THESE ARE FOR YOUR CONTEMPLATION
OR
IF THAT IS TOO PAINFUL, JUST CONSIDER THEM ;-)
TO BE 6 AGAIN
To Whom It May Concern:
I hereby officially
tender my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to
accept the responsibilities of a
6 year old again.
I want to go to McDonald's
and think that it's a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks
across a fresh mud
puddle and make ripples with rocks. I want
to think M&Ms are better than money, because you can eat them.
I
want to play kickball during recess and paint
with watercolors in art. I want to lie under a big Oak tree and run
a
lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summers'
day.
I want to return to
a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, addition
tables and simple
nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because
you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.
When all you knew was to be happy because you
didn't know all the things that should make you worried and upset.
I want to think that the world is fair.
That everyone in it is honest and good. I want to believe that anything
is
possible.
Somewhere in my youth...
I matured and I learned too much. I learned of nuclear weapons, war, prejudice,
starvation and abused children. I learned
of lies, unhappy marriages, suffering, illness, pain and death. I
learned of a
world where men left their families to go and
fight for our country, and returned only to end up living on the
streets... begging for their next meal.
I learned of a world where children knew how to kill...and did!!
What happened to the
time when we thought that everyone would live forever, because we didn't
grasp the
concept of death? When we thought the worst
thing in the world was if someone took the jump rope from you or
picked you last for kickball? I want to
be oblivious to the complexity of life and be overly excited by little
things
once again. I want to return to the days
when reading was fun and music was clean.
When television was
used to report the news or for family entertainment and not to promote
sex, violence and
deceit. I remember being naive and thinking
that everyone was happy because I was. I would walk on the beach
and
only think of the sand between my toes and the
prettiest seashell I could find. I would spend my afternoons climbing
trees and riding my bike. I didn't worry
about time, bills or where I was going to find the money to fix my car.
I
used to wonder what I was going to do or be when
I grew up, not worry about what I'll do if this doesn't work out.
I want to live simple
again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains
of paperwork,
depressing news, how to survive more days in
the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness
and loss of loved ones. I want to believe
in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams,
the
imagination, mankind and making angels in the
snow. I want to be 6 again.
author unknown
THIS SITE NOW RETURNS YOU TO THE REAL WORLD :-)
YOU ARE STILL AN ADULT!
SOME FOOD FOR THOUGHT
SENT BY SHARON ANDERSON
Subject: Losing Your Marbles
The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings.
Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise,
or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way,
the first few hours of a
Saturday morning are most enjoyable.
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen
with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the
other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those
lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you
about it...
I turned the volume up on my radio in order to
listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap
with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in
the broadcasting business himself. He was talking about 'a thousand marbles'
to someone named Tom. I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he
had to say.
"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with
your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away
from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should
have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you
missed your daughter's dance recital." He continued, "Let me tell you something
Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."
And that's when he began to explain his theory
of a 'thousand marbles'. "You see, I sat down one day and did a little
arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I
know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about
seventy-five years. Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came
up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has
in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important
part. It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this
in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over
twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be
seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went
to a toy store and bought every single marble they had.
I ended up having to visit three toy stores to
roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear
plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday
since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that
by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important
things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth
run out to help get your priorities straight.
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I
sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This
morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if
I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra
time to be with my loved ones.... It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope
you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again
someday. Have a good morning!"
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished.
Even the show's moderator didn't have anything to say for a few moments.
I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to do some work
that morning, then go to the gym.
Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up
with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What
brought this on?" she asked with a smile. "Oh, nothing special," I said.
"It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the
kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some
marbles."
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND MAY ALL SATURDAYS BE
SPECIAL AND MAY YOU HAVE MANY
HAPPY YEARS AFTER YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MARBLES.