LIFE'S LITTLE... PAGE
FOUR
Moonlight Ride
Jenny was so happy about
the house they had found.
For once in her life 'twas
on the right side of town.
She unpacked her things
with such great ease.
As she watched her new
curtains blow in the breeze.
How wonderful it was to
have her own room.
School would be starting,
she'd have friends over soon.
There'd be sleep-overs,
and parties; she was so happy
It's just the way she wanted
her life to be.
On the first day of school,
everything went great.
She made new friends and
even got a date!
She thought, "I want
to be popular and I'm going to be,
Because I just got a date
with the star of the team!"
To be known in this school
you had to have a clout,
And dating this guy would
sure help her out.
There was only one problem
stopping her fate.
Her parents had said she
was too young to date.
"Well, I just won't
tell them the entire truth.
They won't know the difference;
what's there to lose?"
Jenny asked to stay with
her friends that night.
Her parents frowned but
said, "All right."
Excited, she got ready
for the big event
But as she rushed around
like she had no sense,
She began to feel guilty
about all the lies,
But what's a pizza, a party,
and a moonlight ride?
Well the pizza was good,
and the party was great,
But the moonlight ride
would have to wait.
For Jeff was half drunk
by this time.
But he kissed her and said
that he was just fine.
Then the room filled with
smoke and Jeff took a puff.
Jenny couldn't believe
he was smoking that stuff.
Now Jeff was ready to ride
to the point
But only after he'd smoked
another joint.
They jumped in the car
for the moonlight ride,
Not thinking that he was
too drunk to drive.
They finally made it to
the point at last,
And Jeff started trying
to make a pass.
A pass is not what Jenny
wanted at all
(and by a pass, I dont
mean playing football).
"Perhaps my parents
were right....maybe I am too young.
Boy, how could I ever,
ever be so dumb."
With all of her might,
she pushed Jeff away:
"Please take me home,
I dont want to stay."
Jeff cranked up the engine
and floored the gas.
In a matter of seconds
they were going too fast.
As Jeff drove on in a fit
of wild anger,
Jenny knew that her life
was in danger.
She begged and pleaded
for him to slow down,
But he just got faster
as they neared the town.
"Just let me get home!
I'll confess that I lied.
I really went out for a
moonlight ride."
Then all of a sudden, she
saw a big flash.
"Oh God, Please help
us! We're going to crash!"
She doesn't remember the
force of impact. J
ust that everything all
of a sudden went black.
She felt someone remove
her from the twisted rubble,
And heard, "Call an
ambulance! These kids are in trouble!"
Voices she heard...a few
words at best.
But she knew there were
two cars involved in the wreck.
Then wondered to herself
if Jeff was all right,
And if the people in the
other car were alive.
She awoke in the hospital
to faces so sad.
"You've been in a
wreck and it looks pretty bad."
These voices echoed inside
her head,
As they gently told her
that Jeff was dead.
They said "Jenny,
we've done all we can do.
But it looks as if we'll
lose you too."
"But the people in
the other car!?" Jenny cried.
"We're sorry, Jenny,
they also died."
Jenny prayed, "God,
forgive me for what I've done
I only wanted to have just
one night of fun."
"Tell those people's
family, I've made their lives dim,
And wish I could return
their families to them."
"Tell Mom and Dad
I'm sorry I lied,
And that it's my fault
so many have died.
Oh, nurse, won't you please
tell them that for me?"
The nurse just stood there
~ she never agreed.
But took Jenny's hand with
tears in her eyes
And a few moments later
Jenny died.
A man asked the nurse,
"Why didn't you do your best
To bid that girl her one
last request?"
She looked at the man with
eyes oh so sad.
"Because the people
in the other car were her mom and dad."
This story is sad and unpleasant
but true,
So young people take heed,
it could have been you.
....................
Author Unknown
ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING
.............................
Jerry was the kind of guy you love
to hate. He was always in a good mood and always had something positive
to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If
I were any better, I would be twins!"
...................
He was a unique manager because
he had several waiters who had followed him around from restaurant to restaurant.
The reason the waiters followed Jerry was because of his attitude. He was
a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Jerry was there
telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.
Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry
and asked him, "I don't get it! You can't be a positive person all
of the time.
......................
How do you do it?" Jerry replied,
"Each morning I wake up and say to myself, *Jerry, you have two choices
today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a
bad mood.' I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens,
I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose
to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose
to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life.
......................
I choose the positive side of life."
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested. "Yes it
is," Jerry said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away
all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to
situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to
be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you
live life." I reflected on what Jerry said.
..............................
Soon thereafter, I left the restaurant
industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but often thought about
him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
..........................
Several years later, I heard that
Jerry did something you are never supposed to do in a restaurant business:
he left the back door open one morning and was held up at gunpoint by three
armed robbers. While trying to open the safe, his hand, shaking from nervousness,
slipped off the combination. The robbers panicked and shot him. Luckily,
Jerry was found relatively quickly and rushed to the local trauma center.
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Jerry was released
from the hospital with fragments of the bullets still in his body.
.........................
I saw Jerry about six months after
the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were
any better, I'd be twins. Wanna see my scars?" I declined to see his
wounds, but did ask him what had gone through his mind as the robbery took
place.
............................
"The first thing that went
through my mind was that I should have locked the back door," Jerry
replied. "Then, as I lay on the floor, I remembered that I had two
choices: I could choose to live, or I could choose to die. I chose to live.
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked. Jerry
continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was
going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and
I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really
scared.. In their eyes, I read, 'He's a dead man.' "I knew I needed
to take action."
........................
"What did you do?" I
asked. "Well, there was a big, burly nurse shouting questions at me,"
said Jerry. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied.
The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took
a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!'
.........................
Over their laughter, I told them,
'I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his
amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice
to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.
............................
You have 2 choices now: 1. Save
or delete this mail from your mail box, or 2. Forward it to people you
care about. Hope you will choose No. 2.
..................
Written by Francie Baltazar-Schwartz
Jean Thompson stood in front of
her fifth-grade class on the very first day of school in the fall and told
the children a lie. Like most teachers, she looked at her pupils and said
that she loved them all the same, that she would treat them all alike.
And that was impossible because there in front of her, slumped in his seat
on the third row, was a little black boy named Teddy Stoddard.
..........................
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy
the year before and noticed he didn't play well with the other children,
that his clothes were unkempt and that he constantly needed a bath. And
Teddy was unpleasant. It got to the point during the first few months that
she would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red
pen, making bold X's and then marking the F at the top of the paper biggest
of all.
...........................
Because Teddy was a sullen little
boy, no one else seemed to enjoy him, either. At the school where Mrs.
Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's records and put
Teddy's off until last. When she opened his file, she was in for a surprise.
His first-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright, inquisitive child
with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners...he is
a joy to be around." His second-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is
an excellent student well-liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because
his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."
His third-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy continues to work hard but his
mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best but his father
doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some
steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth-grade teacher wrote, "Teddy
is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have
many friends and sometimes sleeps in class. He is tardy and could become
a problem."
........................
By now Mrs. Thompson realized the
problem but Christmas was coming fast. It was all she could do, with the
school play and all, until the day before the holidays began and she was
suddenly forced to focus on Teddy Stoddard. Her children brought her presents,
all in beautiful ribbon and bright paper, except for Teddy's, which was
clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper of a scissored grocery bag.
Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents.
Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet
with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full
of cologne. She stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how
pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume
behind the other wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed behind just long enough to
say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my mom used to."
After the children left she cried for at least an hour.
.....................
On that very day, she quit teaching
reading, and writing, and speaking. Instead, she began to teach children.
Jean Thompson paid particular attention to one they all called "Teddy."
As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged
him, the faster he responded. On days there would be an important test,
Mrs. Thompson would remember that cologne. By the end of the year he had
become one of the smartest children in the class and...well, he had also
become the "pet" of the teacher who had once vowed to love all
of her children exactly the same.
.....................
A year later she found a note under
her door, from Teddy, telling her that of all the teachers he'd had in
elementary school, she was his favorite.
.......................
Six years went by before she got
another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school,
third in his class, and she was still his favorite teacher of all time.
........................
Four years after that, she got
another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd
stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would graduate from college with
the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson she was still his favorite
teacher.
.........................
Then four more years passed and
yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's
degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she
was still his favorite teacher but that now his name was a little longer.
The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.
...................
The story doesn't end there. You
see, there was yet another letter that Spring. Teddy said he'd met this
girl and was to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple
of years ago and he was wondering...well, if Mrs. Thompson might agree
to sit in the pew usually reserved for the mother of the groom. And guess
what, she wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing.
And I bet on that special day, Jean Thompson smelled just like... well,
just like the way Teddy remembered his mother smelling on their last Christmas
together.
.......................
THE MORAL: You never can tell what
type of impact you may make on another's life by your actions or lack of
action. Consider this fact in your venture thru life.
Life's Little...
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