Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2016-31

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Rafiki forwards the story of a quiet man
• Jean Sterling forwards some unlikely definitions
• Don Henderson sends a modern parable
• Bruce Galway shares some of the many uses of vinegar
• Sites are suggested by Bruce Galway and Carol Hansen

Rafiki shares the story of

CARL

Carl was a quiet man. He didn´t talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well. Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers for caring for the gardens behind the minister´s residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up.

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, "Would you like a drink from the hose?" The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, "Yeah, sure," with a malevolent little smile.

As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed Carl´s arm, throwing him down. As the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl´s assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled. Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him.

Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn´t get there fast enough to stop it. "Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?" the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet.

Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head. "Just some punk kids. I hope they´ll wise-up someday." His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water.

Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, "Carl, what are you doing?"

"I´ve got to finish my watering. It´s been very dry lately," came the calm reply.

Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose. This time they didn´t rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done. Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth-giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering.

The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack.

"Don´t worry, old man, I´m not gonna hurt you this time." The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl. As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl.

"What´s this?" Carl asked.

"It´s your stuff," the man explained. "It´s your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet."

"I don´t understand," Carl said. "Why would you help me now?"

The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. "I learned something from you," he said. "I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn´t hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate." He stopped for a moment. "I couldn´t sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back." He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. "That bag´s my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess." And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn´t know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church. The minister spoke of Carl´s garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, "Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden."

The following spring another flyer went up. It read "Person needed to care for Carl´s garden." The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister´s office door. Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. "I believe this is my job, if you´ll have me," the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl´s kindness had turned this man´s life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, "Yes, go take care of Carl´s garden and honor him."

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done. In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community. But he never forgot his promise to Carl´s memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it.

One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn´t care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, ´My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she´s bringing him home on Saturday."

"Well, congratulations!" said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. "That´s wonderful! What´s the baby´s name?"

"Carl," he replied.

- Author Unknown

Jean Sterling forwards these

DAFFYNITIONS FOR SENIOR COMPUTER USERS

A window was something you hated to clean.

A ram was a male goat.

An application was for employment.

A program was a TV show.

Compress was something you did to the garbage.

Log on was adding wood to the fire.

A hard drive was a long trip on the road.

A mouse pad was where a mouse lived.

A backup happened to your commode.

A virus was the flu.

Cut is what you did with scissors, and paste is what you did with glue.

Don Henderson forwards

A MODERN PARABLE

A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (General Motors) decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had eight people paddling and one person steering, while the American team had seven people steering and two people paddling.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were paddling.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the paddling team´s management structure was totally reorganized to four steering supervisors, two area steering superintendents, and one assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the two people paddling the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the "Rowing Team Quality First Program," with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the paddlers.

There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices, and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to "equal the competition," and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale-boosting programs and teamwork posters.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off one paddler, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and cancelled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses.

The next year, try as he might, the lone designated paddler was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles), so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold, and the next year´s racing team was out-sourced to India.

Sadly, the End.

Here´s something else to think about: GM has spent the last 30 years moving all its factories out of the US, claiming they can´t make money paying American wages. Toyota has spent the last 30 years building more than a dozen plants inside the USA.

The last quarter´s results: Toyota makes four billion in profits while GM racks up nine billion in losses. GM folks are still scratching their heads, and collecting bonuses....

If this were not so true, it might be funny.

Bruce Galway forwards these suggestions for an all-purpose household wonder:

VINEGAR

1. Kill grass on walks and driveways. Pour full strength on unwanted grass.

2. Kill weeds. Spray full strength on tops of weeds. Reapply on any new growth until plants have starved.

3. Increase soil acidity. In hard water areas, add a cup of vinegar to a gallon of tap water for watering acid-loving plants like rhododendrons, gardenias, or azaleas. The vinegar will release iron into the soil for the plants to use.

4. Neutralize garden lime. Rinse your hands liberally with vinegar after working with garden lime to avoid rough and flaking skin. Clean pots before repotting, rinse with vinegar to remove excess lime.

5. Deter ants. Spray vinegar around door and window frames, under appliances, and along other known ant trails.

6. Keep car windows frost free. Coat the windows the night before with a solution of three parts vinegar to one part water.

7. Polish car chrome. Apply full strength with a soft cloth.

8. Soak new propane lantern wicks in vinegar for several hours. Let dry before using. Will burn longer and brighter.

9. Clean milking equipment. Rinse with vinegar to leave system clean, odorless, and bacteria free without harmful chemical residue.

10. Remove skunk odor from a dog. Rub fur with vinegar.

11. Keep cats away. Sprinkle vinegar on an area to discourage cats from walking, sleeping, or scratching on it.

12. Keep dogs from scratching ears. Clean the inside of the ears with a soft cloth dipped in diluted vinegar.

13. Keep away fleas and mange. Add a little vinegar to your pet´s drinking water.

14. Keep chickens from pecking each other. Add cider vinegar to their drinking water.

15. Make buttermilk. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand 5 minutes to thicken.

16. Tenderize meat. Soak in vinegar overnight.

17. Freshen vegetables. Soak wilted vegetables in a quart of cold water and a tablespoon of vinegar.

18. Replace a lemon. Substitute 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar for 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.

19. Firm up gelatin. Add a teaspoon of vinegar for every box of gelatin used to keep those molded desserts from sagging in the summer heat.

20. Boil better eggs. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to each quart of water before boiling eggs, keeps them from cracking.

21. Prepare fluffier rice. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to the water when it boils.

22. Make wine vinegar. Mix 2 tablespoons of vinegar with 1 teaspoon of dry red wine.

23. Debug fresh vegetables. Wash leafy greens in water with vinegar and salt. Bugs float off.

24. Scale fish more easily. Rub with vinegar 5 minutes before scaling.

25. Dampen your appetite. Sprinkle a little vinegar on prepared food to take the edge off your appetite.

26. Soothe a bee or jellyfish sting. Douse with vinegar. Will soothe irritation and relieve itching.

27. Relieve sunburn. Lightly rub white or cider vinegar on skin. Reapply as needed.

28. Condition hair. Add a tablespoon of vinegar to your rinse to dissolve sticky residue left by shampoo.

29. Relieve dry and itchy skin. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar to your bath water.

30. Fight dandruff. After shampooing, rinse with a solution of 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 cups of warm water.

31. Soothe a sore throat. Put a teaspoon of vinegar in a glass of water. Gargle, then swallow. For another great gargle: 1 cup hot water, 2 tbsp. honey, 1 tbsp. vinegar, gargle, then drink.

32. Clear up warts. Apply a lotion of half cider vinegar and half glycerin.

ED. NOTE: This is only half of the many uses of vinegar. The rest will appear in next week´s issue.

SUGGESTED SITES

Bruce Galway sends this link to the work of Richard Sidey of New Zealand, who has spent over a decade photographing the polar regions and various remote areas of natural interest working on expedition vessels:

Carol Hansen forwards this article from MSN about the seven ways in which Canada is better than the US:

According to CARP, Canadians born between 1945 and 1975 are up to five times more likely to be living with Hepatitis C than those of other age groups. It is a virus that can cause life-threatening liver disease, transmitted by blood-to-blood contact, and is often undiagnosed due to the lack of obvious symptoms. It is curable, and testing is available. Check it out at

The next time you feel overcrowded in a bus or a plane, think of what overcrowding looks like in Bangladesh:

One child and one adult perform an amazing dance:

Ron Finley plants vegetable gardens in South Central LA - in abandoned lots, traffic medians, along the curbs. Why? For fun, for defiance, for beauty, and to offer some alternative to fast food in a community where the drive-throughs are killing more people than the drive-bys:

Ten things you didn´t know your microwave could do:

In this TED talk, Lisa Dyson describes an idea developed by NASA in the 1960s for deep-space travel, which could be a key to reinventing how we grow food:

Fix the voting system: With a Canadian-made proportional representation system, we can have fair elections where every vote counts, and inclusive government that is more representative of Canada´s diversity:

In the light of the recent oil spill into the Saskatchewan River, Ecojustice asks that you sign its petition to have oil-by-rail projects to get environmental assessments:

To check out the features of the "freedictionary," which changes daily, go to