Inspiration JunJul 2004

Shortarmguy's Emails That Made Me Think

On this page, I will post the most inspirational material I receive on any given day.  So email the best stuff you get.  Life can be darn tough sometimes and every now and then you might need a little happiness booster.  I’m hoping this page may accomplish that.  After you read a few of these,  you can push back from your keyboard, throw your arms in the air, wave them back and forth and scream “I’m glad to be alive!”  If this happens to you, please send pictures and I’ll post them here!

July 25, 2004

How old is Grandma?

Stay with this — the answer is at the end — it will blow you away…


The Grandma replied,

Well, let me think a minute, I was born, before television, penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, contact lenses, Frisbees and the pill.  

There were no credit cards, laser beams or ball-point pens.

the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and man had yet to walk on the moon.

Your Grandfather and I got married first and then lived together. Every family had a father and a mother.

Until I was 25, I called every man older than I, “Sir”- – and after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, “Sir.”



Time-sharing! Meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends — not purchasing condominiums.


And I don’t ever remember any kid blowing his brains out from listening to Tommy Dorsey.


We had 5 &10-cent store where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents. Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.  If you wanted to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards.

You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600 but who could afford one? Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon. In my day, “grass” was mowed, “coke” was a cold drink, “pot” was something your mother cooked in, and “rock music” was your grandmother’s lullaby. “Aids” were helpers in the
Principal’s office, “chip” meant a piece of wood, “hardware” was found in a hardware store, and “software” wasn’t even a word.


No wonder people call us “old and confused” and say there is a generation gap…..and how old do you think I am ???…..

Read on to see — Pretty scary if you think about it, and rather sad at the same time.

Grandma is Only 58.
Born in 1946…

July 18, 2004



The year is 1904… one hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes!   
Here are some of the US statistics for 1904:

The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years.


Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.


There were only 8,000 cars in the US , and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.


The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower .

The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.


A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2 ,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.


Ninety percent of all US physicians had n o college education. Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as “substandard.”


Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.



The five leading causes of death in the US were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke




There was no Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.

Two of 10 US adults couldn’t read or write. Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.



There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire US


July 11, 2004


Read this line very slowly and let it sink in…

“If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it. “




As his car passed, no children appeared.

Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door!



“What was that all about and who are you?  Just what the heck are! you doing?  That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

The young boy was apologetic.

“Please, mister..please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,”



“It’s my brother,” he said.


Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive,







It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar.



God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts.

Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen,

He has to throw a brick at us.

It’s our choice to listen or not.

Thought for the Day:



He sends you flowers every spring.

He sends you a sunrise every morning.

Face it, friend – He is crazy about you!

Send this to every “beautiful person” you wish to

bless.  God didn’t promise days without

pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He

did promise strength for the day,

comfort for the tears, and light for the way

July 4, 2004

The Lotus Totus




4. When you say, “I love you,” mean it.



7. Believe in love at first sight.



10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

11. Don’t judge people by their relatives.

12. Talk slowly but think quickly.




16. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.


18. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great friendship.



21. Spend some time alone.

June 27, 2004

If Earth’s population was shrunk into a village of just 100 people with all the human ratios existing in the world still remaining what would this tiny, diverse village look like? That’s exactly what Phillip M. Harter, a medical doctor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, attempted to figure out. This is what he found. 

57 would be Asian.
21 would be European.
14 would be from the Western Hemisphere.
8 would be African.
52 would be female.
48 would be male.
70 would be nonwhite.
30 would be white.
70 would be non-Christian.
30 would be Christian.
89 would be heterosexual.
11 would be homosexual.
6 people would possess 59 percent of the entire world’s wealth, and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing.
70 would be unable to read.
50 would suffer from malnutrition.
1 would be near death.
1 would be pregnant.
1 would have a college education.
1 would own a computer.

Think of it this way.  If you live in a good home, have plenty to eat and can read, you are a member of a very select group.

And if you have a good house, food, can read and have a computer, you are among the very elite.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness… you are more fortunate than the million who will not survive this week.


If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death…you are fortunate, more than three billion people in the world can’t.





If you can hold someone’s hand, hug them or even touch them on shoulder, you are blessed because you can offer healing touch.



June 20, 2004

Subject: WW III.  You must read the catalogue of events in this brief piece.  Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, re-set the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again.

          In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979…………….that alarm has been ringing for years!

          U.S. Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why the action we are taking now is so necessary and critical for our future as a free society.  dp





          America’s military had been decimated and downsized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.


          In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut. When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.



          The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gates of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.


          Then in August a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main; 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.




          The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder. The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

          The Snooze alarm is depressed again.







          Our President is right on when he says we are engaged in a war. I think we have been in a war for the past 23 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough.


          After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said “…it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.”  This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.

          Support Our Troops and support President Bush for having the courage, political or militarily, to address what so many who preceded him didn’t have the backbone to do, both Democrat and Republican. This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year; this is an AMERICAN thing.
        This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children and grandchildren in years to come.

          Please forward this to as many people as you can, especially to the young people and all those who dozed off in history class and who seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action

June 13, 2004




“The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart.



                    Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
                         Your words are empty air.
                    You’ve stripped away our heritage,
                      You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
                     Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
                        And precious children die.
                     You seek for answers everywhere,
                        And ask the question “Why?”
                      You regulate restrictive laws,
                        Through legislative creed.
                      And yet you fail to understand,
                         That God is what we need!




June 6, 2004

So I decided to check it out before I sent it forward. I sent the following email to the Sears Customer Service Department:
I received this email and I would like to know if it is true. If it is, the Internet may have just become one very good source of advertisement for your store. I know I would go out of my way to buy products from Sears instead of another store for a like item even if it was cheaper at the other store.
Here is their answer to my email………………….
Dear Customer:
Thank you for contacting Sears.
Bill Thorn
Sears Customer Care


Sears needs to be recognized for this outstanding contribution and we need to show them as Americans, we do appreciate what they’re doing for our military.

This is one that all Americans ought to see! 
This picture of the statue below was made by an Iraqi artist named Kalat, who for years was forced by Saddam Hussein to make the many hundreds of bronze busts of Saddam that dotted Baghdad.  

This artist was so grateful that the Americans liberated his country, he melted 3 of the fallen Saddam heads and made a memorial statue dedicated to the American soldiers and their fallen comrades.  

Kalat worked on this night and day for several months. 


It is currently on display outside the palace that is now home to the 4th Infantry division.  It will eventually be shipped to and shown at the memorial museum in Fort Hood, Texas.


Inspiration from the past