Category: Inspiration

In September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a History teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with the permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she removed all of the desks in her classroom. When the first period kids entered the room they discovered that there were no desks.

“Ms. Cothren, where are our desks?”

She replied, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn the right to sit at a desk.”

They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.” “No,” she said.

“Maybe it’s our behavior.” She told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”

And so, they came and went, the first period, second period, third period. Still no desks in the classroom. Kids called their parents to tell them what was happening and by early afternoon television news crews had started gathering at the school to report about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of her room.

The final period of the day came and as the puzzled students found seats on the floor of the desk-less classroom. Martha Cothren said, “Throughout the day no one has been able to tell me just what he or she has done to earn the right to sit at the desks that are ordinarily found in this classroom. Now I am going to tell you.”

At this point, Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. Twenty-seven (27) U.S. Veterans, all in uniform, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. The Vets began placing the school desks in rows, and then they would walk over and stand alongside the wall. By the time the last soldier had set the final desk in place those kids started to understand, perhaps for the first time in their lives, just how the right to sit at those desks had been earned.

Martha said, “You didn’t earn the right to sit at these desks. These heroes did it for you. They placed the desks here for you. They went halfway around the world, giving up their education and interrupting their careers and families so you could have the freedom you have. Now, it’s up to you to sit in them. It is your responsibility to learn, to be good students, to be good citizens. They paid the price so that you could have the freedom to get an education. Don’t ever forget it.”

By the way, this is a true story. And this teacher was awarded the Veterans of Foreign Wars Teacher of the Year for the State of Arkansas in 2006. She is the daughter of a WWII POW.

Do you think this email is worth passing along so others won’t forget either, that the freedoms we have in this great country were earned by our U.S. Veterans?… I did.

Let us always remember the men and women of our military and the rights they have won for us.

(Tom: Applies in Australia equally.)

Dubai founder Sheikh Rashid was consulted about the future of his country, and he responded:

“My grandfather was a camel, my father was a camel. I’m in Mercedes, my son is from Land Rover, and my grandson is going to walk from Land Rover. But my great grandson is going to have to go back to camel…”

Why is that?

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times. Easy times create weak men, weak men create tough times.”

“Many won’t understand but you have to raise warriors, not parasites…”

The other day, I was out grocery shopping at my local supermarket around 6:30 pm when an older man turned a corner into the pasta aisle and put his hands on my shoulder. I jumped up. My first instinct was to get angry and ask him to please not touch me. Then I noticed something. The man was crying. He looked distraught and confused.

Suddenly, he asked, ‘Do you know where my wife is? I’ve been looking for her.’ I told him I didn’t know and suggested maybe he ask the store front for help finding her. I was thinking maybe he lost her in the aisles. Hasn’t everyone lost someone this way? I was wrong.

He proceeded to ask, ‘Where is my wife? She was right here.’ Tears welled up in his eyes. I told him once again that I was not sure and gestured to walk with him to the customer service counter where they could use the overhead speaker service to make an announcement for her. He obliged.

There, the woman asked for a name. He looked to me in confusion, as if I had the answer for him. The woman half rolled her eyes and turned to me. ‘Miss. Do you have THE NAME?’ I explained he was a stranger and I had no other information than she did. ‘Is this a joke?’ she asked. By then, it became really clear to me that this man was very confused. Not just regular confused, but Alzheimer’s confused. Having had a grandpa with this condition, I knew it all too well.

I took him to the food court and we sat down. He was now shaking and crying softly. ‘Where is my love?’ I held his hands and I asked him if he had a cell phone. My heart was breaking for him. He said he wasn’t sure, so I asked if I could search his pockets. He obliged. I was careful. In it, I found a small flippy phone. I searched through his contacts and found one that read ‘Daughter Krissy.’ I immediately called her. She answered in seconds.

Hello?’ she said, her voice already sounding frantic. I explained that I was with an older man who I assumed was her father. That we were at the supermarket on Lane St and he was very distraught and upset.

‘On my way,’ she said. ‘can you make sure he doesn’t wander off?’ She continued, ‘Thank you, thank you. I’m coming.’

For 20-something minutes, I sat with a crying stranger. I held his hands. I wiped his tears. When he shivered, I layed my jacket down in his lap. I gave him answers he needed to hear in the moment. I kept him from trailing off. Because that’s the least I could have done.

Suddenly, in walks this tall young woman who looked about 28 or 29. Long black hair and green eyes. We locked eyes and she came rushing over. ‘Thank you. THANK YOU,’ she said. ‘I had to leave for just an hour, and this happens. I knew I shouldn’t have left him. I’m SO sorry.’ She explained that he sometimes runs off and looks for his wife. That he lost her 13 years ago, but he never stops trying.

She proceeded to help him out of his chair and thanked me once again. On their way out, I heard him say once more, ‘Where is my wife?’ My heart hurt, but I was so happy to see him with his family again. I share this not only because this man touched my heart, but to say this:

The majority of this world are strangers to you. I know that. But never forget that we all share this world together, and in it we can share kindness. That is the only thing that can keep us going. If you see something, do something. You never know how big your impact can be on someone else’s life.

I don’t care that the shopping cart I accidentally left in the pasta aisle during the frenzy of this situation was unloaded and put away. That I had to re-find everything. I don’t care that I ate dinner a little later that night. That I went home and cried my eyes out in the kitchen for this sweet, poor man. Kindness costs nothing. ~ Kelsey Rae

Saw this meme from a friend on Facebook who does a lot of spreading truth and dispelling lies.

I replied:

1. Do not underestimate the power of your communication. Just as it takes a long time for a drip to make a hole in a rock it can take a lot of truth to wear down the horrendously large quantity of false data with which most people are daily bombarded from birth till now. I (rarely) watch a few ads on TV as I am passing through the lounge and when you know the truth you can spot the false data as a continual barrage assaulting the sensibilities. My heart goes out to those poor souls trying their best to survive in what the media paints as an increasingly hostile environment when in truth it is 75% inhabited by people of good intent. Only 25% are destructively insane.

2. If that’s all you do you are at least supporting the remnant, and that confirmation can be sanity saving in and of itself,. I can’t tell you the number of people who have flicked me a quick line via Messenger or email to tell me how much they appreciate the flow of data I put out, and I am sure they represent but a small handful of those who benefit.

So take heart my fellow truth spreaders and poor the coals on, keep the peddle to the metal and let’s take this mudball back from the power elite!

If you need a pick me up, Appealing to the Remnant Rather Than The Masses is a resoundingly good listen for those who are aware and who despair of the masses.

https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job-0

P.S. Thanks! Love you right back and hugely appreciate your shoulder to the wheel! Much more than you will probably ever know!

Someone posted the question, “Is resistance futile?”

I responded thus:

No. Apathy has no place in maintaining freedom.

Resistance is vital to acquire, preserve and maintain freedom and sets an inspirational example to others.

There will always be ne’er do wells and evil/destructively inclined persons who will push until they are stopped. It take courage, resourcefulness, discipline, determined persistence and intelligence matched with force to defeat those who would enslave us.

Keep your eye on the goal of freedom as you build your capacity in each of those characteristics and victory will be ours!