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NOT ALL 911 HEROES ARE PEOPLE ~ ~ ~

James Crane worked on the 101st of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. He is blind so he has a golden retriever named Daisy. After the plane hit 20 stories below, James knew that he was doomed, so he let Daisy go, out of an act of love. She darted away into the darkened hallway. Choking on the fumes of the jet fuel and the smoke James was just waiting to die. About 30 minutes later, Daisy comes back along with James' boss, who Daisy just happened to pick up on floor 112. On her first run of the building, she leads James, James' boss, and about 300 more people out of the doomed building. But she wasn't through yet, she knew there were others who were trapped. So, highly against James'
wishes she ran back in the building. On her second run, she saved 392 lives. Again she went back in. During this run, the building collapses. James hears about this and falls on his knees into tears. Against all known odds, Daisy makes it out alive, but this time she is carried by a
firefighter. "She led us right to the people, before she
got injured" the fireman explained. Her final run saved another 273 lives. She suffered acute smoke inhalation,
severe burns on all four paws, and a broken leg, but she saved 967 lives.The next week, Mayor Guilaini rewards Daisy with the Canine medal of Honor of New York. Daisy is the first civilian Canine to win such an honor.

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~ Martha Will Not Be Joining Us!!! ~


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SKUNKS I'VE RUN WITH
-Steve Goodier

Ever run with a skunk?
A newspaper story once related that a mother of eight from Darlington, Maryland, had been visiting next door. When she returned home she went into the living room where she saw her five youngest children huddled in the center of the floor - on her new carpet - very much involved with something wiggly and squirmy. The perplexed mother looked closer. To her total dismay, she discovered that the children were gathered around a family of skunks.
In her horror she screamed, "Run, children, run!"
They did. Each child grabbed a skunk and ran.

I know I've sometimes made the same mistake. Instead of leaving a potentially smelly situation alone, I decided to "run" with it. Many of my problems have been the result of my own poor choices and bad judgment, though I may be tempted to blame someone else. A skunk I'll sometimes run with is "the easy way" when there may be a clear "better
way" which seems just too difficult at the time. Another skunk is "instant gratification" -- the I-want-it-now decision that often turns out to reek in the long run. Or I allow fear or guilt to influence my decisions, which almost always guarantees an outcome that stinks. You see, many of my troubles are just the result of "stinking thinking." I really can't blame anyone or anything else. I get seduced
by a furry, little skunk and run with it. But smelly decisions make for smelly problems. Better to run from those skunks than with them!
Like me, have you ever run with skunks? Or the more important question is...if you're running with one now, will you put it down? Our lives can smell pretty wonderful when we begin to make better decisions, and we'll have no one to blame for the improvement but ourselves!