https://pixabay.com/en/milky-way-stars-night-sky-923738/
***
GOD’S GLORY
***
You see God’s glory
More clearly or less clearly
Based on your merit
***
NOTE: God’s glory can be seen throughout the universe, which God created, but you see that glory more or less clearly according to your merit.
***
https://pixabay.com/en/milky-way-starry-sky-night-sky-star-2695569/
***
READY TO RISE
***
Drinks from the Eunoë
Ready to rise to the stars
Now read Paradise
***
NOTE: Dante’s Purgatoryends with Dante the Pilgrim drinking from the Eunoë, which revives the memory of all the good deeds he has done. He is now ready to rise to the stars, a journey you can read about in Dante’s Paradise.
***
***
https://pixabay.com/en/gold-footpath-walking-walk-83754/
***
DIFFERENT PATHS
***
Paths are different
The false path of Humankind
The true path of God
***
***
In 2011, Joslyn Levell, an 8thgrader with spina bifida who spends most of her time in a wheelchair, got an impressive date for her end-of-school-year formal dance at Suncrest Middle School in Morgantown, West Virginia: J.T. Thomas, who had played football at West Virginia University and had been drafted by the Chicago Bears. That date was so impressive that it got a lot of media attention. Joslyn said, “I’m not used to the attention, but I like it. It’s been amazing. I can’t wait to hear what everybody has to say.” Mr. Thomas has a seven-year-old brother named Jared with autism who rides the same bus as Joslyn. Bus driver Jake Tennant invited Mr. Thomas on the bus and introduced him to Joslyn because he knew that Joslyn is a Bears fan. They talked, and Joslyn told him that all the boys she had asked to be her date to the end-of-school-year formal dance had turned her down. Mr. Thomas said, “I hugged her and signed a few things and we talked for awhile and she cried a bit. I gave her a hug and told her everything would work itself out.” Mr. Thomas decided to ask Joslyn to allow him to escort her to the dance. Of course, he wanted this to be OK with everyone; after all, he was 22 years old and Joslyn was only 14, so his stepmother, Rochelle, telephoned both the school and then Joslyn’s parents to get their permission, and then Mr. Thomas telephoned Joslyn. Calling someone for a date can be nerve-wracking. Mr. Thomas said, “I was nervous that by the time I reached out, she might have had a date and would have to turn me down.” Joslyn said, “After so many people turned me down, this was so big, especially because he asked me instead of me asking him.” Mr. Thomas gave Joslyn a bouquet of roses and a corsage, and at the dance Joslyn made sure that the boys who had turned her down knew that her date was a football star.
Lots of football players who played for the Green Bay Packers under Coach Vince Lombardi did not retire rich from football. However, many of them have gone on to become rich in part because of lessons that they learned from Coach Lombardi. Willie Davis earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago while he was playing for the Packers. At one point, he grew discouraged and wanted to quit. Many coaches today are likely to welcome such a decision, hoping that the player would then concentrate solely on football and not be distracted by academics; however, Coach Lombardi talked to Mr. Davis and said that he had never seen Mr. Davis quit and that he did not want him to quit now. After retiring from football, Mr. Davis made millions from radio. Max McGee founded Chi-Chi’s, the chain of Mexican restaurants, and grew rich. Many other Packers did not retire rich but are rich now. Jerry Kramer believes that all of Mr. Lombardi’s players learned from the coach. One thing that Mr. Kramer learned from Coach Lombardi was this: “You don’t do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time.” Mr. Kramer says, “Some of today’s players would probably scoff at this as a cliché, but any time I think of taking a shortcut, of just going through the motions, I hear Lombardi’s raspy voice, I see his shiny eyes, and I just can’t do it.”
On December 12, 2009, Edward Myers, who is 11 years old and lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, found a purse in a creek. He said, “I retrieved the purse, and we [he and his parents] looked through it and we found $2,000 in cash.” Edward and his parents telephoned the police, and the purse was returned to its rightful owner, who gave Edward a $100 reward. Edward bought a Carolina Panthers’ jersey, and a player on his favorite NFL sports team further rewarded him. Steve Smith, a wide receiver for the Panthers, learned about Edward’s good deed and wanted to treat him: He sent Edward four tickets to a game. Edward said, “Steve Smith wrote a letter and invited me to the last game of the season.” He added, “I got front-row seats. I get to see two teams go together—it’s gonna be a good game.” (The Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints, 23-10.) After the game, Edward said, “It’s been great to see all the players—it’s so amazing.” Edward said about Mr. Smith, “How thankful I am that he thought of me and my family,” adding, “I would have never thought in my life to take the purse.” Edward’s mother, Donna Myers, said, “I hope it shows someone that might not be making the right decision that good can come from doing the right thing.”
Chris Johnson, a native of Orlando, Florida, and a running back for the Tennessee Titans, won The Associated Press 2009 NFL Offensive Player of the Year award, and in early 2010, he did a small but nice good deed. Mr. Johnson ate breakfast at a Denny’s restaurant in Altamonte Springs, Florida. Before he left, he paid the bill for an elderly couple whom he did not know but who were sitting near him. Mr. Johnson may intimidate some people because of his dreadlocks and gold teeth, but this good deed shows that he can be a very nice guy.
Ohio State University football coach Woody Hayes valued punctuality. One day, it seemed as if he was going to be late for a meeting. He drove (a little fast) into the parking lot, which seemed to be filled, and finally he found a spot where his car could fit. He maneuvered his car into the spot, but then he found that he couldn’t open his door enough to get out of his car. Woody then moved his car forward, put it in neutral, got out of his car, and then pushed it back into the parking spot. He made the meeting on time.
“In truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate discipline.”—Vince Lombardi.
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”—Johnny Majors.
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
https://pixabay.com/en/woman-desperate-sad-tears-cry-1006100/
***
MOURNING
***
Beatrice mourns the
Vicissitudes of the church
As seen in pageant
***
NOTE: The pageant of church history in Canto 32 is mainly about the vicissitudes of the church. Beatrice mourns these, as do the seven ladies. Four ladies are symbolic of four virtues from classical antiquity — Prudence, Temperance, Justice, and Fortitude, The other three ladies are symbolic of three Christian virtues — Faith, Hope, and Charity.
***
***
https://pixabay.com/en/woman-man-chess-chess-board-77275/
***
AVOID POWER STRUGGLES
***
Secular matters
Church and state separation
Religious matters
***
NOTE: The church should have power over religious matters, and the state should have power over secular matters. Church and state ought not to get involved in power struggles with each other.
***
***
M.F.K. Fisher wrote about food, but she denied that she was a food writer. Of course, she was an authority on food, and that led to a problem. She explains that she received many fan letters, including some from celebrities, but the letters tend to end, “We’d love to have you come to dinner, but we wouldn’t dare ask you.” This means, Ms. Fisher says, “They don’t. And I eat a lovely rye crisp at home.” Ms. Fisher was good company, even if her companions sometimes weren’t. She lived in France for a few years, and she acquired a French friend who wished to be helpful and who thought that Ms. Fisher knew much less than she knew. The result? Ms. Fisher said, “She explained to me things that I had known for decades.” As a food expert, she knew good food, and she avoided bad food. Once, she was out with her daughter and granddaughter. They were hungry, so they stopped at a McDonald’s and each got a hamburger. Each took a bite or two of her hamburger and decided that actually they were not all that hungry. Driving home, Ms. Fisher thought that something was wrong with her car because it smelled funny. She remembers, “When we got home, I said to my daughter, ‘Don’t you want me to warm up your hamburger? You must be hungry.’ I warmed it up, and then I knew why the car smelled funny.” The hamburgers ended up in the garbage pail. According to Ms. Fisher, it is wise to eat fast food quickly or it will decompose into its original ingredient. When someone asked her what is fast food’s original ingredient, she replied, “Bilgewater.” It is possible, of course, that Ms. Fisher’s children have well-developed taste buds. When her older daughter, Anne, was an infant, Ms. Fisher fed her a spoonful of Gerber’s strained beans. Ms. Fisher remembers that Anne looked at her as if to ask, “Why are you doing this to me?” Ms. Fisher never gave her Gerber’s baby food again.
One of the more interesting cemeteries in the United States is Ben and Jerry’s “Flavor Graveyard,” which is located in in Waterbury, Vermont. This cemetery has tombstones for discontinued flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, among them “Oh Pear” (1997), “Makin’ Whoopie Pie” (2002-2003), and “Urban Jumble” (2000-2001). Standing in the cemetery, Sean Greenwood, Ben and Jerry’s Grand Poobah of Publicity, said, “I think we’ve got the best, and the not-best, up here. Flavors like ‘Wild Maine Blueberry.’ It’s been decades since we made this flavor, but we used to have the trucks back up here with truckloads of blueberries, and everyone would pitch in and unload the blueberries, and make it while the blueberries were fresh.” Another example of one of the best discontinued flavors is “Rainforest Crunch,” about which Grand Poobah Greenwood recited this poem: “With aching heart and heavy sigh, / we bid Rainforest Crunch goodbye; / that nutty brittle from exotic places / got sticky in between our braces.” He added, “You feel bad when the good ones just don’t make it anymore.” However, Grand Poobah Greenwood said that the “Sugar Plum” ice cream, made of plum and caramel, is a flavor that deserves to be in the cemetery. Visitors enjoy the graveyard. Grand Poobah Greenwood said, “You walk up to the graveyard here, and there’ll be fans that are up here putting flowers next to a headstone, or down on one knee, kind of paying their respects.”
Walt Disney’s daughter Diane did not name her first child, a boy, after him. He joked that the next baby would be named after him, but the next baby was a girl whom Diane and her husband, Ron Miller, named Tamara. Walt sent a telegram to “Tamara Walter Elias Disney Miller.” Diane says, “He was awfully cute.” Here’s another example of Walt’s cuteness: He and imagineer Bob Gurr once visited a coffee shop that had some Disney merchandise on the bottom shelf. Walt preferred that the Disney merchandise be in a better location, and so he began putting it on the top shelf. An employee, not recognizing him, asked, “May I help you?” Walt replied, “No, we’re all right. We’ll have this done in just a few minutes.” By the way, Walt once performed a good deed that went somewhat awry. He and artist Ward Kimball traveled by train to Chicago to see a railroad fair. They went to the dining car and Walt ordered a filet mignon. Ward remembers, “I was looking forward to one of the best dishes I had ever tasted and that was the beef stew, cooked railroad style. They had a way of kind of burning the meat—delicious!” However, when Ward ordered the beef stew, Walt did not think that that was good enough for him, so Walt said, “Beef stew! What do you want that for? Bring him a filet mignon.” And so Ward ate a filet mignon.
When artist James Montgomery Flagg was a child, he made a pun that made his Uncle Francis laugh. His uncle, who lived in Summit, New Jersey, had a dog whose name was Clover. Young James said that all the fleas in Summit were happy. Why? Because all of them were in Clover. By the way, James’ mother was a vegetarian; his father was not. His mother would often ask his father, “What kind of corpse do you want for dinner?” Sometimes, his father would reply, “Oh, let’s start with a dipper of warm blood, and then could you get us some cat’s brains on toast?” One of the nice things that his mother did for young James was to spoon out some of her coffee onto his morning toast—a treat he enjoyed.
When gangster Al Capone invited a celebrity to dinner, the celebrity wisely thought it prudent to go. Once, he invited George Burns and Gracie Allen, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, and some other entertainers to dinner. All accepted the invitation. After dinner, Mr. Capone asked the famous celebrities if anyone would like to entertain. Every celebrity wisely raised his or her hand.
“We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.” — Alfred E. Newman
***
Copyright by Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
***
