Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2017-46

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Nicole Koon writes about normal behaviour in Heroic Stories
• Burke Dykes shares his favourite poem, "High Flight"
• Barbara Wear sends a surprising classified ad
• Shirley Conlon forwards a timely question
• Catherine Nesbitt shares stories about Little Larry
• Marilyn Magid sends the tale of a foul-mouthed parrot
• Irene Harvalias´ story is about an unusual situation
• Tom Telfer suggests interesting sites

Nicole Koon of Arizona writes in Heroic Stories:

THEY DIDN´T DO ANYTHING SPECIAL

My son experiences social challenges due to having autism. We often see how he is different from those around him, but on one particular afternoon, we got to see how much he is the same, thanks to some amazing middle school kids.

Eighth grade graduation is an exciting time for everyone. The plan was for my son to walk with his classmates and participate fully in the graduation ceremony. We knew they had been practicing, but we worried about how the procession would go. Crowds, loud noises, and echoes can cause him problems.

I followed my son to the area where all the kids were lining up, fully prepared to wait and help. I was told it was all fine and to go sit down. When the kids came in, there was my son, right in the middle of the crowd. He was distracted by us, but his line buddy got him back on track and to the right place. If you weren´t looking directly at him when it occurred, you wouldn´t have noticed anything happened at all.

After several announcements and speeches, each child was announced and got their completion certificate. I admit I was worried as I listened to the cheers for the other kids. Would he notice if his reception was smaller than theirs? I obviously didn´t give the kids enough credit. When his name was called, all the kids yelled and cheered. If anything, it was louder than for the children directly before and after him. For not the first time that afternoon, tears filled my eyes.

The rest of the graduation proceeded as expected, and afterwards everyone congregated outside for pictures. Numerous kids gave my son a high-five or patted him on the back. He took a few pictures with his classmates and teachers and then was ready to head home.

Being who he is, my son often doesn´t notice his surroundings. A large group of kids were preparing to take a picture, and he started to walk directly into the path of the camera. I called his name, but he didn´t hear me. Then one of his fellow eighth graders called out to him. Smiling, this young man directed him around behind the camera, gave my son a pat on the back, and joined the crowd himself for the picture.

Through the entire experience, it was clear that this was all a normal day for everyone involved. None of these young teenagers thought they were doing anything special, including my son. And that was what made it so very special for our family.

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http://www.HeroicStories.org.

Burke Dykes forwards his favourite poem, which was written by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., RCAF (1922-1941);

HIGH FLIGHT

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

I was a flyer at one time and the words of this poem have a magical resonance with me.

My childhood was largely spent hanging around the civilian training airfield in my hometown, begging rides from the instructors and licensed pilots. That fascination stayed with me as I grew. It´s funny how we turn our back on our dreams as we pursue our lives. I simply never had the time to take flying lessons.

The day before my retirement from Boeing I visited their local flying club. As I was explaining my interest in flying to the young man waiting on me, he looked at me intently and asked, "Are you serious?" I was taken aback, thinking my silver-tipped hair (I was 60 years old at the time) had disqualified me in his eyes. I responded, "Yes." He said "Okay, come with me," and an hour later I was aloft, handling the controls under his guidance.

I launched into the flying lessons with glee, and soon had my treasured pilots license.

Many of my former co-workers asked me why I was wasting my time and money when I was too old to fly with any of the airlines. The only answer I had was, "You wouldn´t understand!"

John Gillespie included his poem in a post to his parents back in Canada…. Sadly, he died in an air crash just weeks later. His poem is a treasure to those of us fortunate enough to fly.
ED. NOTE: Burke is the webmaster of the Seattle newsletter King County Seniors Online, which also publishes an online edition of The Tale Spinner.

Barbara Wear forwards this unusual classified ad:

HOME NEEDED

This is Lexi, she's an 8-week-old German Shepherd,
I bought Lexi as a surprise for my wife but it turns out
she is allergic to dogs so we are now looking to find her
a new home.

She is 68 years old, an attractive and caring woman who
drives, is a great cook, and keeps a clean house.

Shirley Conlon forwards this timely article:

WHY ARE THESE PENSIONS SO UNJUST?

Why has no-one been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the British, Canadian, Australian, or US military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get up to 50% of their pay on retirement? Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of all our nations´ capitals, protected by these same men and women, and receive full-pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.

In the UK, some soldiers and their families come home, only to be put out onto the streets - homeless - while immigrants and asylum seekers who have done nothing for our country are treated to free housing, medical care, and benefits of every description.

If each person who receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days, most people here in the UK, Canada, United States, and Australia will have the message. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Your desire for freedom will never die, so please have the will to allow our retired soldiers to live out their lives in peace, comfort, and a little happiness.

I will be one of the 1% who pass it on. Will you?

If you are one of the 99% who choose not to pass it on, you still have made a choice, and those brave soldiers have given you that right!

Catherine Nesbitt writes that

LARRY MAY BECOME HER NEW FAVOURITE

A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, "Everyone who thinks they´re stupid, stand up!"

After a few seconds, Little Larry stood up.

The teacher said, "Do you think you´re stupid, Larry?"

"No, ma´am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!"

Larry watched, fascinated, as his mother smoothed cold cream on her face. "Why do you do that, mommy?" he asked.

"To make myself beautiful," said his mother, who then began removing the cream with a tissue.

"What´s the matter?" asked Larry. "Giving up?"

The math teacher saw that Larry wasn´t paying attention in class. She called on him and said, "Larry! What are 2 and 4 and 28 and 44?"

Larry quickly replied, "NBC, FOX, ESPN and the Cartoon Network!"

Larry´s kindergarten class was on a field trip to their local police station where they saw pictures tacked to a bulletin board of the 10 most-wanted criminals.

One of the youngsters pointed to a picture and asked if it really was the photo of a wanted person.

"Yes," said the policeman, "the detectives want very badly to capture him."

Larry asked,"Why didn´t you keep him when you took his picture?"

Little Larry attended a horse auction with his father. He watched as his father moved from horse to horse, running his hands up and down the horses´ legs and rumps and chests.

After a few minutes, Larry asked, "Dad, why are you doing that?"

His father replied, "Because when I´m buying horses, I have to make sure that they are healthy and in good shape before I buy them."

Larry, looking worried, said, "Dad, I think the UPS guy wants to buy Mom."

Marilyn Magid forwards this story about

THE FOUL-MOUTHED PARROT

A man decided he wanted a pet, so he went to the pet store and bought a parrot. When he took the bird home, it began to swear and curse like he had never heard before.

To teach the bird who was boss, he decided to put it into his kitchen cupboard for a while. Well, that bird tore things up in there something fierce, and when he came out he gave the man a verbal lashing worse than before.

"That´s it," thought the man, and into the freezer went the parrot. Several minutes went by, and for fear that he had killed the bird, the man opened the freezer door.

Out walked the parrot, which immediately began ot apologize to its owner. "I´ll never swear again," it said. "I´ll be the best-behaved parrot that you´ve ever seen. And by the way, what did the turkey do?"

Irene Harvalias forwards this story about

AN UNUSUAL SITUATION

My wife, Judy, had been after me for several weeks to varnish the wooden seat on our toilet. Finally, I got around to doing it while Judy was out. After finishing, I left to take care of another matter before she returned.

She came in and undressed to take a shower. Before getting in the shower, she sat on the toilet. As she tried to stand up, she realized that the not-quite-dry epoxy paint had glued her to the toilet seat. About that time, I got home and realized her predicament. We both pushed and pulled without any success whatsoever. Finally, in desperation, I undid the toilet seat bolts. Judy wrapped a sheet around herself and I drove her to the hospital emergency room.

The ER doctor got her into a position where he could study how to free her. (Try to get a mental picture of this.)

Judy tried to lighten the embarrassment of it all by saying, "Well, Doctor, I´ll bet you´ve never seen anything like this before."

The doctor replied, "Actually, I´ve seen lots of them. I´ve just never seen one mounted and framed before."

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

Tom Telfer forwards this link to a video of ballerinas from the Vienna State Opera having fun performing to Chopin´s "Waltz in E Minor:"

Tom also sends the URL for a video of a British "Rocket Man" setting a world record for the fastest-flying person in a jet engine powered suit:

In this TED talk, retired US Navy officer David Titley talks about climate change and what the military is doing to combat it:

In this video Jim Meskimen gives his impressions of famous actors and politicians:

Here Victor Borge performs on the piano in a Dean Martin show: