Monday, 21 November 2011

A Message to My Friends

From Helen: 
This explains why I forward jokes or post "odd" things 
on my Facebook Wall or Blog...

A man and his dog were walking along a road. 
The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.


He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years.
He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked like fine marble.


At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.
He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?'
'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered..
'Wow! Would you happen to have some water?' the traveler asked.
'Of course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water brought right up.' The man gestured, and the gate began to open.
'Can my friend,' gesturing toward his dog, 'come in, too?' the traveler asked.
'I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets.'

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.
After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed. There was no fence.
As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book.
'Excuse me!' he called to the man. 'Do you have any water?'
'Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there, come on in.'
'How about my friend here?' the traveler gestured to the dog.
'There should be a bowl by the pump.'
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.
The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.
When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.
'What do you call this place?' the traveler asked.
'This is Heaven,' he answered.
'Well, that's confusing,' the traveler said. 'The man down the road said that was Heaven, too.'
'Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That's Hell.'
'Doesn't it make you mad for them to use your name like that?'
'No, we're just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.'

Soooo...

Sometimes, we wonder why friends keep forwarding jokes to us without writing a word.
Maybe this will explain;

When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do? 
You forward jokes.
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep in contact,
you forward jokes.
When you have something to say, but don't know what, and don't know how,
you forward jokes.
Also to let you know that you are still remembered, you are still important, you are still loved, you are still cared for, guess what you get?
a forwarded joke.

So, next time if you get a joke, don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke, but that you've been thought of today and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile.

You are all welcome @ my water bowl anytime!




6 Comments

 from original post:

Blogger Jules Frusher said...
A lovely thought Helen :-). Does your water bowl have mead too? ;-)
1:17 PM
Delete
Blogger Kelly said...
Beautifully said!
Blogger Helen said...
Jules, more likely to be rum :-)
Blogger Daphne said...
I love it!
Blogger Pauline Barclay said...
Lovley! x
Anonymous Maryanne said...
Beautifully Stated! My friend, Father Tuck, will appreciate this when I pass it on.

The Green Thing

by Helen 

In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The cashier responded, "That's the problem. Former generations did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right, the older generation didn't care about the green thing in their day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.

But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.

Back then, they washed the baby's nappies because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Mum made the clothes for her children and they got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV or radio in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. And they had to get up to change the channel or turn it off (can you imagine?)
In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. Mum cooked fresh food every day, making pies, baking cakes. They didn't have pre-packaged ready made meals back then. 
When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right, they didn't have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water.
They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances.
And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find a friend.
They didn't have kindles or i-pads or a screen and a console to amuse themselves, they had books and real friends, not virtual ones.
The current generation laments that the older generation did not take care of the environment because we didn't have the green thing when we were growing up.....


~Author Unknown~


Sent to me by a friend born in the 1950's - as was I.... but we didn't have the Green Thing back then....