WORDS OF WISDOM

Earl's Words of Wisdom | Life In the 1500's | Resignation as an Adult | More NAWD-ie Wisdom

Earl's Words of Wisdom

Sometimes people enter into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, mainy to serve some purpose: to teach you an important lesson, or to help you figure out who you really are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be (possibly your roommate, neighbor, co-worker, long lost friend, closest significant other or even a complete stranger) but when you lock eyes with them, you know at that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful and unfair at first, but in reflection you find that without the struggle to overcome those obstacles, you would have never realized your potential, strength, willpower, or heart strength

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by employing available good luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity all happen to test your soul’s limits. Without these small tests, whatever they may be, life would be like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere. It would be comfortable and safe but dull and utterly pointless. The people you meet who affect your life, your success and mistrials, help to create who you are and who you become. Even negative events can become learning experiences when we handle them right.

Fact is, they are probably the most important/poignant ones. If someone hurts you, betrays you, or breaks your heart, forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious when you open your heart. If someone loves you, love them back—and make it unconditional, not only because they love you, but because, in a way, they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to the real world.

Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from every event all those truths you can possibly manage, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk with people you have never talked with before and this time, actually listen. Let yourself fall in love, break free and set your sights high. Hold your head aloft because you have earned that right. Instruct yourself to be a great individual and believe in that self, for if you don’t believe in yourself, it will be impossible for others to believe in you. You can make of yourself anything you wish/choose. Create your destiny and then go out and live it with absolutely no regrets.

And most important - if you LOVE someone tell that person for you do not know what tomorrow may bring. And learn a lesson in life each day that you live.

THAT'S THE STORY OF LIFE!

Life in the 1500's - Bob Burton

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the b.o. Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets... dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It’s raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big 4 poster beds with canopies.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor". The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold".

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn’t get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme: "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old".

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could really bring home the bacon". They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat".

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes ... for 400 years.

Most people didn’t have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trencher were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth".

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust".

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence, the custom of holding a "wake".

England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" or he was a "dead ringer."

And, finally, people were encouraged to prepare for a visit by a member of nobility who ranked between a marquis and a viscount. So they reserved a special place in their house that became known as the Earl Room.

Resignation as an Adult - Genel Hodges

To Whom It May Concern:

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a six year old again. I want to go to McDonald’s and think that it’s a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks. I want to think M&Ms are better than money, because you can eat them. I want to play kickball during recess and paint with watercolors in art. I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer day. I want to return to a time when life was simple... When all you knew were colors, addition tables and simple nursery rhymes, but that didn’t bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you didn’t care. When all you knew was to be happy because you didn’t know all the things that should make you worried and upset.

I want to think that the world is fair. That everyone in it is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. Somewhere in my youth...I matured and I learned too much. I learned of nuclear weapons, war, prejudice, starvation and abused children. I learned of lies, unhappy marriages, suffering, illness, pain and death. I learned of a world where men left their families to go and fight for our country, and returned only to end up living on the streets...begging for their next meal. I learned of a world where children knew how to kill...and did!!

What happened to the time... When we thought that everyone would live forever, because we didn’t grasp the concept of death? When we thought the worst thing in the world was if someone took the jump rope from you or picked you last for kickball? I want to be oblivious to the complexity of life and be overly excited by little things once again.

I want to return to the days when reading was fun and music was clean, when television was used to report the news or for family entertainment and not to promote sex, violence and deceit. I remember being naive and thinking that everyone was happy because I was. I would walk on the beach and only think of the sand between my toes and the prettiest seashell I could find. I would spend my afternoons climbing trees and riding my bike. I didn’t worry about time, bills or where I was going to find the money to fix my car. I used to wonder what I was going to do or be when I grew up, not worry about what I’ll do if this doesn’t work out.

I want to live simple again. I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind and making angels in the snow.

I want to be six again.

More NAWD-ie Wisdom

GARDENING GOD'S WAY - Bob Burton (CA)

Plant three rows of peas: Peace of mind, Peace of heart, Peace of soul
Plant four rows of squash: Squash gossip, Squash indifference, Squash grumbling, Squash selfishness
Plant four rows of lettuce: Lettuce be faithful, Lettuce be kind, Lettuce be obedient, Lettuce really love one another
No garden without turnips: Turnip for meetings, Turnip for service, Turnip to help one another
Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.
There is much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.
To conclude our garden We must have thyme: Thyme for God, Thyme for study, Thyme for prayer, Thyme for this NAWD site