The Secret to a Happy LifeWritten by Marsha Jordan
There seems to be an epidemic these days of depression. Everyone I talk to, it is experiencing some degree of depression. As I wonder about cause of this twenty-first century phenomenon, I think of my great grandmother who raised my dad in back woods of Upper Peninsula of Michigan during Great Depression.She had a hard life raising twelve children and two grandchildren, seeing two die as toddlers as well as two as adults with cancer. She supported her sick husband who was twenty-two years older than she was. She struggled through great depression, yet (according to those who knew her best) she was never depressed a day in her life! Why? Maybe because she was too busy just surviving to stop and think about feeling sad. She came to this country from Holland as a child. She married at age of 13. Her parents went back to Holland without telling their children. She fed her family by raising animals and a large garden, in addition to taking in boarders and caring for elderly and sick. She sold her homebaked goods and ran local post office. She entertained traveling preachers and live-in teachers. She cooked on a woodstove in a house that was so cold water in tea kettle would freeze during night if she didn't get up and stoke fire. She could see snow outside through cracks in walls. She had no phone, no electricity, no running water, no shower, bathtub or indoor toilet! There was no television to watch as she relaxed in evenings. In fact, she didn't relax in evenings. That's when she sewed family's clothes. To listen to radio, her family had to walk half a mile to nearest neighbor's house. She was up before anyone else in morning and she was last to go to bed at night. Her children were only ones in school who had real meat to eat and didn't have to take lard sandwiches in their lunches. Her kids had shoes to wear when neighbors didn't, but they put cardboard inside those shoes to cover holes in soles. Though they lived in a tar paper shack, they were better off than most of folks they knew. When beggars came to grandma's door, she would always give them a meal and a dime, though a dime was a lot of money in those days. She and her children rarely took baths. To do so, they had to pump water from well, heat it on stove, and fill metal tub in kitchen by fire. They never went to a doctor when they got sick. They couldn't afford such a luxury. And in those days, there was not a whole lot that doctors could do for them anyway. (Modern medicine has come a long way in last 70 years). This may sound like a story from Laura Ingalls Wilder books about 1800's, but I'm talking about 1930's!
| | Persevere And Fly!Written by Mary Holzrichter
"The Wright Brothers created single greatest cultural force since invention of writing. The airplane became first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together." ~~~ Bill Gates, Microsoft I had opportunity to recently visit Outer Banks of North Carolina. One of our stops was at The Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills. The Wrights, Wilbur and Orville, were first to design and build a flying aircraft that could be *controlled* while in air. No one up to this point had used three control factors; roll, pitch, and yaw. These three dimensions make it possible to fly from place to place. The aerospace business depends on this simple but brilliant idea. So do spacecraft and submarines. This changed way we view our world. Seen from above, distances shrink and horizon stretches. The world seems grander, more vast and three-dimensional. Open to endless possibilities. We talk about perseverance needed to make our niche on internet today. Just think of Wilbur and Orville. Their accomplishment certainly didn't happen overnight! Wilbur and Orville were 12 and 8 years of age, respectively, when their father brought home a simple toy rubber band-powered helicopter made in France. They were so intrigued by concept and playing with it, it broke! Immediately, they began building copies. They were hooked on aviation! In 1900, as young men, having built their first glider, they decided to try it out at Kitty Hawk on Kill Devil Hills. It provided consistent stiff winds, and somewhat cushioning effects of sand and water. That first flight was unsuccessful, but it didn't deter them.
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