The Doll and the Rose

I found this story very touching. I hope you enjoy reading it too and it touches your heart as it did mine. Just a reminder...if you drive, don't drink alcohol. If you drink, let someone else drive.

The Doll and the Rose I was walking around in a store. I saw a cashier hand this little boy his money back saying "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll." Then the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ''Granny, are you sure I don't have enough money?'' The old lady replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy this doll, my dear.'' Then she asked him to stay there for 5 minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. "It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for this Christmas. She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her." I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus will bring it to her after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly. "No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there." His eyes were so sad while saying this. "My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.'' My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: "I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until I come back from the mall." Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me "I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me." "I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister." Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. "What if we checked again, just in case you do have enough money?'' "OK" he said "I hope that I have enough." I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: "Thank you God for giving me enough money!" Then he looked at me and added "I asked yesterday before I slept for God to make sure I have enough money to buy this doll so that mommy can give it to my sister. He heard me!'' "I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.'' "My mommy loves white roses." A few minutes later, the old lady came again and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local newspaper article 2 days ago, which mentioned of a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car, where there was one young lady and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-assisting machine, because the young lady would not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young lady had passed away. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before burial. She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed forever. The love that this little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

World Vision to G8: Keep Your Promises on Global Aids...

The World Vision is again taking action to remind the G8 to keep its promise in helping fight HIV and AIDS.

This call to action is outlined in World Vision's "Keep Your Promises on Global AIDS, Act Now" policy briefing calling on the G8 to make good their promises in making treatment, care and prevention of HIV/AIDS accessible to millions by the Year 2010. Release of this policy briefing is an initial step of World Vision and other non-government organizaitons to influence the outcome of the 2007 G8 meeting, in Heiligendamm, Germany, on June 6-8.

What is the G8?

The G8, or "group of eight," represents the most powerful governments in the world — France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, and the United States. The G8 leaders meet annually to discuss major global issues and make plans and commitments to address them. In 2005, at the urging of World Vision and other ONE Campaign members, G8 leaders meeting in Gleneagles, Scotland, made a historic commitment to help end extreme global poverty.

The Gleneagles commitment was the greatest increase in the rich world’s commitments to the poor since the end of the Second World War. If fully implemented, the commitments made at Gleneagles will save the lives of some 12,000 children a day.

For more information about World Vision, visit the World Vision website.

Be in the Know...

The UNICEF has a great website for young people called Voices of Youth. It provides the youth an opportunity to explore their own talents and participate in cause-worthy discussions and activities.

The website encourages the youth to get involved in society and to help make a difference through forums, competitions and even job opportunities that focus on subjects and activities for the youth.

Encouraging youth involvement not only enables these young children to develop an awareness on world-wide problems that plague many countries but also allows them to contribute in their own way to making the world a better place to live in for other children like them, or to give the less fortunate hope for a better life.

Save the Whales and Dolphins...

2007 has been declared Year of the Dolphins by the United Nations and the United Nations Environment Programme.

To this day, dolphin hunting in Japan has remained unchecked despite a "quota" allowed by the government. There is no ban on dolphin-hunting in Japan. A graphic video by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society showed the merciless killing of dolphins. The video showed several dead or dying dolphins bleeding profusely being brought ashore in boats through blood-filled coves.

The International Whaling Commission is responsible for regulating catches of the large whale species, but the smaller species of whales, dolphins and porpoises (commonly known as 'small cetaceans') are also members of the same zoological order of Cetacea. Member governments, however, hold different views over the legal competence of the IWC to regulate direct and incidental catches of small cetaceans.

A petition to stop the slaughter of whales and dolphins was launched by Pedro Oliveira, an advocate for the banning of merciless whale and dolphin-hunting. To petition, please visit http://www.petitiononline.com/golfinho/

References:

Save Taiji Dophins Campaign
European Cetacean by Catch Campaign
http://www.glumbert.com/media/dolph
Cetacean By-Catch Resource Center

Credit goes to Awara, a 360 blogger who posted the article on dolphin-hunting.

Ohhhh You Men!!!

I chanced on this while looking for some nice poetries on the net. What a poetry this is. Gosh, you men can sometimes be soooo unromantic. I better not get a poetry like this...

Introduction My wife used to moan all the time, "You never write me any poetry" so I wrote this and she's never asked again. YOU'RE IN MY PRAYERS I love you darling with all my heart, I think you're truly incredible, But I pray to the lord every night "Please help her to cook something edible!" I love your smile you warm my heart, You're the woman I adore, But I pray to the lord every night "Show her what a vacuum is for" I love the feel of your sweet smelling skin, I look forward to our cuddles in bed, But I pray to the lord every night "Teach her needles can work with a thread" I believe our love is solid gold, For I'm sure it will never rust, And I pray to the lord every night "Show her polish will lift the dust" You're my world you're my life I will always want you near, And I pray to the lord every night, "Help her see windows come without a smear" Even though my prayers sound harsh, And romantically they seem flat, The underlying message is I must love you to put up with all that. Copyright: Shapechanger

A Strong Woman vs. A Woman of Strength...

A strong woman
works out every day to keep her body in shape...
but
A woman of strength
kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape...

A strong woman
isn't afraid of anything...
but
A woman of strength
shows courage in the midst of her fear...

A strong woman
won't let anyone get the best of her...
but
A woman of strength
gives the best of her to everyone...

A strong woman
makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future...

A woman of strength
realizes life's mistakes can also be God's blessings and capitalizes on them...

A strong woman
walks sure footedly...
but
A woman of strength
knows God will catch her when she falls...

A strong woman
wears the look of confidence on her face...
but
A woman of strength
wears grace...

A strong woman
has faith that she is strong enough for the journey...
but
A woman of strength
has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong...

by
2006 by Luke Easter & Dee Cheeks

Women and Equal Rights...

March 8 is International Women's Day.

This is a tribute to all women who to this day continue to struggle to be recognized as equals of men. I didn't want to post any video or speech on religious or physical violence against women. I would rather focus on the more positive things being done by orgamizations to support women's rights and equality.

I do hope to see the day when all women can stand amongst men and celebrate world peace in a religious gathering, not set aside or disallowed from participating as they are now, simply because of their gender.

I do hope to never hear news of men tolerating and participating in the flogging and killing of a woman for divorcing her husband and having a relationship with another.

I very certainly hope to see the day when all women can live as equals of men in a just and humane society.

The Daffodil Principle...

I've dilly-dallied about so many things in my life in the past because of how much it would change my life...the life I've always been used to. Add to that, the fact that I've never really been encouraged nor had the courage to really make that big step. When someone finally did, it was too late. I've regretted not doing them so many times. It seems I never learn. This story of the Daffodil Principle was sent to me a second time via e-mail. Is it trying to tell me something? I don't know...but it's something many of us should reflect on and something I know I should really work on...

=========================

Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, "Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over." I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead "I will come next Tuesday", I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.

Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn's house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.

"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see badly en ough to drive another inch!"

My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time, Mother." "Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.

"But first we're going to see the daffodils. It's just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "I'll drive. I'm used to this."

"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around." "It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience."

After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand lettered sign with an arrow that read, "Daffodil Garden." We got out of the car, each took a child's hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.

It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.

"Who did this?" I asked Carolyn. "Just one woman," Carolyn answered. "She lives on the property. That's her home." Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.

On the patio, we saw a poster. "Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking", was the headline. The first answer was a simple one. "50,000 bulbs," it read. The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one br ain." The third answer was, "Began in 1958."

For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. One day at a time, she had created something of extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles of celebration.

That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a time--often just one baby-step at time--and learning to love the doing, learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world ...

"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn. "What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or forty years ago and had worked away at it 'one bulb at a time' through all those years? Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"

My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct way. "Start tomorrow," she said.

She was right. It's so pointless to think of the lost hours of yesterdays. The way to make learning a lesson of celebration instead of a cause for regret is to only ask, "How can I put this to use today?"

Use the Daffodil Principle. Stop waiting.....

Until your car or home is paid off
Until you get a new car or home
Until your kids leave the house
Until you go back to school
Until you finish school
Until you clean the house
Until you organize the garage
Until you clean off your desk
Until you lose 10 lbs.
Until you gain 10 lbs.
Until you get married
Until you get a divorce
Until you have kids
Until the kids go to school
Until you retire
Until summer
Until spring
Until winter
Until fall
Until you die...

The place to be happy is HERE
and the time to be happy is NOW.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
So work like you don't need money.
Love like you've never been hurt, and,
Dance like no one's watching.

Don't be afraid that your life will end,
be afraid that it will never begin.

Madeleine Touches the Hearts of Many...

Just days ago, a former child soldier spoke before hundreds of people at a United Nations conference. She gave a very touching story of her life as a child soldier and a very moved audience gave her a standing ovation.

Madeleine is a 15-year old girl from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was one of six presenters at the ‘Girls Speak Out’ forum hosted by the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), as part of the 51st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

She spoke of being forced to join the militia and the girl soldiers being used as sex slaves. Most return from combat with “fatherless” babies, and are stigmatized by the community and outcast.

My country has its own share of problems on child soldiers being recruited by rebel armies to fight against the government. And it really makes me wonder how people can be so selfish and heartless as to let innocent children like Madeleine go through a kind of life that even adults have a hard time dealing with.

I appreciate that the United Nations has taken steps to save Madeleine and many children like her. The UN's visibility will certainly do a lot in making many people aware of the problem and urging governments to take action against forcible recruitment of child soldiers.

Madeleine is lucky she was saved and can now hopefully start to live a normal life and have a chance for a good future. There are still many like her who need to be saved...

Quotes...

*If you love something... set it free. If it returns... you never lost it. If it disappears and never comes back, it was never yours to begin with." Anon

* “Many things in life will catch your eye but few will catch your heart... Pursue those” Anon
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Aesop

* Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." Anais Nin

* "I ask God: 'How much time do I have left?' and God replies: 'Enough to make a difference'."

*It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." Antoine de Saint-Exupery

* "Experience is not what happens to a man. It is what a man does with what has happened to him." Aldous Huxley

* "There are two eternities that can really break you down - yesterday and tomorrow. One is gone and the other doesn't exist yet...so live today." Anon

* No matter how hard the past,you can always begin again." Buddha

* Tears are emotions the heart cannot express.

* "The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another's keeping." Claudius Claudianus

* "You should not worry about whether you are going to live or die; you should worry about whether you are doing right or wrong." Ernest Hemingway

* "You see things and you say WHY? But I dream things that never were and I say...WHY NOT?" George Bernard Shaw

* "True friendship is seen through the heart, not through the eyes."

* “A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still gently allows you to grow.”

* “Love is when the other person’s happiness is more important than your own.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

* "Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the self-same well from which your laughter arises was often-times filled with your tears." Kahlil Gibran

* "Whatever with the past is gone, the best is always yet to come." Lucy Larcom

* The only evil is that which lurks within our own hearts. This is where all of our battles should be fought." Mahatma Gandhi

* "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi

* "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect." Mark Twain

* "Happiness is not so much in having as in sharing. We make a living by what we get but we make a life out of what we give." Norman MacEwan

* Listen to your heart. Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you'll find your treasure." Paulo Coelho

* What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson

* The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship." Ralph Waldo Emerson

* Do not be dismayed at good-byes. A good-bye is necessary before meeting again and meeting again after moments or lifetimes is certain for those who are friends." Richard Bach

* "This above all: to thine own self be true. It must follow that you cannot then be false to any man." Shakespeare

* The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we appear to be." Socrates

* The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved - loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." Victor Hugo

* People do not lack strength; they lack will." Victor Hugo

* Mother Teresa:

• “Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So spread your love everywhere you go.”
• "Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
• "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
• "I found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no hurt, only more love.”