(1) There once was a man who thought that life was hard and that he had no reason to continue living because he was useless. He had nothing and thought he could not be of any value to any one so he decided to end his miserable life. He climbed a tree to hang himself. Before he made the jump he ate is final meal (the only thing he had) a ripe banana. He threw away the skin and began to pray as he got ready to plunge to his death. As he was praying a passerby took up the banana skin that he threw away and ate it. He slowly climbed down and gave thanks for the meal he had.
(2) There once was another man who thought that he could not overcome the difficulties of life as everything he tried he failed, most times as a result of things beyond his control. He got very deep in debt and without a job or anything going for him thought it better to end his life. This man thought that he would sell the little that he had in life and bet the money on a horse in a last attempt to pay off his debt and continue living. The only thing he didn’t sell was his little radio and a piece of rope. He then climbed a tree with the rope tied around his neck and sat listening to the races on his radio. If his horse lose he would jump to his death. It turned out that his horse won and filled with excitement and eager to collect his winnings, he couldn’t bother to climb back down so he jumped down- with the rope still tied around his neck, he died.
The moral of the stories are: (1) though things are tough it is tougher for someone else and as tough as it is on you, you can help the other person without “killing” yourself. (2) When people are in desperate need and there seem to be no way out they sometimes turn to immoral/illegitimate means of surviving and eventually they end up worse off.
I say all that to say this: please remember to extend a hand to the flood victims in Portland. You may think that what you can afford to give cannot possibly help anybody, but remember the two men in the first story. You may be saying why should I care? Well firstly, they are all your brothers and sisters and things were very hard before the flood, there are many children and youth who were also affected and with no hope they may soon adopt the principles of the man in the second story. Illegitimate means of survival- which in reality means doom.
I don’t expect one person to make a very big impact but with each person’s little input I am sure many affected lives will be positively touched. Air Jamaica and Feurtado Shipping did their part by agreeing to help out with the shipment. Red Cross has agreed to receive and distribute the supplies to the victims and many forumites chipped in with pledges of cash and supplies. Please chip in with something (even a suggestion or a referral) and help make this effort worthwhile for more victims than it would be at this point.
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Posted - Nov 27 2001 : 09:48:45 AM
