Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All & Happy Friday!

A great Happy Birthday to my friend and independent auto restoration specialist and dealer in Utah, Tony, who celebrates his 35th birthday today!  Here’s to you, Tony, and I hope you have lots of fun on your special day of celebration!  Happy Birthday wishes also go to CBS journalist Bob Simon, who turns 79 today; to Indy car racer Al Unser, who is 81 today; to former Baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent, who turns 82 today; to actor Anthony Geary, who is 73 today; to movie music composer Danny Elfman, who turns 67 today and to actress Annette Bening, who is 62 today.  Here’s to all of you!

We got some good news yesterday about my childhood friend, Tim, who is fighting to overcome a traumatic brain injury at the Oregon Health Sciences Center & Vibra, an intensive care unit that specializes in brain injury rehabilitation.  His daughter Alison writes:

“We’ve got some cautiously optimistic (which means awesomely fantastic) news today from Tim’s nurse at Vibra.

This morning when she was giving him an exam, he opened his eye in response to her touching him on the chest.  Later this morning, as she was working on him with oral care, she asked him to open his mouth and stick out his tongue.  He opened his mouth, and he tried to move his tongue.

We don’t know if it was reactionary or purposeful, but that it happened has given us hope.  We continue to thank you all for your endless love and support…”

For all of you who are prayers out there, please include my friend Tim in your prayers.  He’s truly “one in a million” and one of the “good guys.”  Thanks!

 

Don’t you find the news coming out of Minneapolis extremely painful to bear?  Our country seems to reliving the nightmare of our tragic history in race relations, a vestige of a time in our nation’s history where the practice of slavery was tolerated.  Since we are all made in the image of God, as the Good Book says, why, oh, why is it so difficult for us not to live in amity and love with others who happen not have the same skin color?  It was shameful to watch the video where one officer placed his knee on a handcuffed black man who was in a prone position on the ground and then refused to honor that man’s request for assistance in breathing, with three other police officers choosing to do nothing to intervene.  There is a cry for justice here, and rightfully so.  As sons of Adam and daughters of Eve, we fall short of the Glory of God and need to ask our Creator for help in understanding what it means that all of us are “made in the image of God.”  All of Creation groans again today and longs for the day when people are not, as the Rev. Martin Luther King once said, “judged by the color of their skin.”

 

I came across a collectible card that featured the old T.V. series “Gunsmoke.”  It featured the actor Dennis Weaver who played “Chester,” the sidekick to actor James Arness who played “Marshal Matt Dillon.”  Here’s something about Dennis Weaver that I never knew that was featured on the back of the card:

“Although Dennis Weaver plays Matt’s assistant in the “Gunsmoke” series, he doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone when it comes to athletics.  In his home state of Missouri, he was an outstanding track star and narrowly missed winning a berth on the U.S. Olympic Team in 1948.  At the University of Oklahoma he earned more athletic laurels and added acting to his accomplishments.”

How about that?  I’ll never forget Dennis’s portrayal of a man traveling across country in his car being pursued relentlessly by a huge semi-truck driven by a mysterious character that you never see in the movie.  Thanks to my wife Judy, the movie was entitled “Duel”…it’s one of the scariest movies I ever saw as a kid (that one and “The Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock).

Here’s to Dennis Weaver and all of his great acting roles in movies & T.V. over the years!

 

Here is the fact for the day:

More than 1.1 million American soldiers & sailors have died in war since the Revolutionary War in 1775.

 

On this day in 1953, Mount Everest was conquered as Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers in recorded history to reach the summit.

 

Here’s the word definition for the day:

Cavalcade:  A late 16th century Latin word meaning “A formal procession of people walking, on horseback, or riding in vehicles.”

 

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“I feel responsible.  I feel I’ve got to do something that will leave the kids a place where they can live healthy, safe, productive, creative and prosperous lives.”

“It’s fun to be a little different in the world, to make a few new trails of your own.”

—Dennis Weaver, American actor (1924-2006)

 

Here’s to a great Friday and lots of love & good wishes always!

Press on & enjoy the sunshine,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)