Multiple Sclerosis

My best friend's dad has MS. His mom sent me a petition regarding making a new treatment available:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/the-liberation-procedure/sign.html#se

Along with the petition I'd like to pass on something she wrote in her email,

"Big miracles come in small increments!"

When you're the head dog the world appears wide open in front of you. When you're last it just looks like a bunch of a--holes following one another.

Christmas Excerpt from 'Just J'

We used to make a big deal out of Christmas. Ours was always the largest tree on the block and on Christmas Eve we’d invite the whole neighborhood over. The outside of the house would be covered in lights and the inside with tinsel and fresh cut cedar boughs.
We live near a golf course and Mom would go there at night with Billy, me, a toboggan and a pair of clippers. She’d cut branches off the cedars that line the course and I’d pile them on and around Billy, who stayed on the toboggan. He’d do his best to hold onto them. Mom loved the smell; she’d sniff the end of each one after she cut it. Dad used to play the course, so he pretended that he didn’t approve, but he’d always tell Mom which trees needed trimming if she insisted on cutting them.

Merry Christmas!!!

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

This editorial was such a large part of my childhood that I had to share it. We had a reprint of it in a photo album and when I was a kid, and questioned the existence of Santa Claus, my mom gave me this to read. I think I gained an understanding from it that many people today seem to have missed. Sadly, the ones who miss the point always seem to be the ones who think they're smarter then everyone else.
Originally printed in 1897 but still relevant, and will remain so as long as there are people who ". . . think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds." People who wish to take the joy out of the hearts of others since they have none in their own.

I hope you enjoy it. That it touches your heart, ignites your imagination, restores your sense of wonder and feeds your soul.


Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

By Francis P. Church, first published in The New York Sun in 1897.

Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O’Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

I got to see the Olympic Torch Relay in Picton today! Been there, done that, got the touque . . . and scarf. :)

I know they think I’m crazy. But that’s okay, the feeling's mutual.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Our goal is happiness. My dog can achieve that with a tennis ball or an old sock. I am in awe of his wisdom and humbled by his unconditional love and the affection he showers on me every time I come home.

Peace

I don't want peace as a state of mind, Lord, I want it as a state of human existence.


Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

“It’s a Wonderful Life”

I was watching, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. I must say, there are far too many Mr. Potters in this world and far too few George Baileys. Well, off to ring a few bells: best of luck, Clarence.

There are none so crazy as those certain of their sanity.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

I just cooked Penne with Tuna and Black Olives for dinner. But I’m feeling guilty, now. I pitted the olives against one another.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Anthropophobia is a fear of people. But, somedays, I'm not sure if that should be considered a phobia, or just good sense.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

If it doesn’t make you feel, it isn’t real.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

People and Turtles

I always used to think that people were like turtles and that our egos were just the shells we wore to protect the soft squishy bits inside. But, sadly, there does seem to be some empty shells out there.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

Light needs a source: darkness just is.

Copyright © Colin Frizzell 2009. All rights reserved.

The Little Man Who Barked.

I knew this tiny man once—teeny-tiny, no bigger than your thumb. But he would yelp like a little dog. He was so tiny because he never got any sun to help him grow. From the day he was born he remained in his daddy’s shadow, this poor teeny-tiny man who yelped like a little dog.