Tag Archives: kindness

Beautifully Strange Poem …

Posted on by under Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

It seems to me that these days some people are mighty quick to judge others.  They judge us by the colour of our skin, by whether we attend the same church as them, by where our ancestors hail from, by our level of education or the field in which we work, they judge us by our sexual orientation — who we choose to love — and by our political affiliation.  All this judging … and for what?  I am no better than you, nor you than me.  It is our actions, the way we treat others, that determine who we are, not the colour of our skin or our political party!  This has weighed heavily on my mind of late, for I, too, am judged and seemingly found to be lacking by many.  And last night, as I was preparing for bed, leaving one last quick message for a beloved friend on Facebook, something caught my eye.  You may remember back in March, when I posted a lovely poem by Laura Ding-Edwards, titled The Mountain.  This is another by her that I think speaks volumes.  Titled Beautifully Strange Poem, it is “A poem about living with mental illness, the importance of being kind and the beauty of our uniqueness.”

Laura-Ding-Edwards

Pee Wee & Jackie …

Posted on by under Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I had another post on the schedule for this morning, but when I came upon this on The Jon S. Randall Peace Page, I re-scheduled the other one and chose this for this morning’s post.  I think when you read it, you’ll see why.

He remembered growing up when his father pointed out a tree to him, and told him that a black man was lynched from a branch of that tree. At that time, he could not understand how another human being could hate another human being, to the point of killing him.

Harold Henry was born on July 23, 1918 in Ekron, Kentucky. When he was 8-years-old, his family moved to racially segregated Louisville. He was 10-years-old when his father took him to see that tree in which the black man was lynched.

Harold never got to know any black folks growing up. He said, “the schools were segregated, so we didn’t go to school with them.” He also added that he never got to play with them “because they weren’t allowed in the parks.”

While playing amateur baseball in a church league, Harold was noticed and would later play for the minor league Louisville Colonels, where his teammates called him “The Little Colonel”.

Harold eventually made it to the Big League, then enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943. While serving in the Navy, a shipmate told him that a black man was signed to his baseball team and that he might be taking his job.

Rather than becoming angry, Harold supposedly told his shipmate “well, if he can beat me out, more power to him.”

When he finally got back to the states, he finally met his black teammate and shook his hand. He admitted it was the first time he ever shook the hand of a black man.

And, when a petition was passed around in spring training by some players saying they would refuse to play with a black man, Harold refused to sign it.

Then, came the moment that has become immortalized.

During one game, as usual his black teammate was being heckled because he was black. His teammate seemed so alone on the field as seemingly the entire stadium was booing, jeering at him for no other reason than the color of his skin. None of his other teammates went to the black player’s defense.

The black player had received death threats and if he dared talk back to anyone, the hate would intensify even more. Even the other players taunted him.

Harold could not not stand it any longer. He didn’t care what the other players would think of him, he didn’t care what the rest of the stadium would do, he didn’t care how his own hometown would react to him or his family.

So, on that day, on that field, in that stadium of hate, Harold did the most amazing thing. He didn’t hit a major home run, he didn’t perform acrobatics catching a ball, and he didn’t pitch a no-hitter. What he did would be remembered for all eternity, in baseball history and American history.

Harold Henry (or as his teammates called him by that time, “Pee Wee”) Reese simply walked over to his teammate, Jackie Robinson, and put his arm around him, leaving his arm there for all to see, chatting with him innocently about who knows what – but, it silenced everyone in the stadium. The boos and racial slurs suddenly stopped, the crowd no longer knowing what to think, how to act. Pee Wee Reese was one of the most respected players in the league, and he just showed everyone why.

One writer noted, people have a choice, they can either choose to hate, or they can choose to love their fellow man. Reese had no reason to hate Jackie Robinson. It was a grand gesture of support, friendship, and respect for his fellow man.

Jackie Robinson would say that Reese was teased a lot because of his friendship with Robinson.

“(Opposing players) were abusing Reese very viciously because he was playing on the team with me … They were calling him some very vile names and every one bounced off Pee Wee and hit me like a machine-gun bullet. Pee Wee kind of sensed the sort of hopeless, dead feeling in me and came over and stood beside me for a while. He didn’t say a word but he looked over at the chaps who were yelling at me and just stared. He was standing by me, I can tell you that. Slowly the jibes died down … and then there was nothing but quiet from them. It was wonderful the way this little guy did it.”

Robinson would add, “I will never forget it.”

Another major league baseball black pioneer, Joe Black, would say, “When Pee Wee reached out to Jackie, all of us in the Negro League smiled and said it was the first time that a white guy had accepted us. When I finally got up to Brooklyn, I went to Pee Wee and said, ‘Black people love you. When you touched Jackie, you touched all of us.'”

After the two men retired, in 1972, an elder Robinson attended a playoff game in which he would be honored. By that time, Robinson’s eyesight was failing and he felt uncomfortable, alone, on that field once again. But, all of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice from across the field. Robinson immediately turned around and yelled out Reese’s name. Reese was there to support his friend once again. Robinson and Reese would embrace once again.PeeWee-Jackie-statue.jpgReese, who was a quiet, humble man who never seeked publicity, admitted years later that he took his son to the same tree his father took him, to show him what hate could do. In 2005, after both men had passed away, Reese’s son would be present at the unveiling of a monument honoring that moment in baseball history between Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson.

“My father had done his own soul searching,” said Mark Reese, Pee Wee’s son, in the New York Times, “and he knew that some fans, teammates, and yes, some family members didn’t want him to play with a black man.”

“But,” Mark Reese added, “my father listened to his heart, and not to the chorus.”

In the New York Times, Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, said, “When Pee Wee Reese threw his arm around Jackie Robinson’s shoulder in this legendary gesture of support and friendship, they showed America and the world that racial discrimination is unacceptable and un-American.”

Reese himself in 1997 said, “Something in my gut reacted at the moment. Something about what? The unfairness of it? The injustice of it? I don’t know.”

Reece would later say, “I was just trying to make the world a little bit better. That’s what you’re supposed to do with your life, isn’t it?”Reese Pee Wee Plaque 253_N

Good People Doing Good Things — Acts of Kindness

Posted on by under Good people doing good things

A friend and reader, Ellen, pointed me in the direction of a new source of ‘good news’ stories, and one of the first things I saw last evening when I visited the site in search of ‘good people’, was this headline:

The Most Inspiring Everyday People of 2018 Showered the World With Kindness: Our Top 10 Favorites

I visited and found some awesome stories of everyday people doing small kindnesses for others.  Two of the ten turned out to be stories I had previously included in my ‘good people’ posts, but I want to share a few of the others with you today.

The first one is just a small thing, really, but I found it touching.  It happened at LAX airport last February.  A young mom, pregnant and with a toddler in tow, was trying to board her flight, but the toddler apparently had other ideas and was having a meltdown, running from the mother, crying uncontrollably.  Been there, done that, and I could feel that mother’s frustration as I read this story.

Finally, the young mother simply sat down on the floor of the airport, placed her hands over her face and joined her son in having a good cry.  As if by some unseen, unheard signal, suddenly 6 or 7 women came to the pair and worked their magic.  One sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider to the young boy, another peeled an orange for mother and son, another pulled a toy from her bag, while yet another offered the mom a bottle of water and words of comfort.  Within a few short minutes, both mother and son were calm and able to board their flight.  It is said that the women did not speak of what was being done or what needed to be done, and yet acted as a team, as if it were a well-coordinated effort.  According to one of the women …

“After they went through the door we all went back to our separate seats and didn’t talk about it… we were strangers, gathering to solve something. It occurred to me that a circle of women, with a mission, can save the world. I will never forget that moment.” 

Solidarity.  Empathy.  Compassion.  Kindness.

Adarsh Shrivastava was on a train that was traveling through Uttar Pradesh in northern India in July when he noticed something strange about his fellow passengers. His train cabin was filled with girls between the ages of 10 and 14 – and almost all of them were visibly distressed. Some of the youngsters were even crying.

Sensing that something was afoot, Shrivastava pulled out his phone, created a new Twitter account, and sent several messages detailing the situation to railway and law enforcement authorities, saying that he suspected the girls to be victims of human trafficking.trafficking.jpgUpon writing out his cabin and train number, the Good Samaritan only had to wait thirty minutes before the Ministry of Railways Twitter account responded to the message. A few stops later, several police officers boarded the train and arrested two men who had been transporting the girls for a human trafficking scheme.

“Their parents have been informed and the men have been taken into custody,” a statement from the Railway Protection Force said.

Many social media users are calling Shrivastava a hero and asking the Prime Minister of India to honor him for his actions – however, Shrivastava has simply responded by saying: “Thanks, but as a citizen of India, it’s our responsibility to help people.”

Humility.  Courage.  Responsibility.  Empathy.

It was on a routine flight to Jamaica that an elderly woman suddenly went into cardiac arrest.  Luckily there was a nurse onboard, but she was unable to relieve the woman’s breathing distress.  However, there were two very inventive anesthesiologists aboard the flight, Matthew Stevenson and John Flanagan.  After determining that the plane was not equipped with a hand-operated, manual resuscitator, the two men leapt into action.  Dr. Stevenson performed CPR on the woman while Dr. Flanagan concocted a makeshift ventilator using tubing and an airbag from one of the plane’s emergency masks and connecting the device to the onboard oxygen tank.oxygen deviceThe two doctors worked to keep oxygen flowing to the woman’s lungs with the makeshift device for 45 minutes, until the plane was able to make an emergency landing in Fort Lauderdale.  Passengers pitched in, too, holding the doctors steady during the bumpy landing.  When medics rushed onto the plane to take over, the passengers gave a cheering round of applause to the two doctors.docsIn this, the day of frivolous lawsuits, many doctors will not step into such a situation, for their malpractice carriers caution them against touching a person in distress without a liability waiver.  These two men put a human being first.

Caring.  Humanity.  Courage.  Responsibility.

Randy HeissRandy Heiss had been out on a walk with his dog in Patagonia, Arizona when he saw a deflated red balloon trapped in some shrubs. More peculiarly, there was a little note attached to the string. The note, which was written in Spanish, was a Christmas list that was addressed to Santa from a little girl named Dayami. The sweet youngster simply said that she wanted some paints and new clothes for Christmas.balloon-noteHeiss was moved by the letter, not just because of its innocence, but also because he used to send letters to Santa the very same way – so he became dedicated to fulfilling the child’s Christmas wish.  But … how to find the child?

“It really touched my heart to find it and I said well how in the heck am I going to be able to figure out how to make contact with this little girl and make her wishes come true.”

He took to social media, hoping to find someone who could put him in contact with the family. With Christmas looming ever closer, Heiss eventually approached a Mexican radio station for help, and within one hour of them broadcasting his story, he was connected with Dayami’s family in Nogales, Sonora.

Delighted for an opportunity to bring some holiday magic to the family, Heiss ditched work to go shopping for Dayami’s gifts at Walmart and bring them down to Nogales.Dayami.pngDayami’s family was extremely grateful for the gesture, and Heiss and his wife were careful about telling the kids that the gifts were from Santa.  Heiss gained even more joy from his gesture, though …

“We lost our son nine years ago. So, we don’t have grandchildren in our future and so really getting to share Christmas with kids was something that’s been missing in our lives.”

Heiss has stayed in touch with Dayami’s parents through social media, and they are quickly becoming extensions of each other’s families – all thanks to his act of Christmas compassion.

Generosity.  Sharing.  Kindness. Love.

I end this post with a quote from English writer John Bunyan:

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

Let’s all try to be ‘good people’ this year, shall we?  Remember, it isn’t the size of what you do, but the spirit with which you do it.

‘We Are The World’ …. “🌎 We Always have Been, We Always will Be 🌎 …. “!!

Posted on by under Global Issues, music, Re-blogs

It has been yet one more week that has bombarded our sensibilities with hate, with ugliness, with things that we didn’t think could happen, couldn’t possibly even imagine two years ago. The ‘man’ in the Oval Office was allowed out of the Oval Office to travel abroad, where he left a trail of offal, for lack of a better word. Today, I think we all need a break from it, and our very dear friend Dr. Horty Rex has provided a most wonderful and apt respite that I would like to share with you all this afternoon. Thank you, Horty, for this beautiful song to remind us, to give us hope for the future, and for implied permission to share.

It Is What It Is

~~July 13, 2018~~ 

TURBULENT TIMES

~We Always have Been, We Always will Be~

I find myself so pulled by the negativity and awful events taking place in our world nowadays. Sometimes it’s so overwhelming that I can’t really breathe.

I can’t fathom or wrap my head around the level of inhumanity, greed, vileness, evil, violence, crime, injustice and so much more that inhabits this world.

Music helps me.

Here’s an example.

HortyRex©

RedLineBYael Silver (Tony-winning producer Once On This Island), Robin Carus and Van Dean (Broadway Records, President) today released “We Are The World,” a music video featuring an all-star roster of theater artists and calling for healing and unity in the world today.

“More than ever, people need to know that their voices make a difference and their voices together are incredibly powerful,” said producer Yael Silver.

“We Are The World spoke to…

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R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Posted on by under Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. … remember the song by Aretha Franklin?  Well, guess what folks — it needs to be re-released, for far too many have forgotten the word.  One of Donald Trump’s promises during his never-ending campaign was to ‘get rid of’ political correctness.  Now, as I said at the time, political correctness is nothing more or less than respect for others and their feelings.  Is it sometimes taken to extremes?  Maybe, but I would rather err on the side of kindness than not.  Today, two glaring examples of the ugliness Donald Trump has unleashed in the nation came to my attention, and I would like to share them with you, dear friends, just so you don’t forget what Trump has turned this nation into.

Remember how incensed some people, mostly republicans, were when Colin Kaepernick, on 01 September 2016, kneeled during the playing of the national anthem, rather than stand?  Of course you remember – it stirred so much hoopla that the NFL recently made a decision to force … yes, force … players who are on the field when the song is played, to stand.  Mr. Kaepernick took a knee as a very passive, peaceful form of protest against police brutality and systemic racism in this country.  In my book, he did the right thing and I admire & respect him for it.  But many so-called ‘patriots’ have been very vocal in their shunning and denigration of Mr. Kaepernick.  But now … we have another ‘celebrity’ who is using her platform to make a point.  She is none other than …

Roseanne Barr, the sitcom actress whose show, aptly titled Roseanne, made a comeback last year, thanks to the election of Donald Trump.  Personally, I’ve always found Roseanne to be a rather disgusting piece of work, and during the years since her sitcom ran its course and was cancelled in 1997, she has only become more vulgar and disgusting.  Still, the election of Donald Trump gave rise to a renewal of all things nasty & disgusting, and that included, unfortunately, Roseanne.

While Kaepernick is using his voice to try to fight injustice and save lives, Roseanne decided to use hers to attack former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett with a tweet that was blatantly racist and Islamophobic.  Typical Roseanne.  Since her ‘comeback’ last year, Barr has been outspoken in her adoration of all things Trump, and has even helped the likes of Jones & Hannity peddle their ludicrous conspiracy theories.  Her mouth has no filter, and she has gotten by with far too much for far too long, issuing nasty tweets about Hillary & Chelsea Clinton, George Soros, and others.

Today, Roseanne Barr finally learned what it means to be held accountable for her actions, her words.  The uproar over her Twitter comments was immediate and palpable, with many, even among her own cast, dumbfounded.  Sara Gilbert, who played her daughter on the show, said …

“Roseanne’s recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show. I am disappointed in her actions to say the least.”

And one of the show’s writers, Wanda Sykes, said she would no longer write for the show.  Joe Scarborough was not alone when he called for ABC to discipline Barr …

“There is no apology she can make that justifies ABC turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show. Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed.”

And so, just a few short hours later, ABC made the following announcement:

“Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show.”

Score one for decency and common sense – traits that seem invisible in the era of Trump.  Thumbs up to ABC, even though I suspect they did it more to avoid a public relations nightmare than out of any sense of values.  Still, these days, I take what I can get.

And a second abomination slid across my radar screen today, also from the entertainment industry.  Video game developer Valve Corp is coming out with a new video game on June 6th.  The game will be called ‘Active Shooter’.  Now, there is nothing new about violence in video games these days, with titles like Hatred, Postal, Carmageddon, etc., so this one might not have raised many eyebrows … except for its premise.  It takes place in a school, and the player is the shooter, seeing how many cops and ‘civs’, short for civilians, he or she can plow down.

Needless to say, there are a whole lot of parents up in arms, particularly those whose children have been killed in school shootings this year.  Valve Corp responded to the uproar by saying that it doesn’t promote any kind of violence.  WHAT???  Shooting kids with an assault weapon is not violence???

There is a petition at Change.org petition calling for the game’s release to be cancelled. When I signed it this morning, it had over 75,000 signatures and when I checked just a few minutes ago, it was over 95,000.  I don’t know how much good signing the petition does, but hopefully it sends a message.  An even better message, if the company goes through with the game’s release, would be if nobody bought the game.  Miss Goose, a video game expert, tells me that a similar game was released at some point after the Columbine shootings.  Where, people, are we headed???  sad

R.I.P. Civil Discourse

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

It once was considered good form to engage one’s brain before engaging one’s mouth.  This procedure was known as ‘civility’, or ‘civil discourse’, and was once quite popular.  It was the thing, perhaps, that kept us from killing each other.  It was the thing that kept marriages together, even in times of trouble.  Until one day somebody, and I know not who, gave the process a name:  political correctness.  For some reason, giving it a name made it a process to be shunned, made it unpopular.

The latest evidence of the reversal of civil discourse is a comment I read this morning by republican Senator Orrin Hatch when speaking to a group at the American Enterprise Institute on Thursday:

“[We] finally did away with the individual mandate tax that was established under that wonderful bill called Obamacare. Now, if you didn’t catch on, I was being very sarcastic. That was the stupidest, dumbass bill that I’ve ever seen. Some of you may have loved it. If you do, you are one of the stupidest, dumbass people I’ve ever met. [emphasis added] There are a lot of them up there on Capitol Hill from time to time.”

Hatch later apologized, sort of, for his remarks saying they were ‘flippant’ and ‘off-the-cuff’, though it appeared he was reading from a prepared speech. ‘A poorly-worded joke’, he said. Not to let Senator Hatch off the hook, for he deserves to be called on the carpet for his remarks, but he is only one of many who, seemingly energized by the populist movement in general, and by Donald Trump specifically, have relaxed both their brains and their mouths, and allow whatever thoughts they have to tumble out unfettered.

There are many definitions for ‘civil discourse’:

  • “Engagement in discourse intended to enhance understanding …”
  • “The language of dispassionate objectivity”

A June editorial in the Los Angeles Times suggests “Trump didn’t birth American intolerance. He’s the manifestation of our long-disturbed national dialogue.”  In response, a reader of the Times wrote …

“When personal computers and the Internet became ubiquitous, civility was dealt a final blow. It’s so easy to be nasty and cruel sitting at a keyboard, never seeing what impact the nastiness and vulgarity are having on the recipients of such missives.”

We could debate … with civility … for days and still not likely pin down an answer about when, how and why we have lost the art of true communication sans rancor, or civil discourse.  But the debate is rather pointless, rather like worrying about how the dog got rabies, instead of taking the dog to the vet to be treated for the condition.

We in the U.S. are living in the most divisive, polarized environment since the Civil War era, and the thing that is most lacking is understanding of the other side.  Understanding is not going to come to any of us in a nightly dream, nor is it going to suddenly strike us like a streak of lightening.   The only path to understanding is going to come through conversation.  By conversation, I do not mean the type of communication we see daily on CNN or Fox News, where people are constantly deriding one side or the other, name-calling and using phrases that are designed not to communicate, but to stir anger and resentment.  The only thing this type of communication accomplishes is to push the two sides further apart.

Not long ago, I wrote a piece titled Thoughts on Integrity in which I opined that integrity is basically dead in many areas including government, medicine and religion.  I would say the same for civility, only I would add that the loss of civility has extended to many other areas, including families, friendships and neighbors.

If we are to make a start at narrowing what I have referred to as The Great Divide in this nation, we are going to have to have a return to civil discourse, a return to kindness, compassion, a return to listening to what another person says rather than listening only with the intention of providing a response.  We need to listen to each other … truly listen.  Then, before responding, we must think … process what was said, and respond with calmness, not rancor, not vitriol.  This is not easy, but I think that the longer we wait to make a start, the harder it gets.  I too am guilty of this.  Words can hurt, words can anger … we need to choose our words much more carefully.  We must learn, once again, to be kind.

I’m not advocating that we have to agree with everything we hear, for we are not lemmings.  But there are ways of disagreeing without offending.  Our words need not be a personal affront, or target the other person.  We can, as one of my friends is fond of saying, respectfully agree to disagree and move on.

But I think the example needs to come from the top.  Church leaders need to remove the politics of intolerance and hate from their speech.  Politicians, our elected representatives, need to treat us and also each other with respect.  For a senator to refer to the people he has been tasked to represent as ‘stupid’ or ‘dumbass’ is simply unacceptable.  Every one of his constituents should be writing letters respectfully protesting and reminding him that he faces re-election in a few short months.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to freedom of speech, and yes, hate speech is protected as long as it does not incite violence.  Whether that should be the case or not is a discussion beyond the scope of this post, but it is up to us to show some common sense, to treat others with respect, to learn to keep our mouths shut sometimes.  Just because you can say something, just because the U.S. Constitution gives you the right to say something cruel and senseless, doesn’t necessarily mean you should.  It doesn’t necessarily mean it is helpful or will solve any problems.

The leaders of this nation, both in Congress and in the White House, need to first set the tone, need to learn to speak without raised voices, without shaking fists, without name calling.  But first, they need to learn to listen.  How can they possibly manage the government that is ‘by the people, for the people, and of the people’ if they do not listen to the people, if they do not know the needs of the people, and if they view We the People as ‘stupid dumbasses’?

Is civil discourse dead?  Perhaps so.  Can it be revived?  Surely it can, but it requires the effort of each and every one of us.  It requires a commitment to respect the opinions of others, even those we disagree with.  And it requires that sometimes we be willing to admit that maybe, just maybe, we were wrong.  The ability to say, “I’m sorry”.  Think about it.

Use that filter before you speak

Posted on by under Political commentary, Social commentary

Blogger-friend Keith has written a most excellent post that needs no introduction from me. Thank you Keith … you hit the nail on the head with this one!

musingsofanoldfart

In my efforts not to curse, the above title is a euphemism for what I would prefer to say. My message is to those who have decided to bypass any filters and say the most inflammatory things.

Two public figures – Johnny Depp and Kathy Griffin – decided that they should make suggestions about the demise of the President. And, a Democrat official was appropriately fired for making a statement about how he was glad Representative Scaliae was shot because of his role in passing unfavorable legislation.

There is no call for these comments or actions. I fully understand the President has incited, promoted and condoned violence against others. He has failed to call out violence against minority groups, but has a quick comment for when a Muslim may be the perpetrator. This is not right, either.

So, let me be frank. One set of actions does not condone the…

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Monday … Again? Sigh.

Posted on by under Politic-Free Mondays, Random

I committed some time ago to keep Mondays free of politics and the social issues that are my usual topics of choice.  Why?  Because, first of all it was requested by my friend, Linda, and second of all, Mondays are difficult days for some (most), so why should I add to the gloom?  However, this Monday it is a struggle. I trolled for several hours in search of good news, happy things, and this is the result. So I apologize in advance for this rather disjointed post that is somewhat lacking teeth, lacking depth, and lacking any sense of cohesion.

  • Sanitation Workers Save Kittens From Trash, Get Dubbed ‘Sexiest Dudes Ever’
    • Sanitation workers in Florida are being celebrated as heroes after rescuing four kittens they found trapped inside a tied plastic bag while processing garbage. The workers at Florida’s Palm Beach County Solid Waste Authority uncovered the four 4- to 5-week-old furballs last week.kittens-1 kittensThe Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue took the kittens in and said they were starving and suffering from parasites. They were taken from their mother too early and are being bottle-fed for the time being, a rescue center employee told The Huffington Post on Sunday. Fortunately, the kittens are expected to make a full recovery and should be available for adoption within a month.

      Since the kittens have gone from trash to treasure, they’ve been named after gemstones. The three male kittens are named Garnet, Jet and Topaz, and the female kitten is named Ruby. A Facebook user provided the adorable names. (Golgowski, Huffington Post, 10 April 2016)

 

  • Bank Robbers Wrap Up Head-To-Toe In Aluminum Foil For Heist
    • Bank robbers in southern Brazil donned a highly unusual disguise for a heist. The duo covered themselves from head to toe in aluminum foil for the early Saturday morning raid on the Banco de Brasil branch in Praia Grande. Police said the two believed their improvised outfits would beat the bank’s alarm system and stop it from sounding. Astonishingly, the robbers’ plan appeared to work. But, as their cloaks didn’t allow Harry Potter-style invisibility, the hapless pair was still captured by the bank’s surveillance cameras. bankrobberSecurity staff working at Banco do Brasil’s regional HQ in Florianopolis alerted police, and an armed response unit arrived on the scene. The duo fled empty-handed, leaving behind blowtorches and other implements they were using to try and break into a safe. One comment to this story read: ‘Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man  .. That he didn’t, didn’t already have’. For those who may not remember, this is a line in a song entitled Tin Man by the group America in 1974.  (Moran, Huffington Post, 11 April 2016)

 

  • Chinese Doctor With No Legs Makes Her Village House Calls Using 2 Stools
    • An inspiring 37-year-old doctor has been getting from place to place using only wooden stools in place of legs. Li Juhong’s legs had to be amputated after a car accident in 1983 when she was only four– but instead of feeling despair over the loss, Li was motivated to become a doctor. After acquiring her medical degree in 2000, Li set up a village clinic in Chongqing, China. Since then she has been the caretaker of all 1,000 residents, using two stools instead of feet to get around. Her husband, Xing, offers to transport her to patients too sick to leave the house by carrying her on his back. With his assistance, she has handled over 6,000 cases in the region. In her 15-year career, the resilient doctor has worn out over 24 stools. Now that is a dedicated doc!chinese doc

 

 

 

 

 

So, that was all the good news I could find that was interesting.  Tomorrow … some trumpitts (Trump snippets).  ‘Til then … keep one thing in mind:

Respect