Macys Screams for Bieber...

Saw this this morning... Had to share...

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

A Lesson in Making a Difference...

There's a story I would like to share with you. It was inspired by the writing of Loren Eiseley. Eiseley was a very special person because he combined the best of two cultures. He was a scientist and a poet. And from those two perspectives he wrote insightfully and beautifully about the world and our role in it.

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" the wise man asked.

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!" said the writer.

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one!"

His response surprised the man. He didn't know how to reply. So instead, he turned away and walked back to the cottage to begin his writings.

All day long as he wrote, the image of the young man haunted him. He tried to ignore it, but the vision persisted. Finally, late in the afternoon he realized that he the had missed out on the essential nature of the young man's actions. Because he realized that what the young man was doing was choosing not to be an observer in the universe and make a difference. He was embarrassed.

That night he went to bed troubled. When the morning came he awoke knowing that he had to do something. So he got up, put on his clothes, went to the beach and found the young man. And with him he spent the rest of the morning throwing starfish into the ocean. 

You see, what that young man's actions represent is something that is special in each and everyone of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can, like that young man, become aware of that gift, we gain through the strength of our vision the power to shape the future.

And that is our challenge. We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our stars wisely and well, We can all make a difference to someone or something. IT DOES GET BETTER!!

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

Bullying and the Crumpled Paper Lesson... The View...

Today on "The View", Elisabeth (one of my least favorite of the hosts) Hasselback, re-counted the following lesson "from a NY teacher"... I prefer to give Kelly Ripa of "Live with Regis and Kelly" the credit for this story forever (although I would love to know the teacher's name, that came up with it originally).

While Elisabeth's segue seemed less meaningful than Kelly's, I do give her credit for bringing the story back up in her abbreviated form. Here is my original post based on Kelly's story of the teacher's lesson at her child's school.  Again it is paraphrased based on my limited recollection and does contain a little artistic license:

"The teacher gave each student a clean crisp sheet of paper. She then instructed the class to crumble up the piece of paper, toss it around, get angry with it, and stomp on it.

After which, she told the students to return to their seats (with their piece of paper), flatten it out on the top of their desks, making it as flat and perfect as they can, and finally, apologize to the paper.

When all the students had done their best to iron out the paper and apologize to it, the teacher picked up the paper on the first classmates desk, held it up so the entire class could see it and said:

If this piece of paper had been another person, and you had done all those things to him or her, by making them feel less than perfect (through your words or actions), these are the scars you would leave. That person would never be the same, no matter how many times you tell them you are sorry, no matter how many times you try to smooth things out..."

Again, what a great way to share the point. While I am a firm believer in the "It gets Better" campaign, wouldn't it be so much better if we all learned this lesson beforehand? 

Thank you to all the bloggers, parents, and concerned citizens for linking back to my page for the original story... And thank you Kelly Ripa for sharing it with all of us...

IT GETS BETTER!!!

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA

Six on the Sixth - November

Here is the next installment of my Six on the Sixth series. This time I am going to include the number 6 in each of my six disclosures...

1.   This month my blog (the one you are reading) hit 66,000 page views.

2.   I am truly Six feet tall.

3.   I turned Fifty "6" years old this year and am feeling it.

4.   Yes, it's only Six inches long... But it works fine for me.

5.   The sailboat I grew up on "Firebird" was Sixty-Six feet long overall...

6.   I had my cardiac event (Heart Attack) Six years ago this past February.

So, there you go... Six on the Sixth, including the number 6, for November 2011...

Over and "Out" from my world in Portsmouth, VA USA

Crumpled Paper and Bullying Revisited...

It appears that my post about crumpled paper and bullying has been a hit... I went from an average of 100 hits a day to over 300 hits in a matter of days... Here is the story one more time:

I was watching Regis and Kelly the other morning. Kelly was talking about being on a panel at Rutgers University (the night before) as a part of an AC360 (Anderson Cooper) special about bullying.

After she explained what it was all about, she added that her kids go to a very "progressive" school and recounted a lesson by one of the teachers at that school. The following is paraphrased based on my limited recollection and does contain a little artistic license:

"The teacher gave each student a clean crisp sheet of paper. She then instructed the class to crumble up the piece of paper, toss it around, get angry with it, and stomp on it.

After which, she told the students to return to their seats (with their piece of paper), flatten it out on the top of their desks, making it as flat and perfect as they can, and finally, apologize to the paper.

When all the students had done their best to iron out the paper and apologize to it, the teacher picked up the paper on the first classmates desk, held it up so the entire class could see it and said:

If this piece of paper had been another person, and you had done all those things to him or her, by making them feel less than perfect (through your words or actions), these are the scars you would leave. That person would never be the same, no matter how many times you tell them you are sorry, no matter how many times you try to smooth things out..."

What a great way to make a point. While I am a firm believer in the "It gets Better" campaign, wouldn't it be so much better if we all learned this lesson beforehand? I think even most of out politicians can learn from this too... 

Thank you to all the bloggers, parents, and concerned citizens for linking back to my page for the original story... And thank you Kelly Rippa for sharing it with all of us...  IT CAN GET BETTER!!!

Over and "Out" from Portsmouth, VA USA