News on the march

CLEVELAND – A contractor who found $182,000 in Depression-era currency hidden in a bathroom wall has ended up with only a few thousand dollars, but he feels some vindication.

The windfall discovery amounted to little more than grief for contractor Bob Kitts, who couldn’t agree on how to split the money with homeowner Amanda Reece.

It didn’t help Reece much, either. She testified in a deposition that she was considering bankruptcy and that a bank recently foreclosed on one of her properties.

And 21 descendants of Patrick Dunne — the wealthy businessman who stashed the money that was minted in a time of bank collapses and joblessness — will each get a mere fraction of the find.

“If these two individuals had sat down and resolved their disputes and divided the money, the heirs would have had no knowledge of it,” said attorney Gid Marcinkevicius, who represents the Dunne estate. “Because they were not able to sit down and divide it in a rational way, they both lost.”

moral of the story: Troubles shared is trouble halved. But money whichever way one may divide it still takes skin off you. Knowing that the money rightfully belongs to the Dunne estate ought to weigh in one’s conscience. Right?

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Either Or

 

A man went to New York in search of work. His farm had been devastated which was not something special since his once fertile land had been turned into a dustbowl. Mother Nature had dealt him a severe blow; and his community to which he, like his fathers before him had belonged was of no help. The President of the local bank and the directors had failed him in his moment of distress. Did they not force him to mortgage his lands for updating his farm equipments? Did they not deceive him by drawing a rosy picture of what he stood to gain and suggested easy terms? When things went wrong they had quickly dropped him and forced him out. He had much to gripe about.

   Now in New York he was on his own. He joined a gang since he had declared war on society. But when he was asked by the gang leader to kill some one, he demured. “ That will make me a murderer.” The gang leader laughed and said,” But you have declared war. Didn’t you?” He would not let him join them without blood on his hands.

He asked for time.

The same night he made his escape since he knew he would have no other choices left but to go down killing or some other crime. He wanted to choose his own course with which he could live in good conscience.What choices we make create new pathways while closing so many. Consequently for me Either Or is a way of discovering my essential self. Let the world go on its way and I shall go my way.

As the song,’I did it my way,’ truth of action is to leave my signature in the scheme of things. It shall make sense if not today sometime in eternity. 

Tailspin: If you intend to be a first rate concert pianist don’t expect to shine inside the ring at the same time.

benny

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Dizzy in the House

Disraeli’s complete control of the entire House while in opposition and in power, no one else in his day or before equalled- possibly with the exception of Chatham, was due to his ability to take its pulse and respond to it. Towards this he was always present on the House and was prepared. He knew the subject of debate and had an astonishing memory for facts that he did not have to rely on notes.

  He always entered the chamber some five or ten minutes before the proceedings began and he had a solemn air combined with easy confidence. He walked up slowly on the whole length of the floor and when he reached the corner of the table he made a low bow to the Chair. Many M.P’s have found this ceremony painful and feeling self-conscious often have tried to duck it as far as possible. But Disraeli thought it was a necessary duty, a courtly recognition of the supremacy of the Chair. 

20. 

Dizzy’s physical appearance and immobility added much to his authority. He sat with rigid head and body gazing vacantly into space, his arms folded across his breast, his hat slightly tilted over his brows, one knee crossing the other. No one in the House heard him laugh or smile; his usual expression when speaking was one of patient stoicism tinged with melancholy. His impassivity bordering on a catatonic state often infuriated his opponents whose diatribes seemed to go past him. But no one could have administered a snub with more telling effect than he but even that was done in a manner that delighted everyone except the one at the receiving end. 

21.

His preeminence in parliament was mainly due to his genius as a speaker, not an orator in the manner of Gladstone or Edmund Burke. He had none of the tricks of their trade. He was fully calm and in control of his emotions and spoke without slurring his words clear and low, more as a man of the world. Standing with his hands on his hips or his thumbs in the armholes of his waistcoat he spoke in a consistent manner using no emphasis. This supercilious and even tenor in his voice was the result of careful training and it contrasted immeasurably when he wished to make a point. Suddenly he became animated, the tone in his voice changed, an ironic note crept in, the words were enunciated with more care and distinctness; A slight shrug, a quick glance, a fleeting expression of that sallow face drew bated breath from his hearers. They knew what was to follow. It came with an unerring aim and made some gasp and break up the stillness of the House with resounding cheers. He took no notice of the cheers as if he was above such display and continued with his speech as before.

  He indulged little in gestures depending entirely on his voice to achieve its effect.

compiler:benny

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Reconciliation

There are so many hurtling objects that from outer space could impact our earth. They don’t. Why? There are other heavenly bodies that exert their pull on such objects. Consider a meteor thus deflected from its intended path. Calculate how farther it would go if we were to consider distances say million light years apart. Luckily for us the gigantic Jupiter has such immense power that deflects many cosmic impacts intended for our blue planet. This analogy will help us to understand why many of our actions seem to go wrong. Oneness of Things in effect works with so many chains of events so vast a scale for any man to predict, and when we are faced with such disappointing results for our labor think we are not in control of consequences of events put forward long before us.

2.

A pendulum will have a regular motion depending upon certain conditions. Suppose it is connected to another pendulum the motion of the second shall be quite contrary. It shows why we fail even though we had given much though and put forward with good intentions. It is also connected to other events by which what may seem as misfortunes later work out for our own good. Oneness of Things wills it so.

benny

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