simplyred's blog: "Play it Forward"

The Cost of a Soldier ..> ..> A True Soldier is tough indeed standing tall and strong when there is a need A Soldier also feels sadness, pain, and sorrow Sometimes not looking forward to the trials of tomorrow When a Soldier is wounded in battle the nerves of his buddies it does rattle When news reaches friends and family at home how their worries and minds begin to roam A wounded Soldier feels inadequate at best stopping him from much needed healing rest A wounded Soldiers wonders will he ever be alright, trusting in God that he'll make it through the night. When a Soldier is wounded far beyond repair the loss and pain felt can not compare The Cost of a Soldier is set so very high they assure our freedom will always apply To stand beside a Soldier and walk through his pain will humble a civilian, no longer to complain Love, patience, trust and hope is what a Soldier needs to get them through some very treacherous deeds Dear Lord please watch over our Military today as they work to keep our freedom everyday For the wounded and the families of Soldiers lost Please Bless them with abundant love, for we know not the cost. The Cost of a Soldier is set so very high our support for them we should never deny

You might want to have a tissue close at hand just in case.... Very touching story..... Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren, a social studies school teacher at Robinson High School in Little Rock, did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, she took all of the desks out of the classroom. The kids came into first period, they walked in, there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, "Ms. Cothren, where's our desk?" And she said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn them." 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 in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing, third period. By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren's class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. And she says, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily." She said, "Now I'm going to tell you." Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. They placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. By the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time I think perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks. Martha said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it." My friends, I think sometimes we forget that the freedoms that we have are freedoms not because of celebrities. The freedoms are because of ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who loved this country more than life itself, and who not only earned a school desk for a kid at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, but who earned a seat for you and me to enjoy this great land we call home, this wonderful nation that we better love enough to protect and preserve with the kind of conservative, solid values and principles that made us a great nation. "We live in the Land of the Free because of the Brave" Remember our Troops and Veterans...

This started yesterday .....bottom up ... My thoughts are posted after this message...... ->ArmyGuy63B...: DONE ASK WE SPEAK ArmyGuy63B...: GO AWAY!!!!!!!! ->ArmyGuy63B...: WENT AWAY ON YAHOO AS PER YOUR REQUEST.......NEXT IS HERE.......ENJOY YOUR LIFE........GOOD LUCK WITH THE KIDS AND THE ARMY.......CHIEF ->ArmyGuy63B...: name calling is not necessary.......i have thick skin.....but that was not necessary........ ArmyGuy63B...: fucking bitch ArmyGuy63B...: ok deleted ->ArmyGuy63B...: I mean I do need to do that every now and then .... ->ArmyGuy63B...: Delete if you wish .... but I was in bed sleeping ....SORRY !!!!!!! ArmyGuy63B...: ok cool i guess ill delete u too since u dont talk to me anymore ArmyGuy63B...: hello? All I ever asked out of him on Yahoo messenger was to say he was sorry for the name calling.... Now don't get me wrong I have been called this many times to my face over the years....but it has been face to face with someone that I have know for a very long time. We only started talking on December 3rd......Not long enough in my books to call me that name..... Am I wrong to think that way ???? So now he is gone ....I hope that he has a good life with his kids....

Here is how Cherry Tap defines it..... What is considered NSFW (Not Safe For Work)? A photo is deemed NSFW if it is: * Explicitly sexual in nature (suggestive) * Overtly tasteless * Slandering to any person or ethnicity Yesterday I had to change the folders that I posted some of my photos in... It seems that some of my pictures were deemed NSFW... I have a couple that just don't understand why... For those I will put them In a Folder titled : NSFW by CT. One of the pictures I am blowing out a candle...But the body art one was fine!! I know that some of these thoughts may be out of line.. But If the folder is titled ( ADULT) ....To me that means proceed at your own risk !!!! CHERRY TAP formerly know as LOST CHERRY makes me think 18 and older...Just by the name.. If that is the case.. Why do we have teenagers that are 15 and 16 years old on here ? Saw two yesterday ! And yes they even said so in their profile ! Teens under 18 need to be on a different site...In my honest opinion !!! So where does that put pictures that people take on vacation of statues ? And you know what type I am talking about... Or the pictures that we might post of our kids in a bubble bath....Or the picture that I have of the youngest grandson having his diaper changed showing his G Tube... Are they NSFW ??? Saw a lady in a two piece bikini on a boat motor yesterday that was NSFW....She was well covered.. But we can post pictures of the guys in Speedos or a picture of a man shirtless that stops right at the hairline...And that is OK.... I think what I am really trying to say is.... IF IT IS NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK ........ WHY ARE WE VIEWING IT AT WORK TO BEGIN WITH ?? I just had to express the thoughts that have been going through my mind last night at work... I might be approaching this with the wrong thoughts in mind... Please let me know what you think....

Girls leave their schedule wide-open and wait for a guy to call and make plans. Grown women make their own plans and nicely tell the guy to get in where he fits in. Girls want to control the man in their life. Grown women know that if he's truly hers, he doesn't need controlling. Girls check you for not calling them. Grown women are too busy to realize you hadn't. Girls are afraid to be alone. Grown women revel in it--using it as a time for personal growth. Girls ignore the good guys. Grown women ignore the bad guys. Girls make you come. Grown women make you come home. Girls worry about not being pretty and/or good enough for their man. Grown women know that they are pretty and/or good enough for any man. Girls try to monopolize all their man's time (i.e. don't want him hanging with his friends). Grown women realize that a lil' bit of space makes the 'together time' even more special and goes to kick it with her own friends! Girls think a guy crying is weak. Grown women offer their shoulder and a tissue. Girls want to be spoiled and 'tell' their man so. Grown women show him and make him comfortable enough to reciprocate w/o fear of losing his manhood. Girls get hurt by one man and make all men pay for it. Grown women know that that was just one man. Girls fall in love, chase aimlessly after the object of their affection, ignoring all signs. Grown women know that sometimes the one you love, don't always love you back and move on without bitterness. Girls will read this and get an attitude. Grown women will read this and pass it on to other grown women!!

This is written by a very dear friend of mine. Boondocker is the name that he goes by.... Semper Fi..... A Veterans Prayer Dear God It’s happening again, No, not in the jungles of Vietnam But on the burning dunes and cities Built on the oil rich Iraq sands Each day There’s more loss of life Being sacrificed in that far off land Young men and women bleeding on foreign soil For what Washington, DC calls an American stand Dear God, Your old veterans hearts Are beginning to break For innocents committed for righteousness sake That will sadly take a war to win, Dear Lord… I fear that our dark history Is showing its ass again How many of Liberty’s Son’s will it take? To liberate a land that doesn’t care While they rant and rave telling us That they don’t want us there ...... To them human life is nothing more Than a cheap, expendable, commodity of war Dear God, Who do we, as Vietnam veterans believe in? We know that the news media bold face lies, We who fought in Vietnam remember The double talk it took to keep that war alive We understand what deceptions about Coupled with misinformation and false body counts Chemical agents that didn’t exist Knowing now how hopeless it was to resist Being told when and how to fight Not even to fire when our enemy was in our sights Expecting any moment that a sapper could pull a pin That’s what we called terrorism then And the death of one soldier was tragic and a sin But now, as it was then, its becoming commonplace again So God, I’m asking you to please, To wake up the comatose leaders of this great land And to hold our warriors in the cleft of your mighty hand To brand your wisdom on the hearts and minds Of the powers that be That they may truly see, That our nation could not bear at all Another fifty thousand names chiseled Into yet another cold stone, Memorial Wall Boon, 9/20/03

Need A Man A few months after his parents were divorced, Little Johnny passed by his mom's bedroom and saw her rubbing herself and moaning, "I need a man, I need a man!" Over the next couple of months, he saw her doing this several times. One day, he came home from school and heard her moaning. When he peeked into her bedroom, he saw a man on top of her. Little Johnny ran into his room, took off his clothes, threw himself on his bed, started stroking himself, and moaning, "Ohh, I need a bike! I need a bike

Check out the videos posted in my comment section from Spudz.... Better have a kleenex handy ....

If any of you have ever been to a military funeral in which taps were played; this brings out a new meaning of it. Here is something Every American should know. Until I read this, I didn't know, but I checked it out and it's true: We in the United States have all heard the haunting song, "Taps". It's the song that gives us that lump in our throats and usually tears in our eyes. But, do you know the story behind the song? If not, I think you will be interested to find out about its humble beginnings. Reportedly, it all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison 's Landing in Virginia The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land. During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moans of a soldier who lay severely wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the Captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention. Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the Captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the Captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The Captain lit a lantern and suddenly caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, the boy enlisted in the Confederate Army. The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial, despite his enemy status. His request was only partially granted. The Captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for his son at the funeral. The request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. But, out of res- pect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician. The Captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of the dead youth's uniform. This wish was granted. The haunting melody, we now know as "Taps" ... used at military funerals was born. The words are : Day is done.. Gone the sun. From the lakes. From the hills. From the sky. All is well. Safely rest. God is nigh. Fading light. Dims the sight. And a star. Gems the sky. Gleaming bright. From afar. Drawing nigh. Falls the night . Thanks and praise. For our days. Neath the sun. Neath the stars. Neath the sky. As we go. This we know. God is nigh. I too have felt the chills while listening to "Taps" but I have never seen all the words to the song until now. I didn't even know there was more than one verse. I also never knew the story behind the song and I didn't know if you had either so I thought I'd pass it along. I now have an even deeper respect for the song than I did before. Remember Those Lost and Harmed While Serving Their Country. And also those presently serving in the Armed Forces. Please send this on after a short prayer.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. "In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” He continued, “And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. "As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden. "So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can relax; pick them up later after you've rested." And then he shared some ways of dealing with the burdens of life: * Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue. * Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them. * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it. * Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker. * If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague. * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it. * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others. * Never buy a car you can't push. *Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on. * Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. * Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late. * The second mouse gets the cheese. * When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane. * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. * You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person. * Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box. *A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour