True Perspective

 

The people who read this blog tend to be problem solvers - they look for something that's not right and they look for a solution to the problem.

So it's real easy for us to focus on the things that are wrong. And there's a lot going wrong these days.

Many of you are unemployed or underemployed. Family issues, health issues, financial issues all add to the mix. And it happens to all of us.

However, a requirement for true growth is to see things the way they really are. During this time of year we should be reminded of how things really are in our own lives - to provide ourselves with a true perspective.

In other words, count your blessings.

Did you make it through the past year?  55,000,000 didn't.

Planning to eat today?  1.02 billion people are hungry. Every day.

Reading this now?  785,000,000 people can't read or write.

So here's the point. Don't ignore the things you can improve on - but don't overlook what you have today. It's good for you.

I sincerely hope that next year is better for all of you, regardless of where you are and what you've been through.  And whether your glass is half empty or half full, be thankful you have a glass, and for the One who does the filling.

A Bureaucrat to the Bitter End

 I recently found this gem on the internet:

  Off of Rt. 122 near Bedford, VA you can find a most unusual cemetery. It's officially known as the Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery, but most  locals refer to it as the "ABC Cemetery," not because of its name, but because of its former owner and caretaker, Thomas Aadland. 

You see, Mr. Aadland had a habit of  re-ordering the graves to keep them in strict alphabetical order. 

Following an internment, local residents would find Aadland digging up graves and shuffling caskets and headstones from plot to plot to maintain the alphabetic burial sequence.

He even had all the plot owners to sign a form acknowledging the "floating" nature of their burial plot and allowing him to change the assigned plot and move each body as needed. 

As bizarre as it sounds, family members didn't mind - it allowed them to easily find the grave sites of their loved ones on return visits without having to remember the location between visits.

In 1992, Aadland found himself near death, and he realized that he would no longer be able to maintain the cemetery, much less continue to shuffle the grave sites. 

Because of this, he decided to close the cemetery, but to his horror, he realized that the graves would have to be shuffled one more time so that he himself could be buried in proper sequence (and an "A" shuffle to boot...the worst kind). 

Too weak to shuffle the graves once more, Aadland placed a newspaper ad seeking laborers, but he had no takers.

If you visit the ABC Cemetery today, you can observe firsthand how Aadland solved his dilemma. Look for the very last grave in the cemetery...the grave of Thomas Zuckerman... formerly known as Thomas Aadland.

There's got to be a moral here somewhere.

It's either:

• Don't let your procedures get in the way of your original objective

or

• Learn to think outside the box (casket?)