That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried
for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that
life will end one day. And we don't know when that day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are
special and important. Tell them before it is too late.
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Young Adult Reader's Excerpt from Bill Gates' Book.

For high school and college graduates, here is a list of
11 things they did not learn at school. In his book, Bill
Gates talks about how feel good, politically correct
teachings created a generation of kids with no concept
of reality and how this concept set them up for failure
in the real world. You may want to share this list with
some one you know.

RULE 1. Life is not fair, get used to it.

RULE 2. The world won't care about your self-esteem.
The world will expect you to accomplish something
BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

RULE 3. You will NOT make 40 thousand dollars a year
right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president
with a car phone, until you earn both.

RULE 4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait until
you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.

RULE 5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity.
Your grandparents had a different word for burger
flipping; they called it opportunity.

RULE 6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault,
so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

RULE 7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as
boring as they are now. They got that way from paying
your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk
about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest
from the parasites of your parents' generation, try
delousing the closet in your own room.

RULE 8. Your school may have done away with winners
and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have
abolished failing grades, they'll give you as many times as
you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the
slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

RULE 9. Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get
summers off and very few employers are interested in
helping you find yourself. Do that on your own time.

RULE 10. Television is NOT real life. In real life people
actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

RULE 11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up
working to one.
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A Panda walks into a restaurant, sits down and orders
a sandwich. He eats the sandwich, pulls out a gun and
shoots the waiter. As the panda stands up to leave, the
manager shouts, "Hey ! Where are you going? You just
shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich !"

The panda yells back at the manager, "He, man, I'm a
PANDA !. Look it up in the dictionary !"
The manager opens his dictionary and sees the following
definition for pandal "A tree dwelling marsupial of Asian
origin, characterized by distinct black and white coloring.
Eats shoots and leaves."
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As it was coming up to Christmas a young boy is praying
upstairs while his mother sits by him and his dad and
grandma are downstairs. He prays "Lord I pray for a
train set, a remote control car, and a BICYCLE !!!"

"You don't have to shout dear," say the mother, "God's
not deaf." "I know," said the little boy, but grandma is."
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Have you heard about the shampoo for men who are
going bald ? It is called "What's the Point ?"
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Couple of Strange Quotes = = =

Then you add two forkfuls of cooking oil. - -Julia Child.

We don't like their sound and guitar music will never
take off. - - Decca rejecting the Beatles.

Where the hell is Australia anyway ?
- - - Britney Spears.

The telephone has too many short-comings to be
seriously considered. - - Western Union 1876.
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Things you'd love to say, but don't dare - - - -

I started out with nothing and still have most of it.

Sarcasm is just one more service we offer.

I'm trying to imagine you with a personality.

Nice perfume. Must you marinate in it ?

I thought I wanted a career, turns out I just wanted
paychecks.
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Just a few quotes to finish - nicer ones !!

I thank Thee, Lord, for knowing me better than I
know myself ,
And for letting me know myself better than others
know me.
I pray Thee then, make me better than they suppose,
And forgive me for what they do not know.
- - - - Abu Bekr

We are all here for a spell. Get all the good laughs
you can. - - - - Will Rogers.

He who laughs, lasts. Anonymous.

Live every day as if it's your last. One day you'll
get it right. - - - Zig Ziglar.

Bye for now my friends, see you next time. Have a
wonderful weekend. Love a best wishes to you all.
Cheers, Merle.

Post 230 - - - - - Friday, 16th June, 2007.
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