naanda

Until I started playing golf, I thought that wine tasting had to be the most confusing thing I'd ever done. People with names like Higgins rambling on about residual sugar and tannin, describing each quarter-ounce sample in terms like "full-bodied, yet unpretentious." And I could never remember whether I was supposed to age it, chill it or drink it with fresh fish during a full moon. Just when I thought I was a genius for knowing the difference between a cabernet and cabaret, I went to the pro shop for golf balls.
"What kind?" the pro asked.

"I dunno, white, I guess.”

He rubbed his hands together as he scanned the tri-level ball display. "Do you want a two-piece ball?" I though this was a joke, of course. "No," I said. "I like to start off with them whole. They'll break when I wallop them with my driver.”

"Oh," he said without as much as a smile. "A big hitter. Then you want distance.”

He handed me a shiny box with gold lettering. The price tag on the end was more than I'd paid for dinner for my wife and I the previous evening.

"These have computer-generated dimple patterns and use a complex two-piece injection molding system. They offer blistering distance.”

"Perfect," I said. "Course I'll probably overshoot the green now on any hole less than four hundred yards.”

He still didn't laugh. He just removed the box of balls from my hand and said, "Aahhh ... stopping power.”

He slid another brightly colored box across

For twelve years, my church has participated in the Appalachia Service Project. One week each summer, volunteers travel to Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia or West Virginia to repair or build homes for families.

At the age of sixteen, I went on my first volunteer project in West Virginia. On the night we arrived, we discovered that "our family" was living in a trailer that was in poor condition, no bigger than two parking spaces. A crew had been working on it for two weeks, but every time they finished one problem, another surfaced.

The staff soon decided that the only reasonable solution was to build a new house-something highly unusual but necessary under these circumstances. Normally the goal is to repair existing homes. "Our family" was overjoyed with their new house that was 20x30 foot with three bedrooms, a bath and a kitchen/family room.

On Tuesday of that week, while we all ate lunch together, I asked “our family’s” three boys, Josh, Eric and Ryan, "What do you want for your new room?" Anticipating posters, toys and other gadgets that children usually ask for, we were surprised when Josh, the oldest, responded, "I just want a bed."

We were stunned. The boys had never slept in a bed. They were accustomed only to foam pads. That night we had a meeting and unanimously decided that beds would be the perfect gift. On Thursday night, a few adults in our group drove to the nearest city and bought beds and new bedding. They arranged for everything to be delivered on Friday.

When Friday arrived, we could hardly contain ourselves. After lunch, when we saw the delivery truck coming, we told “our family” about the surprise. It was like watching ecstatic children on Christmas morning.

That afternoon, we set up the beds as we finished each room. Josh, who had his own room, wanted to put his bed together by himself. Eric and Ryan shared a room and got a new bunk bed. As we fitted the frames together, Eric, who had been working outside, ran into the house to watch us. Too dirty to enter his room, he observed with wide-eyed enthusiasm from the doorway.

As Meggan, a member of our group, slipped a pillowcase onto one of the pillows, Eric asked, "What is that?"

"A pillow," she replied.

"What do you do with it?" Eric persisted.

"When you go to sleep, you put your head on it,” Meggan answered softly. Tears came to our eyes as she handed Eric the pillow.

"Oh . . . that's soft," he said, hugging it tightly.

Now, when my sister or I start to ask for something that seems urgent, my Dad gently asks, "Do you have a pillow?" We know exactly what he means.

I am nature's greatest miracle.
　　Since the beginning of time never has there been another with my mind, my heart, my eyes, my ears, my hair, my mouth. None that came before, none that live today, and none that come tomorrow can walk and talk and move and think exactly like me. All men are my brothers yet I am different from each . I am an unique creature.
　　Although i am of the animal kingdom,animal rewards alone will not satisfy me. Within me burns a flame which has been passed from generations uncounted and its heat is a constant irritation to my spirit to become better than i am , and i will , i will fan this flame of dissatisfaction and proclaim my uniqueness to the world.
　　I am unique creature of nature .
　　I am rare, and there is value in all rarity; therefore, i am valuable . I am the end product of thousands of years of evolution; therefore, i am better equipped in both mind and body than all the and wise men who preceded me.