In today’s technological age, we often hear about the wide
stretches of the Internet. We are used to telescopes making
discoveries in distant planets. How often do you hear about the
power of an inch?
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That’s right just an inch.
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I talked with one of my friends yesterday who is staying in
another country. Even though it sounded like he was only a few
feet away through the phone, the sound was actually traveling
thousands of miles. That’s technology and that’s impressive.
But I’ve also been impressed lately by the power of an inch.
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You are probably saying now “What do you keep talking about the
power of an inch, an inch doesn’t have any power.”
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I’m talking about the inch that two muscles of each side of your
mouth moves when you smile. It takes tens of muscles to frown
but only two to smile. This is a power that every person can
wield no matter what economic level they are or how much
technology they have.
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I began to notice the power when going through checkout lines.
If I smiled when I got up to the register, it made the cashiers
smile even though they had customer after customer to ring up.
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Most of the people probably didn’t even consciously notice they
were smiling. It was as if my mouth moving a inch on each side
made some kind of unconscious knee jerk kind of reflex happen in
their brains. Without using hypnosis or offering people money,
you could get people to respond.
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You never know what one smile can do to a person’s day.
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Imagine a homeless person on the street sitting on a corner with
dirty clothes on and everybody passing by not wanting to even
look at them because they are afraid of what they might beg for.
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Now imagine what it would do for that same person if someone
looked them straight in the eyes and gave them a big genuine
smile and actually spoke to them first and said “Good afternoon,
it’s good to see you today.”
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Sometimes work beats us down so much that by the time we get
home our children may not see a smile the entire evening.
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In some marriages, smiles even among spouses have gone the way
of the retired practice of opening a car door during dating. As
I even thought about it, a smile and knowledge are two of the
Hospital volunteers do no clinical work. Volunteers have no physically therapeutic treatment of offer. They dispense no medicine. But we cannot deny that they demonstrate the merry hearts as spoken of in Proverbs 17:22. At the core of volunteering is the fervent desire to “doeth good like medicine.” Because I am privileged to experience a daily confirmation of the good done by volunteers, it is very difficult to choose one vignette or narrow the choices of stories to one.
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It was Christmas time and our elderly visitor was back to see her husband in the Intensive Care Unit. We had watched her daily visits, and could tell she was becoming more distant and distraught with each day. She was rather frail and unsteady on her feet, but refused any offer of assistance.
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Volunteer John approached her on her way out, to offer her a ride back to her car in our shuttle as it was cold. She accepted reluctantly, almost as if in resignation. While helping her into the shuttle,
My son told me how wonderful the care packages we had sent them
from the ladies auxiliary were and wanted me to tell everyone
thank you.
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He said that one guy we’ll call Marine X, got a female care
package and everyone was giving him a hard time. My son said,
‘Marine X got some really nice smelling lotion and everyone
really likes it, so every time he goes to sleep they steal it
from him.’ I told my son I was really sorry about the mistake,
and if he wanted I would send Marine X another package. He told
me not to worry about Marine X because every time I send
something to him, he shares it with Marine X.
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He said when my husband and I sent the last care package, Marine
X came over to his cot picked up the box, started fishing
through it, and said, ‘What’d we get this time?’
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But my son said they had the most fun with Marine X’s package.
He said he wasn’t sure who it was supposed to go to, but the
panties were size 20, and he said one of the guys got on top of
the Humvee and jumped off with the panties over his head and
yelled, ‘Look at me, I’m an Airborne Ranger!!!!’
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One of the guys attached the panties to an antenna and it blew
in the wind like a windsock. He said it entertained them for
quite awhile. Then of course…….they had those tampons. When
he brought this up, my imagination just went running, but he
continued.
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My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted the
Chap-Stick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a bunch of the
items from his care package and got in the Humvee. As luck would
have it he grabbed the tampons too, and my son said everyone was
teasing him about ‘not forgetting his feminine hygiene
products.’
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He said things went well for a while, then the convoy was
ambushed and a Marine was shot. He said the wound was pretty
clean, but it was deep. He said they were administering first
aid but couldn’t get the bleeding to slow down, and someone
said, ‘Hey! Use Marine X’s tampons!’ My son said they put the
tampon in the wound. At this point my son profoundly told Me,
Once upon a time there lived a man who had a terrible passion for baked beans. He loved them, he adored them, he yearned for them. But they always caused him a great deal of embarrassment shortly after eating them.
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One day he met a girl and fell in love. When it became apparent that they would marry, he realized she might be even more embarrassed and humiliated by his addiction to baked beans. He decided to make the supreme sacrifice and give up his beloved baked beans. A short time later they were married.
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Some months later, on his way home from work, his car broke down. He was not too far from home so he decided to leave the car and walk the rest of the way. He passed a small roadside cafe and decided to call his wife and tell her that he would be late for supper. As he entered the cafe, the smell of baked beans overwhelmed him. He still had several miles to go, and decided that he could walk off any after-effects before reaching home. Before he knew it, he had eaten three large plates of baked beans. Even as he left the cafe, the effects began to be felt. He pooted up a hill, and poot-pooted down the other side. As he grew closer to home, the frequency and forcefulness diminished greatly, and he felt reasonably safe.
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Just as he reached his home, however, he felt a great rumbling inside and was seized with a terrible urgency. As he waited just outside his front door to release one last effort, his wife threw open the door. She excitedly exclaimed, “Darling, I have made the most wonderful surprise dinner for you.”
She blindfolded him and led him to his chair at the head of the table. Just as she was ready to remove the blindfold, the phone rang. She made him promise not to peek until she returned and went to answer the phone.
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When she had gone, he seized the opportunity, shifted his weight to one leg and loudly broke wind. It was not only loud, but as ripe as a rotten egg. He had a hard time breathing, so he took his napkin
and began to fan the air about him. He just started feeling better when he felt another urge. He again raised one leg and let her rip. It sounded like a tuba and smelled so bad that he started gagging. He fanned until his arms ached. Things had just about returned to normal when he felt another powerful
In the 31 years since his untimely death, Marley still remains the most-popular figure in Reggae music. Succumbing to cancer at age 36 in 1981, Marley had become a global ambassador for the music he helped make famous.
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Marley’s passing shook the reggae and music community to its core; yet, his legacy remains intact through his timeless music catalog and talented children.
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Marley was born in the village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish in Jamaica (also the birthplace of Marcus Garvey). Marley’s father was a white Jamaican man of English descent and his mother was a native of Jamaica. Discovering music as a teenager, Marley befriended Neville “Bunny” Livingston (aka Bunny Wailer) who shared his dreams of becoming a musician. Through singer Joe Higgs, the pair met Peter McIntosh (aka Peter Tosh) who also had similar ambitions. Recording his first songs in 1962, Marley and his friends would eventually be renamed The Wailers, after being discovered by a local record producer.
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Marrying Rita Anderson (now Marley) in 1966, Marley and his bride made a sojourn to the United States to live near his mother in Wilmington, De. Marley soon teamed up with American singer Johnny Nash (“I Can See Clearly Now”) and nabbed a deal with CBS Records. Marley and the Wailers went on tour with Nash before their label deal went sour and the band ended up stranded in London in 1972. From there, Marley contacted Island Records’ founder Chris Blackwell and was advanced funds to record the hit album “Catch A Fire.”
Shortly after the release of their major-label debut, Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh went their
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Apr 15 2012
