Sucking on Toads - bear with me

I heard this story on NPR the other day, and see that it's already been blogged about elsewhere. Still, I sincerely hope all who visit here will enjoy the story as I did - more will understand that it's been lingering in my thoughts as one truly strange story!

Go to http://tinyurl.com/vsl6a and have a listen! (or just click on the title of this blog post ...)

ps - I posted this first on my tBlog account - I'd welcome your visits there too! ;^)
http://akelso.tblog.com/

Cracked Pot - Folk story for Whisper

Cracked Pots

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect for which it was made.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After 2 yrs of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full
value from your efforts," the pot said.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house?

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots.

But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them.

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

Remember to appreciate all the different people in your life!

Blessings to all my crackpot friends and family too!.

Bring On the Elections

During this last week, I encountered an old friend who recently returned from a tour in Iraq. With any luck, he'll not be redeployed again to Iraq; he's somehow convinced he won't. Now the Army Reserves wants him to relocate to a base where he'll train others to fight relying upon his own expertise as survivor of horrific experiences in a war that simply cannot be won.

Ya know what he said about our efforts in Iraq? He said, "We've got no business there. Our military's not trained to do police work, we're trained to fight. If they let us, we could clean it up quickly ..." [but the size of our forces on the ground is far smaller than what is needed to get the job done.] He also described what so many of us have been hearing about: inadequate protective gear; insane missions involving racing humvees through ciity streets, running down pedestrians, not daring to stop for risk to their own lives of facing Iraqi guerillas who increasingly dominate in the region.

Of course during the same week when I saw the old friend, Iraq was suddenly eclipsed with Republican scandals: from tawdry-but-villainous sexploitation of youth, to a reconciling of truth with those lies leading up to this war. Bob Woodward finally unleashed his journalism with the "State of Denial" that unravels the deceptive, republican support of his first two books about the Bushies. George (Senator Macaca) Allen struggles with ceaseless ill-effect to cleanse himself of his inner impulses to offend non-dominant others - "out damn spot!," failing miserably to dignify his own family's minority status ("just had a ham sandwich" and "Mom makes great pork chops!") Mark Foley - that sick, sick puppy - needs major treatment involving blood testosterone levels primarily, and perhaps alcohol secondarily. Our House leadership's mired in their inadequate management of certain knowledge of Foley's compulsive appetite for boys in the congressional page program.

Wow. Then, continuing this week-long expose, Bill Moyers's program Capitol Crimes, running on PBS during the same week as part of a three episode series "Moyers on America", expertly laid out the story about the Abramoff scandal which arguably points to an extraordinary number of Washington players: Tom Delay, Bob Ney, Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, Michael "YOU IZ DA MAN" Scanlon, and many more good, Christian Republicans - not to mention Mr. Bush himself.

"Hot Tub Tom" Delay wows us all with righteousness and faith in his lord and savior Jesus Christ, whom he makes visible to the world through his mug shot from his Texas jurisdiction. "I said a little prayer before I actually did the fingerprint thing, and the picture. And my prayer was basically: 'Let people see Christ through me. And let me smile.' Now, when they took the shot, from my side, I thought it was the fakiest smile I'd ever given. But through the camera, it was glowing. I mean, it had the right impact." http://www.slate.com/id/2139263/

Oh yes, Delay's sincerity's truly eye-moistening. A nurse friend of mine used to say "it would gag a maggot!"

Hallelujah, the Freedom Tide's Risin'!! It won't get better than this. Bring on the Elections - NOW!