Rightly Using The family Name.

Heard just recently of the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver at the age of 88. Unlike her more famous brothers and her even more famous daughter, (Maria Kennedy Shriver Schwarzenegger) one didn’t hear all that much of Eunice during her lifetime in the popular press or media.
Yet she evidently used her family name and clout to achieve much for a once forgotten part of society, the mentally ill. Yes It was initial concern for her own sister Rosemary, that got her interested in this group, but it was genuine concern for others like her, that attracted Eunice to try and do something for their upliftment. And it was due in no small part to her support, that the Special Olympics came into being in America (from 1971), and internationally (from 1988).
Yes what was started as a small Summer camp in1962 with the support of Eunice and many, many others, this small project became an international event that now has almost 3 million athletes in more than 180 countries.
Talk about using your family clout for the popular good! With her family’s great wealth and fame, Eunice didn’t need to do anything, (Akka Paris Hilton) or she could have used her family name and wealth for Political or personal achievements, but she chose to do otherwise. To help the unhelped!
What about you and I? We may never have that clout or success, but like Eunice, we too can start off small and see where it leads. Yes we too can use our family name (such as they may be), for our own good, or for the common good. Which will you use yours for?

A little quiz about the music of Tommy Roe.

Come on everybody, it is time to get jam up and jelly tight about one of my earliest Music favourites, Tommy Roe. The folksinger/ pop star had a string of classic and not so classic songs and covers of other people’s hits, during the 50’s, 60’s & early 70’s. In the music arena Tommy was a working class hero and well known as a stir it up and serve it musician. Likewise, Tommy was also known to have had an eye for, and becoming quite dizzy over the ladies and was well known for having said hooray for Hazel. And he thought Pearl and Heather honey was yummy, yummy, yummy, but is perhaps best known for the liaison he had with that sweet little Sheila, Sweet Pea. He also hung around with for a while with Stagger Lee and even Jack and Jill for a while, until it was suspected the latter two got into some hanky panky in the fields of crimson and clover. He was also known to like some sugar sugar in his coffee.
Okay how many song titles were you able to pick out? If you know anything about Tommy Roe you should have been able to get 2 or 3 of his songs, and if you know anything of the music of that era you should also have picked out at least two covers, plus a couple of other titles are fairly obvious, so see how many you can guess. I took these titles from some of my CD’s and even I didn’t know all of them originally. As a fan of Tommy’s I knew 7, and could guess at least 3 covers. So see if you can top ten of the seventeen titles hidden in the first paragraph here. No prizes for doing so. Just the pleasure of knowing you beat me. If you can? Answers only available upon answering.

Michelangelo And A Flawed Piece Of Marble And You.

I read an article in “Our Daily Bread” August, 18^th 2008 by Albert Lee, that for about a hundred years, a huge piece of flawed but otherwise expensive marble lay in the courtyard of a cathedral in Italy until around 1501, when a young sculptor was asked to “do something with it”. Which he did. He had in mind to do a sculpture of a young shepherd boy.

Well for 3 years he skilfully toiled at his task and finished with an 18-foot (just shy of 6 mts,) figure of “his” shepherd boy. That stature still stands and is admired greatly even today? Maybe you have heard of it too? It is of course, Michelangelo’s David. A true masterpiece! One, to which one of Michelangelo’s students supposedly exclaimed, “Master, it lacks only one thing – speech.”

Now I of course have not seen it up close and personal and thus only through photos, but every one who has, does agree that it is wonderful too. What attracted my attention was that it was made from a flawed stone. That and a flawed stone that had lain there for a hundred years, before the right person came along to do something wonderful with it. A stone that had it not been handled perfectly and properly, would have been not an invaluable work of art and admiration, but a heap, quite literally of useless little pieces of rock.

What is true of Marble is also true of humans too, isn’t it? So how many flawed humans have you come across in your lifetime and how have you left them? As invaluable works of art, or useless pieces of rock? Or have you just left them alone for someone else to deal with.

Even though not the preferred option, often that is the best option if you don’t know how to properly handle them to bring out their true potential, isn’t it? To leave them intact and undamaged by your presence and leave them for another "Michelangelo” to come along later and make them what they could be but what you can’t make the!

Do you do that? Or do you try anyway and simply leave a shattered mess there for someone else to deal with? Just a thought! What say you?

How long is too long for Presley Mania?

I mean the man himself has been dead since 1977 (31^st Anniversary today:Aug.16). The divorce came through some nearly 35 years ago (October 1973). And the marriage itself occurred 41 years ago on May 1^st 1967. So bearing all the above in mind, don’t you think that it is both a little bit late and very, very opportunistic, to suddenly now, on the 31^st anniversary of Elvis’s death and over 41 years since the actual marriage,(completely forgetting the accompanying divorce) to release boxed sets of Elvis and Priscilla wedding dolls?

I don’t know which is the more astounding? That one lady bid $7813 dollars for a boxed set, autographed by Priscilla herself? Or that they expect to sell a run of another 40,000 boxed sets at around $75. 00 each.

Now please don’t get me wrong I like Elvis as much as the next person. Well actually, No I don’t! I do/did like him very much, but nowhere near as much as my brother-in-law though. However as much as I like his music and his movies, I just can’t help wondering why people would really want to buy a “new” memory of an old event that actually went sour, long before his death. If you have the answer, please let me know, as it sure beats me.

I mean let’s remember him by all means, and remember our old memories of Him too, but please don’t milk his memories with blatant money making rip-offs, perpetrating the lie that it was a happy marriage.

The Same Thing Is There For All To See!

Received this response to my recent Blog on “Charles Kingsford Smith”, which said, “You are a minefield of information my friend. You know about me when it comes to aviation but I had no idea that Smithy had those hang-ups. I obviously knew about his flights but nothing about the fact that he was wrestling with fears etc.

You really should be writing a column in a newspaper because lots of you little titbits would fascinate people. Thanks for that.”

To which I had to honestly reply with, “Thanks for that. I thought you might appreciate it. Actually I got that information out of Yesterday's Herald Sun Newspaper, which is actually the source of a lot of my material.”

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So, what I had made interesting or known to him, was not really unknown or even known by a small number but was also available to nearly half a million people who bought that day’s paper.

It is not so much that which is out there on show to the world, but what you do with it. Some would have seen that article and that particular part that I picked up on as just part of “Smithies” history and thought no more on it. Others might have picked up on it like me but come to different conclusions than me. However I picked up on the fact that he had major obstacles to overcome to do what he wanted to do. He tackled and over came obstacles than many, maybe even I, would have quite happily used as excuses not to do things and maybe even to gain sympathy from. Not Smithie. He overcame not insignificant handicaps to achieve his goals and desires. Maybe you can to. I honestly don’t know, but I do know, that you won’t know unto you give it a go. And Give it your best shot too?

As is always, you may not always succeed, but you can always try can’t you? Can’t you?

The only question to ask as I close is, will you do that? Will you give your current project, your very best shot and see where it goes from there? Will you? Have a great Day: Walter

Charles Kingsford Smith.

If a young fellow came up to you with a partially amputated foot from a war injury and said he suffered from Panic attacks and a fear of the sea, what career would you suggest he take up? How a bout being a long –distance Pilot across the world’s ocean’s in a flimsy plane, in the then fledgling Industry?

Today (30^th of May, 2008) the world celebrates the 80^th anniversary of the above young man’s historic first flight of anyone ever across the pacific from America to Australia. Flying in the Southern Cross, Charles Kingsford Smith (Or Smithie, as he was popularly known henceforth,) and his crew, flew from California to Brisbane (via Hawaii and Fiji,) in just 8 days.

He later went on to make or break many other flying records. Not bad for a guy with who suffered from panic attacks and had a fear of the sea, is it?

It just shows what one can do if one sets their mind to it and has the wherewithal to just go out there and do what they believe in doesn’t it?

What about you? What do you believe in and what handicaps or fears do you have to overcome, to do all that you can do, and to be all that you can /should be? Remember, you will never know, if you don’t have a go! So what is there now that you know that you should have a go at now? Over to you.

Rameses 2 and You.

Was reading an Archaeological journal* and came across the following statement about Rameses 2. (Whom many believed was the Pharaoh of Moses’ time. Others believe it was his son, Merenptah. Yet others believe Rameses2 left no heirs, so I don’t really know!)

Anyway, here is the quote about Rameses 2, who definitely ruled Egypt sometime: “ Rameses 2 was the greatest pharaoh who ever ruled Egypt, if you listen to what Rameses said. It is true that he built a lot of temples, erected many obelisks, and had a lot of statures of himself made, but he only really fought one major battle and he nearly lost that at Kadesh. Nevertheless he made the most of it recounting the battle at length in his inscriptions on the walls of his temples.”

Sounds like a guy I once knew. Another friend said about this Guy: “He gets so tired from patting himself on the back that he is too tired to do anything else!”

What about your achievements? Are they so small that you feel that you have to tell every one about them, just to build them and yourself up, but then have no time to do anything more of real significance?

I once heard a cutting comment about the difference between two people, (one the Father in-law of the other). “The First was always talking about what He was going to do, while the other is always talking about what he has actually done.”

Which are you? The one who is always talking or the on who is always doing first then talking? There is nothing wrong in being proud of your achievements. Just that it helps if you first have something decent to talk about. Again what about you? Are you a “Gunna” or a “Dunna”? What say you? Walter

(* “Diggings” Oct 2007. Vol. 24,m No 10 ISSN 1320-4424)

Lady Astor and Winston Churchill.

Recently I did a couple of blogs on Winston Churchill and his run-ins with a certain Lady Astor. Of course I knew who Sir Winston was but had no idea who Lady Astor was until I received this reply from England saying that “Lady Astor was the first woman to be admitted to Parliament so we can now look back and see how much Churchill disliked this intrusion of a male dominated domain!!
How about you? Do you likewise despise someone else intruding on what you consider to be your own personal domain? There should be no place for discrimination of people on any grounds other than competency in the task that they are given to do. We should accept or reject all people on their talents, not on their colour, creed or sex. What say you?
I will leave you with one last item from the Churchill/Lady Astor Feud:
Lady Astor: "if you were my husband I would put poison in your drink"
Churchill replied, "If I was your husband I would drink it!"

Winston Churchill: Put down 2.

While on the subject of put downs and Winston Churchill, I also recently read of an incident with Lady Astor, where Lady Astor supposedly replied to Sir Winston with the following piece of sarcasm: “I suppose I would sleep with you for a Million Pounds”. To which Winston offered her ten Pounds. To which she exclaimed haughtily and shrilly, “Just what sort of women do you think I am?” All to which he calmly replied. “We have already established that! All we are doing now is haggling about price.”
This exposes another danger of using sarcasm: That of having it reinterpreted as being genuine when it wasn’t. I am pretty sure that Lady Astor would probably have never slept with Sir Winston at any price and was only trying to belittle him with her comment. However, in her attempt to belittle him, Winston was able to turn it back on her and the only one belittled, was herself, and all her own doing too!
Again this shows the danger of using sarcasm and especially in trying to belittle others, as it also makes you vulnerable to a counter charge. Again one is reminded of an old Maximum. That of “He/ she, who lives in a glasshouse, should not throw stones”. Lady Astor probable thought she was pretty clever and cutting with her comment, but Sir Winston, was able to take her very own “Stone” and throw it back at her smashing her defences completely.
Again where a word to the wise is appropriate it should, even must, be said, but don’t try and put people down with sarcasm, unless you live in a completely stone proof house with all the guards up. What say you? Walter

Winston Churchill: Put down 1.

Sarcasm can be funny if done well. Of, course if not done well it can just be very hurtful. Even worse than that, if you are not good at it, or just not careful with it, it can turn around and bite the giver, as one lady found out when she crossed swords with that master of the short “sound bite’, Sir Winston Churchill.
Of course this story goes back many years but in my humble opinion is worth re-telling.
Apparently they were at a party and Sir Winston had been drinking a little, which I understand was his habit anyway, and this lady apparently got into a heated exchange with him, to which he replied with ”You’re ugly”. Not a nice thing to say even if it was true, and the lady angrily retorted. “And you’re drunk”. To which Sir Winston replied, “Yes but in the morning, I will be sober, but you will still be Ugly.”
Again, not a very nice reply, but one, which to my mind at least, exemplifies the old maximum of never trying to argue with a fool, as people listening will find it hard to know which is which. The lady was probably right, but Winston won the argument, at least in the eyes of the watchers.
What about ourselves? How often have we been involved in a discussion like this that leads to no satisfaction, when it would have been far better to simply disengage and walk away relatively unscathed rather than engage in a battle you just can’t win there and then?
What Winston said was not nice and needed to be corrected for sure, but there and then was quite obviously neither the time nor the place, and intervention then, only exploded further on the lady. Instead of retiring hurt but dignified, for another more private battle latter when Winston sobered, she made herself a permanent laughing stock.
Again how often has that happened to you? How many times have we realized later to our cost, that it just wasn’t worth it, there and then, and that we should have waited for a better, perhaps more private time? So, the next time you are thinking of using sarcasm think it through thoroughly. There may be a better way, or at least a better time and place. What say you? Walter