Do you think fairy tales have meta messages? I mean unlike fables, which always end with the moral of the story, do fairy tales teach messages without consciously stating what the message is?
And does every listener get the same message?
We had some favorite stories that were told over and over again. The big bad wolf and the seven kids was a favorite. In the end the kids are all saved, and the wolf drowns. The kids had been warned by their mother not to open the door to anyone, but the wolf was tricky. Even when the kids thought he was really their mother only bad things could happen when they opened the door to him.
But was it right to fill his stomach with stones and let him fall into the river?
I always thought so. You have got to keep the wolf away from the door.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
The Law of the Garbage Truck
message in a Christmas card. . .
"A lot of people are like garbage trucks--They run around full of garbage, full of frustration and anger and disappointment. As the garbage piles up they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump on you! Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. You never want to stay too close to the garbage. And don't take their garbage and spread it around to friends at work, at home or on the streets."
"A lot of people are like garbage trucks--They run around full of garbage, full of frustration and anger and disappointment. As the garbage piles up they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump on you! Don't take it personally.
Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. You never want to stay too close to the garbage. And don't take their garbage and spread it around to friends at work, at home or on the streets."
Friday, December 10, 2010
Some things never change!
This was written by a granddaughter of Charles Monk in Spanish Fork, Utah. She was a child in the late 1800's. . .
“Grandfather had some hives of bees. I remember one time when we grandchildren were small we poked a stick in the holes of the hive to watch some bees come out, and of course we received some stings which gave us a lot of discomfort. I have watched grandfather extract the honey he took form the hives.
I remember our kids, the great great great grandkids of Charles Monk poking a stick into a wasp nest at the park one year when we were spending the summer at BYU. Yes, wasps came out. Yest, they were angry!
But what kid could resist????
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Mo Boy
It's so fun going through old papers. I get to throw away a ton of junk and then once in awhile I come across some little treasure. I found a letter I wrote to my parents on August 2, 1983--four or five days after Morris was born. So here are some excerpts:
Hi, I'm a little tired... I figure if I can just adjust to this schedule I'll learn to do without sleep altogether. Actually Morris went 4 hours last night without a peep! I laid down abt 1:30 for a nap and of course he woke up at 2:15.
Janelle fixed us a big dinner Sunday and we ate the leftovers yesterday. By dinner time its nice to have someone else looking after things.
Megan and Ari have been doing laundry. Its a 2 man job at their size. One stands on the hamper and hands down wet clothes while the other fills the dryer. Megan made my bed this morning. I was thanking them for being such big helps and they said, That's OK. We have to start school in a couple of weeks and then we won't have to work so hard.
I called Morrie Carlson, the announcer on KSL yesterday and asked him if he liked his name and if other kids teased him when he was little. (What do you mean? Why would they tease me?) He mentioned on the air that we were naming our baby Morris and he had helped us to see what a fine name it was.
Well, I guess I better go change the little pooper. Love you lots....
See what I mean? Such fun to find these little tidbits with the details we might otherwise forget. Thanks Janelle, and Megan and Ari. You are all the greatest.
Not to mention Mo, you little pooper!!
I love you all!!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
The true story of Thanksgiving by Karne
OK. I have listened to people on the radio and on TV trying to explain the true story of Thanksgiving--everything from the failure of Socialism to the celebration of the subjugation of the Indians. WRONG. So here is the real and true story:
Everyone knows that a group of religious dissenters along with a group of settler adventurers came to Plymouth Rock to start life in a new world. Most were leaving Europe for better opportunities. Life was hard, the winters were colder than what they were used to, the plants and animals were new and unfamiliar. Many people died.
Fortunately, in the vicinity of Plymouth there was an area with plowed fields, buried baskets of seed corn and other stored food items, but no people. That seed corn helped the little colony survive through the winter.
Where were the people who had plowed the fields? Squanto was able to answer that question. He had been a part of the tribe that had lived in the area, but who had died the previous year in an epidemic of some sort. And why was Squanto still alive? He had spent several years working on a British fishing vessel. He had learned to speak English, had visited England, was shipwrecked on his trip back home, captured by Spanish who wanted to sell him as a slave, and bailed out by the Brits because he spoke perfect English. He got back to his hometown just in time to discover that his people had been wiped out.
Squanto was happy to see the pilgrims. He offered them the use of the ancestral fields, he taught them what foods were edible and which ones weren't. He helped them establish good relations with the neighbors, and basically helped them survive in the new world.
So, after the harvest, the Pilgrims held their traditional Harvest Festival, to thank God for the bounty of the new land, for the success of the harvest, etc. And of course they invited the neighbors, who also held a traditional harvest festival and came with venison and who knows what else. Games were played, food was fixed, and a great time was had by all. Friendly relations were maintained for generations--sixty years of more.
Now, imagine: Turkey, pumpkin, potatoes, cranberries, strawberries, corn, and other foods I can't think of at the moment were unknown in Europe. They are native to America and were unknown to the pilgrims prior to their arrival here.
So on this most American of holidays, we eat native American foods, we thank God for our survival, and we celebrate the fact that we live in America and escaped Europe!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Welcome to the New World!
Everyone knows that a group of religious dissenters along with a group of settler adventurers came to Plymouth Rock to start life in a new world. Most were leaving Europe for better opportunities. Life was hard, the winters were colder than what they were used to, the plants and animals were new and unfamiliar. Many people died.
Fortunately, in the vicinity of Plymouth there was an area with plowed fields, buried baskets of seed corn and other stored food items, but no people. That seed corn helped the little colony survive through the winter.
Where were the people who had plowed the fields? Squanto was able to answer that question. He had been a part of the tribe that had lived in the area, but who had died the previous year in an epidemic of some sort. And why was Squanto still alive? He had spent several years working on a British fishing vessel. He had learned to speak English, had visited England, was shipwrecked on his trip back home, captured by Spanish who wanted to sell him as a slave, and bailed out by the Brits because he spoke perfect English. He got back to his hometown just in time to discover that his people had been wiped out.
Squanto was happy to see the pilgrims. He offered them the use of the ancestral fields, he taught them what foods were edible and which ones weren't. He helped them establish good relations with the neighbors, and basically helped them survive in the new world.
So, after the harvest, the Pilgrims held their traditional Harvest Festival, to thank God for the bounty of the new land, for the success of the harvest, etc. And of course they invited the neighbors, who also held a traditional harvest festival and came with venison and who knows what else. Games were played, food was fixed, and a great time was had by all. Friendly relations were maintained for generations--sixty years of more.
Now, imagine: Turkey, pumpkin, potatoes, cranberries, strawberries, corn, and other foods I can't think of at the moment were unknown in Europe. They are native to America and were unknown to the pilgrims prior to their arrival here.
So on this most American of holidays, we eat native American foods, we thank God for our survival, and we celebrate the fact that we live in America and escaped Europe!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Welcome to the New World!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Immigration Reform--I guess we don't need a program!
Obama quietly filling major U.S. cities with amnestied illegal aliens
* November 21st, 2010 8:07 pm ET
Filling American cities illegal aliens
On Tuesday, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University released a report which examined the number of case dismissals in immigration courts across the nation.
The report found the following results:
-Houston dismissals grew from 10 percent in FY 2009 to 20 percent in FY 2010.
-In 2010 Los Angeles dismissals were up 11 percent from 2009, with 27 percent of illegal alien defendants going free.
-Both Miami and New York saw increases in case dismissals from 2009 to 24 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
As has been rumored for some time, the Obama administration has started a ‘backdoor amnesty,’ dropping large numbers of deportation proceedings against illegal aliens. The new policy actually began in Houston over the summer.
In August, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Richard Rocha, announced that the Department of Homeland Security was reviewing thousands of immigration cases and prioritizing them according to criminal history.
If an illegal alien has no serious criminal record, that is, no felonies—deportation proceedings are simply being dismissed. Illegal aliens who have been inside the country for at least two years and have only been convicted of misdemeanors will be allowed to stay.
As was feared with this president, now that Obama realizes he cannot push an amnesty through Congress, he will simply do it by decree.
Read how Obama’s backdoor amnesty began: http://www.examiner.com/immigration-reform-in-national/obamnesty-it-s-here-feds-now-dismissing-thousands-of-deportation-cases
* November 21st, 2010 8:07 pm ET
Filling American cities illegal aliens
On Tuesday, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University released a report which examined the number of case dismissals in immigration courts across the nation.
The report found the following results:
-Houston dismissals grew from 10 percent in FY 2009 to 20 percent in FY 2010.
-In 2010 Los Angeles dismissals were up 11 percent from 2009, with 27 percent of illegal alien defendants going free.
-Both Miami and New York saw increases in case dismissals from 2009 to 24 percent and 11 percent, respectively.
As has been rumored for some time, the Obama administration has started a ‘backdoor amnesty,’ dropping large numbers of deportation proceedings against illegal aliens. The new policy actually began in Houston over the summer.
In August, Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman, Richard Rocha, announced that the Department of Homeland Security was reviewing thousands of immigration cases and prioritizing them according to criminal history.
If an illegal alien has no serious criminal record, that is, no felonies—deportation proceedings are simply being dismissed. Illegal aliens who have been inside the country for at least two years and have only been convicted of misdemeanors will be allowed to stay.
As was feared with this president, now that Obama realizes he cannot push an amnesty through Congress, he will simply do it by decree.
Read how Obama’s backdoor amnesty began: http://www.examiner.com/immigration-reform-in-national/obamnesty-it-s-here-feds-now-dismissing-thousands-of-deportation-cases
Monday, November 22, 2010
Hesiod and immigration
Hesiod, the Greek who lived between 750 and 650 BC wrote about his father who came to Askra at some time before 750 BC. A long time ago.
"Even as my father and yours brother,
Used to sail around, trying to make a living
And so landed here, after having journeyed much. . . .
Not running from prosperity or wealth or success,
But from the grinding poverty such as Zeus gives to men.
So he came here and settled in the Mount Helicon country,
In a miserable little community,
A vile place in wintertime, a hard place in summer,
A nice place never!"
So there they were, making a new life. . . .
Has anything changed in the intervening 2760 years????
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