Dr. Bones

Just heard from a cousin that she’s in the process of making a poem she wrote into a children’s book… I’ve always loved the poem and I’m sure the book will be great too. Some art work and such to get finished but she’s looking to have it out by Christmas.
Dr. Bones
Running, jumping, and
More clowning around,
One, two, three,
And then you fall down.
Sometimes you land
all wrong in the fall,
Then mom has to give
Ol’ Dr. Bones a call.
Dr. Bones is real nice,
All smiles and grins
He’s said it before,
He’ll “see you again,”
He sends you on back
To his x-ray machine
Then he calls in mom
To show what he’s seen.
Dr. Bones says it’s broke
And you know that he’s right.
The crack shows as clear
As the bone through the light.
A cast is needed and
That much he knew,
But then he says
“One thing’s still up to you.”
What color is your favorite,
Pink,red,blue or white?
Your cast can even
Glow bright in the night.
When you’ve picked out the color
That is just right for you.
Then Dr Bones will do
What he needs to do.
                   ~Lonna Larkey   summer 1994

I built a tower!

I built a tower into the sky and climbed so very high… I reached the stars that others sought on stones they’ve thrown to hurt and harm… and from my perch I see them still stuck so far below… as they’ve no stones to build their own they’ve thrown them all away… so save your stones and build your tower or waist the lot in folly… for stones are meant to build and not to hurt and harm…  ~Frank Woodman 2014

Consider the lowly spider web and how it contains almost no material at all yet it still catches lots of insects… It’s about connecting all the delicate little strings together into a web… Same thing with a fishing net… It’s mostly empty space… But a fishing net still catches lots of fish… It’s how all those many strands are connected together. So we don’t need much in life to capture what we seek we just need to tie things together into the right pattern. ~ Frank Woodman 2014

One of the great fallacies is that the majority must be right or that their way of doing something must be better than the minorities… Nothing could be further from the truth… The percentage that believes in something only shows popularity and nothing more. The majority not only can be wrong they often are! ~ Frank Woodman 2014

My Thoughts on the Paycheck Fairness Act of 2014

The Paycheck Fairness Act of 2014 as written was one that the Democrats knew would never pass with the Republicans and as it was presented was nothing more than an attempt to brand Republicans as being against women and equal pay… This has become the new way both parties play dirty and try to brand the other as anti-something… People need to read and understand the bill being presented and as amended before they brand either party as bad for not passing it… (Text of bill… https://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/84/text )  

It’s important to remember that anytime one party in its entirety votes against something there is usually a good reason… And the very reason that we see so little ‘compromise’ while stalemate rules the day is that both parties work hard to hide and push through items that they know the other party won’t accept by blackmailing them with bills written such that the other party simply won’t accept them and/or attaching amendments to bills that sound great till you dig into the details. So the idea is certainly admirable that women obtain equal pay for equal work however this bill wasn’t the way to obtain it… It largely loosened the language that allows for Federal regulations and fines while being nothing more than a rewrite of the current existing regulations to make it much easier to have law suites and legal actions while changing little else. That in the end hasn’t been shown to help equalize pay but only to increase government intervention and civil law suits which encourages companies to simply redefine job titles and descriptions to hide the inequity of pay between the sexes. Any bill or law that is designed to encourage more lawsuits and increase government regulations while extend the government’s involvement in running things should be looked at with close scrutiny. The simple fact is we don’t need more government intervention in most areas of our lives and businesses.

The final thing to note is how Obama and other Democrats (and to be fair Republicans as well) still pay much less to women working in the very offices of legislators that purport to be so strongly in favor of equal pay for women… USA Today’s take on the failure of lawmakers to follow equal pay for women laws shows that all too well.  http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2014/04/14/war-women-obama-democrats-equal-pay-column/7670105/   which followed closely what Investors Daily wrote here… http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/013014-688310-obama-equal-pay-for-equal-work.htm While Forbes wrote to the issue of this issue being used more for political gain than to address the problem… http://www.forbes.com/sites/peggydrexler/2014/04/10/equal-pay-for-equal-work-seems-like-a-no-brainer-right/

So when it comes to this matter IMHO both parties have failed and the bill as written was only intended to provide political fodder for the upcoming elections. It’s time to address this issue with a bill that’s truly designed to address this issue and it’s certainly time to demand that the very politicians that want to write laws for private businesses and organizations regarding equal pay for women  be required to first follow that principal themselves.  Lawmakers without the principals and ethics to follow fair and equitable practices in hiring and pay will never write laws that truly address this issue as they have no understanding of either this issue or fairness in general.

I Took A Hand In Mine Today!

I took a hand in mine today…

But holding tight I found that hand grown cold…

For it was of an old friend now passed away…

And holding tight my tears did flow…

As I felt and saw from memories trove…

The many days we’d shared and cared…

And known each other’s joys…

But I was here to say goodbye…

Knowing those times were not enough…

But of late we’d let world and duty fill our lives…

And stayed away with hardened heart…

When but with a moment’s thought…

We could have seen the folly of all we’d lost…

And found the time before all was gone…

For holding hands still warm with life and love…

And with laughter bright and hugs of joy…

We could have shared so much…

But the truth was there in hands grown cold…

We’d lost our way and went astray…

From all that could have been…

So terry not to see those who mean so much…

And hold them close and hug them long…

For time does take its toll…

And hands too soon grow cold!

                                   By Frank Woodman 2014-

In Memory of Robin Williams …

And sadness falls for all who say.. There is no reason for another day.. And even love can fail to make some see the need to live and breathe.. But those who care will never stop and with words and deeds they save a few.. And morn the failures and those they lost to shadows dark that blind all hope.. So pray for those lost and desperate ones that need our hope to last the day.. And never turn or keep from anyone a chance to live another day.~ Frank Woodman 2014

The Bell Tolls for Us All..

Only two common events are absolutely shared by all… one is death the other is personal suffering… for all of us will die and all of us will suffer personally. Some more than others but all suffer… and it’s sad to see that often there is little to be done beyond holding out a hand to help someone up… but it’s in the commonness of facing death and the commonness of our suffering that we see how little we are really different… Whether poor or rich… young or old… life takes its toll on us… and we all need both help and love to make it through with any chance of happiness… We see this most when death and suffering come together publically… from a death like Robin Williams to something more sinister like a school shooting or a child abduction we suddenly come face to face with the fact we are all only players on a stage saying the same lines and trying to make them different… So how do we survive and make sense of these things… simple … love and care for each other… hold out a hand to those in need… never judge or hurt those already hurting… and most of all be thankful for what we have and share what we can.

THE WISE WOMAN’S STONE

A wise woman, who was traveling in the mountains, found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone.

 
Author Unknown

Words, Words, Said Today… Never Will They Go Away!

Well anyone who says something should consider that they have no right to expect their words to ever go away.. Words are real.. They carry weight.. They hurt.. Or they heal.. They build.. Or they destroy.. Use them wisely and remember they last a life time.. For as has been said before.. People may not remember what you’ve done.. But they will certainly remember how you made them feel.