What the Hecht!

I found this cool story about this Eagle Scout who went and built a playground at the Orphanage he was originally born in. This story is an excellent example of how people should look beyond their political differences and help each other, because come on in the end everybody loves a good slide and a swing-set and we all have a lot more in common than we act like we do.

Here is a link to the story, and full story below.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/harford/bal-md.ha.playground23aug23,0,4828171.story

Alex Griffith doesn’t remember it, but he lived the first year of his life at a Siberian hospital for abandoned children where the playground consisted of a single metal swing and an unkempt sandbox.

Today, because of the efforts of the North Harford High School sophomore, the play area has slides, a climbing wall and dozens of other pieces, and has become a symbol of friendship and cooperation between two nations separated by an ocean and vastly different ideologies.

Alex lived the first year of his life at a hospital for abandoned children in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

He was adopted in 1994 by Dwight and Jenny Griffith of Jarrettsville. As he grew, the Griffiths shared their journal of their trip to Russia with their son, one of their five adopted children.

The photo of the stark playthings gave him the motivation to launch the playground project.

For the past two years, Alex, his family, his Scout Troop 809 and the Bel Air Rotary Club have worked to raise money for the effort.

After collecting $62,000 from pit beef and candy sales and donations, there was enough to purchase 20 playground pieces and ship them, along with two 8-foot-tall wooden carvings of an eagle and a bear that grace the entrance to playground.

Alex celebrated his 16th birthday this month in the town of his birth, as he and several other volunteers from Harford County completed their work.

“Kids were playing on the pieces the whole time we were building it,” said Alex. “At the grand opening, there was a long line for the sliding board.”

The project will almost certainly earn Alex his Eagle Scout badge, the highest Boy Scout honor. It has also generated good will, spawned friendships and led to the start of Siberia’s first Scout troop.

“People kept telling us over and over that we didn’t bring a playground to Krasnoyarsk, we brought a miracle,” said Dwight Griffith, who traveled with his son, three other Scouts and their Scoutmaster on the 15-day trip. “Every day, we had people to help us, many with tears in their eyes thanking us.”

One young man saw the story on Russian TV and rode his bike to the site. He stayed three days to help. An 18-year-old patient awaiting surgery spotted the activity from his hospital room and joined them. Doctors delayed the surgery, until the day the Americans left. One morning, when the Americans arrived on the construction site, they saw a Russian worker writing “U.S. + Russia = Friends” in the playground’s sandy base.

The Russians would watch the work and pose for pictures by a sign the Americans had posted to describe the project.

“The Russians kept posing by the sign like it was a monument,” said Christian Posko, 16, who used money he was saving for a car to help pay for the trip. “I guess they really thought we were building a miracle.”

Shane Rymer, 18, a member of the same Scout troop who has joined the U.S. Marines and leaves for boot camp this weekend, said the trip “made me realize how privileged we are here and how much we take for granted.”

Rotary International arranged for the Americans to stay with Krasnoyarsk families. The group toured the orphanage, where Alex would have lived, and visited Hospital 20, where he was born.

“It was really cool,” Alex said. “Everyone knew why we had come and some even said, ‘I know that kid.’ ”

Volunteer Dave Kraft gave one child a Boy Scout bolo tie at the grand opening ceremony. He spotted the child the next day, wearing the tie and a sash made from the red, white and blue streamers at the ribbon cutting. Several dozen children were playing on the equipment, while their parents watched from benches.

“It was just like any other playground, anywhere else in the world,” he said.

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun

Walk On Video

There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things “in order”, she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service and what scriptures she would like read at her funeral service. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible.

Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. “There’s one more thing,” she said excitedly.

“What’s that?” came the pastor’s reply.

“This is very important,” the woman continued. “I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand.” The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. “That surprises you, doesn’t it?” the woman asked.

Read more…

I found this article about how rock solid and legit Mr. Rogers was. Check it out.

15 Reasons Mr. Rogers was the best neighbor ever!

Every once in a while back in the day I would watch Mr. Rogers, it was a great show, he would show how things are built and was an all around nice guy, I always thought the little trolley train was kind of cool too. A few years ago I barrowed a Mr. Rogers quote book from my Mom, I haven’t returned it yet because it is so dang good, and I don’t think she realizes it’s missing (if you read this mom and you want the Mr. Rogers quote book back, just let me know). Turns out Mr. Rogers isn’t just some crazy guy who wore DI sweaters and talked to trains and little muppets; this quote book is full of great tips and wisdom from a well educated Ph. D. Be sure to check out Mr. Rogers quote book.

One interesting tid bit I liked from the above article about Mr. Rogers is that he didn’t like what was on TV, so he decided to attack it head on. He made his own show that had content that he liked and thought TV should have. I would like to be more like this, when there is something we don’t like, we can’t just ignore it and be passive, we can learn from Mr. Rogers and be actively engaged in doing good, going out there and fighting for what we believe in, not just ignoring things that we don’t like. Like Edmund Burke said, “All that is required for evil to win is for good men to do nothing.” So whatever cause it is that you believe in, or are willing to fight for, be a Mr. Rogers, be an active participant in fighting for what you believe in. Be the change you hope to see in the world.

One of the my many favorite movies is the movie “Pay It Forward.” If you’ve never seen it, be sure to check it out sometime. I ran into this modern day Pay It Forward guy. What I really liked about this video was that you can tell how happy this guy was to be helping people out. This guy is living proof that by helping others you are really helping yourself. Your life becomes and feels more valuable and meaningful when you connect with and help others. Way to go in paying it forward man!!!

If it doesn’t play you need the plugin just go to the link.

One thing that has always inspired me is when people change and improve. There is a book entitled “The Greatest Miracle,” when I first heard of this book I thought it would be about walking on water or someone dying coming back to life, but what I discovered was that the book was about a bad man who had nothing going for him then he learned about Jesus Christ and the teachings of Christ. After learning these things he pulled a 180`, he completely changed his life and became a great man – going out to help others and drastically improving the quality of his life.

I found a similar story today from the Hero of the Week on CNN. Carolyn LeCroy went to jail and then got out, she realized that there is really no way for jailed parents to communicate with their children. We’ve all seen the statistics that show that children of criminal parents are more likely to go down similar paths. I’ve always felt that this was partially due to the fact that the children felt disenfranchised by the fact that their parents abandoned them, or they lost contact and were never able to understand why things happened the way they did. Carolyn helps resolve this problem by providing a means of communication between parents who are imprisoned and their children. I think the worst thing we can do to people who have been knocked down by life or made mistakes is hold them to the ground and chock hold any opportunities they have of improving and changing their life for the better.

Carolyn’s project helps inmates be motivated to change because they will have communication with their loved ones who are cheering for them. It also helps the children of inmates not become bitter with what has happened as they will be able to communicate with their parents and realize the desire to improve that their parents have.

Way to go Carolyn!! Here is the link to the story – http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/06/12/heroes.lecroy/

Randy Pausch is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University who has been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and very sadly only has a few months left to live (he is 46 years old, and has three children of ages 1, 3, and 5).

I just watched his “Last Lecture,” and I thought it was awesome. He shares some great thought provoking life lessons and I recommend everyone watch it.This talk was modeled after an existing series of lectures where top academics were asked to think deeply about what matters to them, and then give a hypothetical “final talk”, i.e., “what wisdom would you try to impart to the world if you knew it was your last chance?” And in Randy’s case, this was more than an academic exercise.

Here is some more information about this inspiring story: Randy Pausch

The short version of the lecture is below and here is a link to the full video. The Last Lecture – Full Video

This goes in line with the quote, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” The word country can be replaced by a thousand others and still have profound meaing. God, neighbor, church, co-workers, spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, dog, whatever you want, put that word in there and the quote will help you become less selfish and more giving, and in turn you will reap what you sow. We need to be doers, the world has too many watchers and waiters. We are high maintenance in that we sometimes require some reward for what we do, or we look for reciprocity for doing something.

Consider the following:

There were four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. there was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everbody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everbody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could have done it, but nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

In the classic battle between investing in the stock market vs. investing in real estate, one thing that tips the scales to the stock market is the fact that the stock market is much more liquid. If you want to get your money out, you can get it out much quicker than if it were in real estate. Take the following real estate blunder as an example.

ANDRE-FRANCOIS RAFFRAY, A LAWYER FROM ARLES, FRANCE, THOUGHT HE HAD THE DEAL OF A LIFE TIME. IN 1965, HE SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH JEANNE CALMENT, THEN 90 YEARS OF AGE, TO PAY $500 A MONTH FOR HER LIFE ON THE CONDITION THAT SHE LEAVE HIM HER HOUSE WHEN SHE DIED.
RAFFRAY DIED LAST CHRISTMAS AT AGE 77. MADMA CALMENT BECAME THE WORLD’S OLDEST LIVING PERSON. SHE TURNED 121 IN FEBRUARY. WE ALL MAKE BAD DEALS IN LIFE, SAID RAFFRAY ON CALMENT’S 120 BIRTHDAY. HE PAID HER OVER $180,000. THE HOUSE IS CURRENTLY WORTH $60,000.

Of course, the upside to real estate is that you can leverage your return. Meaning instead of just getting a return on your money like in the stock market, you also get a return on the money you borrow from the bank for the mortgage. There is margin trading which allows you to borrow money to invest in the stock market. This can be risky though because if stocks plummet, you can quickly end up with a negative cash position, but with the bigger risk comes the bigger reward.

Here is an insightful quote from David O’ McKay on the topic.

There is one responsibility which no man can evade; that responsibility is his personal influence. Man’s unconscious influence is the silent, subtle radiation of personality the effect of his words and his actions on others. This radiation is tremendous.

Every moment of life man is changing, to a degree, the life of the whole world. Every man has an atmosphere which is affecting every other man. He cannot escape for one moment from this radiation of his character, this constant weakening or strengthening of others. Man cannot evade the responsibility by merely saying it is an unconscious influence.

Man can select the qualities he would permit to be radiated. He can cultivate sweetness, calmness, trust, generosity, truth, justice, loyalty, nobility, and make them vitally active in his character. And by these qualities he will constantly affect the world. This radiation, to which I refer, comes from what a person really is, not from what he pretends to be. Every man by his mere living is radiating either sympathy, sorrow, morbidness, cynicism, or happiness and hope or any one of a hundred other qualities.

Life is a state of radiation and absorption. To exist is to radiate, to exist is to be the recipient of radiation. David O. McKay BYU April 27, 1948