Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

September 14, 2007

Publishers Favourite Sites:

Rosanne Catalano

http://www.rosannecatalano.net/

Michael Smith

http://subs.zinester.com/86758/

Barbara Weymouth

penwormprayerwarriors-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Helen Dowd

www.occupytillicome.com

Dean Perchick

http://symzonia.blogspot.com

Today’s Announcements

Happy Birthday David Dec from your friends at Storytime Tapestry: dave@davedec.com

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Today’s Stories

~**~**~

 ValueSpeak

A Weekly Column

By Joseph Walker

Valuespeak@msn.com

PARENTS FIRST

The thing you need to remember is that the backpack was a really good deal.

That’s really the only thing that mattered to me. I’m not a techno-geek. I don’t know a Sling Box from a Slinky (assuming, of course, that there actually IS a difference). I wouldn’t know an LAN if it giga-bit me on the URL. As far as I’m concerned, a router is a power tool, SIMS was a quarterback for the New York Giants and POTS are what we cook soup in.

Or have gone to, as the case may be.

So when Jon showed me the backpack he wanted to purchase (or rather, he wanted me to purchase for him) for his first year of high school, the only thing I noticed was the price: $59.95.

“I’m not going to pay 60 bucks for a backpack,” I said. “How about this one over here for $19.99? You could just keep your hand over Dora the Explorer’s face . . .”

“But this one is on sale,” Jon said, thrusting the backpack in front of me again. “$41.50.”

Jon is still a few weeks shy of his 16^th birthday, but he’s figured out that there are few things in this world that his father loves more than a good bargain. I’ll spend $10 in gasoline to drive to the next county so I can save $1 on a case of Diet Dr Pepper. And I’ve been known to purchase things I never use if I spot a good deal. Like that set of . . . you know, those tools that are shaped sort of like a capital “L” that you unscrew certain screws and fasteners with sometimes? They come in various sizes? I can’t remember what they’re called or what they’re used for exactly, but they were a STEAL!

So when Jon started talking about saving nearly $20 on a backpack – a savings of . . . um . . . let’s see . . . do you multiply or divide? . . . carry the two . . remainder 4 . . . “i” before “e” except after “c” . . well, OK, a significant savings – he had my undivided attention.

“Forty-one bucks isn’t bad for a nice backpack like that,” I agreed.

“And look,” Jon said, “it comes with a built-in speaker for my iPod.”

From his hopeful smile I deduced that he considered this to be a good thing. Don’t get me wrong – I know what an iPod is. It’s like a boom box – only much smaller and more portable. My wife, Anita, has one, upon which she listens to “Eye of the Tiger” while she power walks past me and leaves me hyperventilating on the pavement. Jon has eclectic tastes in music, ranging from show tunes to a surprisingly cool arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by some 400-pound Hawaiian guy with a ukulele. But he isn’t really into wild and crazy stuff, so the idea of him being able to play his music on his backpack wasn’t a great concern to me.

Other than the fact that . . . you know . . . he’s playing his music on his backpack, which just seems sort of weird. But hey, it’s the 21^st Century, when it’s considered the height of good fashion to wear your baseball cap with the brim over your ear. Weird is relative.

So we bought the backpack and took it home to show Jon’s mother. By show of hands, how many of you are surprised to learn that she wasn’t particularly exited about either the built-in speaker OR the great deal?

Come to think of it, I wasn’t all that surprised, either.

“Jon, you know that the high school has rules about bringing electronic gadgets to class,” she said. “If you even play it in the halls it’s likely to be confiscated.”

“Then what’s the point of having it if I can’t play it?” Jon asked.

Anita looked at me, as if I was supposed to have the answer.

“But it was a good deal!” I blurted out.

“It wasn’t a good deal if it gets him in trouble,” she said.

“Backpacks don’t get kids in trouble – kids playing music on their backpacks gets them in . . .”

“I know,” she said. “It would be his choice. But it’s our job to help him learn to make good choices, and I don’t think we do that by strapping temptation to his back.”

She’s right, of course. As parents we want to do right by our kids. We want to teach them and train them the right way so they can be happy and successful as adults. But occasionally other motivations – the desire to be liked, the desire to avoid confrontation, the desire to make a REALLY GOOD DEAL – cloud our view and disrupt our judgment and somehow we find ourselves strapping temptation to their backs, literally or figuratively. How much better it would be for all of us if we as parents remember to be parents first.

And deal-makers second.

~**~**~

 ONE THING TO REMEMBER

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

     My eternally young soul is having problems with my rapidly aging body again. This time it is old Mr. Brain. It seems like this guy can’t go a day without forgetting at least one thing. He keeps rechecking the appointment calendar and shopping list over and over. He takes my body into a room and then has to stop and remember why he is there. He remembers my first day of kindergarten, but forgets what someone said 5 minutes ago. Maybe he is just getting a little tired after all these years or maybe he just has too much to remember every single day. Either way my soul laughs when he forgets and tries to help him along. My soul knows that the only thing we really have to remember is to just love.

     If we all can remember to just love then we will be living the way we were meant to live. If we all can remember to just love then we will be doing what God wants us to do. If we all can remember to just love then it will not matter how many times we forget to dust or buy a loaf of bread. Jesus gave his disciples this one command to remember: "Love each other." It truly is the only thing we need to do to live a blessed life in this world.

     So many of us spend our lives in a flurry of activities better off forgotten. We are constantly working, spending, and doing so many things just trying to fill the hole within our hearts. It doesn’t work, though. It is like throwing pebbles in the Grand Canyon. Only love can fill that hole. Only love can make us whole. Only love can bring us back to oneness with God.

     Remember to just love then. It is what we are here for. It is what we are made for. Choose love, share love, and grow in love everyday of your life. It is your love that will remind you what is truly important in this life. It is your love that will remind you how to help others and make this world a better place. It is your love that will remind you who you truly are.

Joe Mazzella

joecool@wirefire.com

~**~**~

Poetry Corner

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Tania Cilia’s group of Haikus

tanjachilja@hotmail.com

Playing hide and seek
Emotions are kept hidden
But the truth will out

Pleasure flies away
The doom of doubt surrounds me
Darkness returns anon

Slivers of my heart
Melted by the falling tears
Unrequited love

Snapshots in my mind
Shades of white and black and grey
Etched within my soul

Snow cascades downhill
Memories try to escape
I remember both

The path to nowhere
Evanescent avenue
I know, I've been there

The rock of my life
The horizon of forever
The emptiness knows

There's a storm brewing
Shadows run across my face
Clouds that threaten rain

Throughout my journey
The far-away horizon
Never moves closer

Undercurrent tow
Steel-grey waters drown my dreams
Sucked in their vortex

Windmills of my mind
Whirling round without respite
Elusive zephyr

~**~**~

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