A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a
sign advertising the 4 pups And set about nailing it to a post on the
edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt
a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of little boy
'Mister,' he said, 'I want to buy one of your puppies.'
'Well,' said the farmer,
as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, 'These puppies come
from fine parents and cost a good deal of money.'
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then
reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and
held it up to the farmer.
'I've got thirty-nine cents. Is that enough to take a
look?'
'Sure,' said the farmer. And with
that he let out a whistle. 'Here, Dolly!' he called.
Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran
Dolly followed by four little balls of fur.
The little boy pressed his face against the
chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way
to the fence,
The little boy noticed something else
stirring inside the doghouse.
Slowly another little ball
appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a
somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the
others, doing its best to catch up....
"I want that one," the little boy
said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and
said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and
play with you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy
stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg
of his trousers.
In doing so he revealed a
steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a
specially made shoe.
Looking back
up at the farmer, he said, 'You see sir, I don't run too well myself,
and he will need someone who understands.'
With tears in his eyes,
the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup.
Holding it carefully
he handed it to the little boy.
'How much?' asked the little boy. 'No
charge,' answered the farmer, 'There's no charge for love. 'The
world is full of people who need someone who understands .
Mouse Story...
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his
wife open a package.
"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he
was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning.
"There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I
can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me.
I cannot be bothered by it."
The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a
mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig
sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is
nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."
The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap
in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said, "Wow, Mr.
Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected,
to face the farmer's mousetrap -- alone.
That very night a sound was heard throughout the house
-- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife
rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a
venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.
The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her
to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you
treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to
the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and
neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer
butchered the pig.
The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people
came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough
meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with
great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and
think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we
are all at risk.
We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep
an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one
another.
Those of You Born
1930 - 1979
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while
they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't
get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs
covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets
and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster
seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special
treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
> We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one
actually died from this..
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid
made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride
them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running
into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendos and X-boxes.. There were no video
games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no
surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet
and no chat rooms. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us
forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks
and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not
put out very many eyes..
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment..
Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to
deal with it all. If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave
and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it
?
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