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FATHER'S DAY CARDS                                                                         
by Pat Ritz

It was hard to find that certain card
That told just how I feel,
They just don't say what's in my heart
Their words just don't seem real.

I used to wish my dad was like
The ones they write about,
It made me sad and sometimes mad
My heart would want to shout.

Why can't you be that full of love?
Why do you let me down?
That dad that's special in those cards
He must not be around.
                                      
And then as time went on I grew,
The thoughts that changed with time,
Discovered there's more to my dad
Than can be put into a rhyme.

In know the past left some scars
In know you did your best,
And love has healed so many things,
It put my heart at rest.

I love you dad, you are special
God's love has changed the rhyme.
The card that's written on my heart
Has stood the test of time.


Click Here for remarkable photos from D-Day invasion and the 2009 anniversary observances.  Very touching, very impressive!


Click Here to learn more about the man who goes by "What's Your Name"


Beware of Garbage Trucks
by David J. Pollay
How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood? Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss or an insensitive employee ruin your day? Unless you're the Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly she can get back her focus on what's important. *
Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson. I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab. Here's what happened.
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And, I mean, he was friendly. So, I said, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you. When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally. You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. You'll be happy you did.
So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck."
I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me? And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people: at work, at home, on the streets? It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."
I began to see garbage trucks. Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see Dead People." Well, now "I see Garbage Trucks." I see the load they're carrying. I see them coming to drop it off. And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile, wave, wish them well, and I move on.
One of my favorite football players of all time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field. He would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled. He never dwelled on a hit. Payton was ready to make the next play his best. Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting. Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home from school with hugs and kisses. Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present and at their best for the people they care about.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks take over their day. What about you? What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbage trucks pass you by?
Here's my bet. You'll be happier. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.

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What is Happening to USA Couldn't be more clear!

Little Red Hen Modernized

Once upon a time, on a farm in Texas, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"

"Not I," said the cow.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Not I," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen And so she did; The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain. "Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Out of my classification," said the pig.

"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.

"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did. At last it came time to bake the bread.

"Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the little red hen.

"That would be overtime for me," said the cow.

"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck.

"I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the pig.

"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, "No, I shall eat all five loaves."

"Excess profits!" cried the cow. (Pelosi)

"Capitalist leech!" screamed the duck. (Boxer)

"I demand equal rights!" yelled the goose. (J. Jackson)

The pig just grunted in disdain. (A. Sharpton)

And they all painted "Unfair!" picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

Then a government agent came, he said to the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy."

"But I earned the bread," said the little red hen.

"Exactly," said the agent. "That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle,"

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, for now I truly understand,"

But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the "party" and got her bread free.

And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared.....as long as there was free bread that "the rich" were paying for.

Bill Clinton is getting $12 million for his memoirs.

Hillary got $8 million for hers.

That's $20 million for memories from two people, who for eight years, repeatedly testified, under oath, that they couldn't remember anything.

IS THIS A GREAT COUNTRY, OR WHAT?

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For truer words were never spoken

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means

shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military

giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies

of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth

(our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a

commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a

track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point,

then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever

reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If

destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As

a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.

/The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln/ edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume

I, "Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum,of Springfield, Illinois

(January 27, 1838), p. 109.

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Friends

Strong words from a strong man.

Founding Father Sam Adams on betrayal of America’s fundamental values applies to today’s treasonous Democrats undermining our troops in the field and emboldening Al Qaeda with their rhetoric, and especially Democrat leader Senator Harry Reid.
 
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“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.”

– Samuel Adams, 1776

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I May Never See Tomorrow

I may never see tomorrow,
there's no written guarantee
And things that happened yesterday
belong to history.
I cannot predict the future,
I cannot change the past,
I have just the present moments,
I must treat it as my last.

I must use this moment wisely
for it soon will pass away,
and be lost forever,
as part of yesterday
I must exercise compassion,
help the fallen to their feet,
Be a friend unto the friendless,
make an empty life complete.

The unkind things I do today
may never be undone,
And friendships that I fail to win
may nevermore be won.
I may not have another chance
on bended knees to pray,
and I thank God with a humble heart
for giving me this Day.

(anonymous)

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A friend is someone we turn to

When our spirits need a lift

 A friend is someone we treasure
For our friendship is a gift.

A friend is someone who fills our lives with beauty, joy, and grace

 And makes the world we live in a better and happier place.

There is a miracle called friendship, that dwells in the heart.
You do not know how it happens or when it gets it's starts

 But you know the special lift it always brings.
You realize that friendship is God's most precious gift!

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I don't know who wrote this, but enjoyed it very much.  I yearn for the older, simpler days.

When I was quite young, my father had one of the first telephones in our  neighborhood. I remember the polished, old case fastened to the wall.

The  shiny receiver hung on the side of the box. I was too little to reach the  telephone, but used to listen with fascination when my mother talked to  it.

Then  I discovered that somewhere inside the wonderful device lived an amazing  person. Her name was "Information Please" and there was nothing she did  not know. Information Please could supply anyone's number and the correct  time.

My  personal experience with the genie-in-a-bottle came one day while my  mother was visiting a neighbor. Amusing myself at the tool bench in the  basement, I whacked my finger with a hammer, the pain was terrible, but  there seemed no point in crying because there was no one home to give  sympathy.

I  walked around the house sucking my throbbing finger, finally arriving at  the stairway. The telephone! Quickly, I ran for the footstool in the  parlor and dragged it to the landing. Climbing up, I unhooked the receiver  in the parlor and held it to my ear. "Information, please" I said into the  mouthpiece just above my head.  A click or two and a small clear voice  spoke into my ear.

"Information."

"I  hurt my finger..." I wailed into the phone, the tears came readily enough  now that I had an audience.

"Isn't  your mother home?" came the question.

"Nobody's  home but me," I blubbered.

"Are  you bleeding?" the voice asked.

"No," I replied. "I hit my finger with the hammer and it hurts."

"Can you open the icebox?" she asked.

I said I could.

"Then chip off a little bit of ice and hold it to your finger," said the  voice.

After  that, I called "Information Please" for everything. I asked her for  help with my geography, and she told me where Philadelphia was.

 She helped me with my math. She told me my pet chipmunk that I had caught  in the park just the day before, would eat fruit and  nuts.

Then, there was the time Petey, our pet canary, died. I  called, Information Please," and told her the sad story.  She listened, and then said things grown-ups say to soothe a child. But I  was not consoled. I asked her, "Why is it that birds should sing so  beautifully and bring joy to all families, only to end up as a heap of  feathers on the bottom of a cage?"

She must have sensed my deep concern, for she said quietly, "Wayne  always remember that there are other worlds to sing in."

Somehow I felt better.

Another day I was on the telephone, "Information Please."

"Information," said in the now familiar voice. "How do I spell fix?" I  asked.

All  this took place in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. When I was nine years old, we moved across the country to Boston. I missed my friend very much.  "Information Please" belonged in that old wooden  box back home and I  somehow never thought of trying the shiny new  phone that sat on the  table in the hall. As I grew into my teens, the memories of those  childhood conversations never really left me.

Often, in moments of doubt and perplexity I would recall the  serene sense of security I had then. I appreciated now how patient, understanding, and kind she was to have spent her time on a little  boy.

A  few years later, on my way west to college, my plane put down in Seattle. I had about a half-hour or so between planes. I spent 15 minutes or so on the phone with my sister, who lived there now. Then without thinking what I was doing, I dialed my hometown operator and said, "Information  Please."

Miraculously, I heard the small, clear voice I knew so  well. "Information."

I hadn't planned this, but I heard myself saying, "Could you please

  tell me how to spell fix?"

There was a long pause. Then came the soft spoken answer, "I guess your  finger must have healed by now."

I laughed, "So it's really you," I said. "I wonder if you have any idea  how much you meant to me during that time?"

I wonder," she said, "if you know how much your call meant to me.

I never had any children and I used to look  forward to your calls."

I told her how often I had thought of her over the years and I asked if I could call her again when I came back to visit my  sister.

"Please do", she said. "Just ask for Sally."

Three months later I was back in Seattle. A different voice  answered, "Information." I asked for Sally.

"Are you a friend?" she said.

"Yes, a very old friend," I answered.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this," she said. "Sally had been working  part-time the last few years because she was sick. She died five  weeks ago."

Before I could hang up she  said, "Wait a minute, did you say your name was Wayne?" "Yes." I  answered.

"Well, Sally left a message for you. She wrote it down in case you called

Let me read it to you."

The note said,  "Tell him there are other worlds to sing in.

He'll know what I  mean."

I thanked her and hung up. I knew what Sally meant.

Never underestimate the impression you may make on  others.

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There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind.  She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend,

"If I could only see the world, I will marry you."

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she

was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, "Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?" The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked

her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led

her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left her in tears, and days later, wrote a note to her saying: "Take

good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine."

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very

few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the

most painful situations.

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Life Is a Gift

Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who

has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's

crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early

to heaven.

Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires

children but they're barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep -

Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks

the same distance with their feet.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed,

the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

But, before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without sin and we all answer to one MAKER.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face

and thank GOD you're alive and still around.