Re: Inspirational --Throwing Rocks

[Rosalie McDuffie <Dufflis@AOL.COM>]

LM_NETTERS -- I found the following in my email & wanted to share it with
you.  It made me think about people who come into my life each & every day.
Hope it will "inspire" you also.

Rosalie McDuffie, Media Specialist
Columbus High School
1700 Cherokee Avenue
Columbus, GA  31906


Throwing Rocks

About ten years ago, a young and very successful executive named Josh
was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street. He was going a bit too
fast in his sleek, black, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months
old.

He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed
down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no child darted
out, but a brick sailed out and-WHUMP! -- it smashed into the Jag's shiny
black side door!

SCREECH...!!!! Brakes slammed! Gears ground into reverse, and tires
madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been
thrown.

Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a
parked car. He shouted at the kid, "What was that all about and who are you?
Just what the heck are you doing?!" Building up a head of steam, he went on.
"That's my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of
money. Why did you throw it?"

"Please, mister, please...I'm sorry! I didn't know what else to do!"
pleaded the youngster. "I threw the brick because no one else would
stop!"  Tears were dripping down the boy's chin as he pointed around the
parked car.

"It's my brother, mister," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of
his wheelchair and I can't lift him up." Sobbing, the boy asked the
executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He's
hurt and he's too heavy for me."

Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the
rapidly swelling lump in his throat. Straining, he lifted the young man back
into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and
cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK. He then watched
the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12 cylinder Jaguar XKE
- a long and slow walk. Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar. He
kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has
to throw a brick at him to get his attention... Some bricks are softer than
others.

                 Yesterday is history
                 Tomorrow is a mystery
                 Today is a gift

How many times do "kids," matter-of-fact anyone, come into our lives yet give
up before "throwing rocks?"

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