Things We Say Today, Which We Owe To SHAKESPEAR:

 I hope all this is true?!

Wow!  I had no idea!!

It is truly amazing - I've heard all of these!!

That's a LONG time for words to stay!!

Compiled by adgrayvisions

Old Eddie - "A Funny Old Duck"??

Capt. E.V. “Eddie” Rickenbacker wearing the

Congressional Medal of Honor. 

(U.S. Air Force photo)

It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.

Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier, where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a golden bronze now.

Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of shrimp.

Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky frame standing there on the end of the pier. Before long, dozens of seagulls enveloped him, their wings fluttering and flapping wildly.

Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank you. Thank you.'

In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave. He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and place .

When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs, and then they, too, fly away.

And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the end of the beach and on home.

If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water, Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, to onlookers, he's just another old codger, lost in his own weird world, feeding the seagulls with a bucket full of shrimp. To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They can seem altogether unimportant .....maybe even a lot of nonsense.

Old folks often do strange things, at least in the eyes of Boomers and Millennials. Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida ... That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.

His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero in World War I, and then he was in WWII.

On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived, crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.

Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food. No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they were or even if they were alive.

Every day across America millions wondered and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive. The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple devotional service and prayed for a miracle.

They tried to nap. Eddie leaned back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft...suddenly Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap. It was a seagull!

Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his starving crew made a meal of it - a very slight meal for eight men.

Then they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave them food and more bait....and the cycle continued. With that simple survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea.

Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull... And he never stopped saying, 'Thank you.'

That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of gratitude.

Reference: (Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm", pp...221, 225-226)

PS: Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines. Before WWI he was race car driver. In WWI he was a pilot and became America's first ace. In WWII he was an instructor and military adviser, and he flew missions with the combat pilots. Eddie Rickenbacker is a true American hero. And now you know another story about the trials and sacrifices that brave men have endured for your freedom.

As you can see, I chose to pass this story along as it was passed to me from my father. It is a great story that many don't know...I think it exemplifies a couple of life's lessons to be remembered. You've got to be careful with old guys, you just never know what they have done during their lifetime. It also speaks to me about how we never know what we adversity we might face, but when we put our talent both mentally and physically together, we can overcome, but we must never forget what we learned and to remember to thank those that helped pull us through even if it was as something seemingly meaningless as a seagull and to pay it forward.

WIKIPEDIA

What Color Are you TODAY??!!

 This was written by a Black Gentleman in Texas and is so funny. What a great sense of humor and creativity!!!

 

When I born, I BLACK,

 When I grow up, I BLACK,

 When I go in sun, I BLACK,

 When I cold, I BLACK,

 When I scared, I BLACK,

 When I sick, I BLACK,

 And when I die, I still BLACK.

 

You white folks....

 When you born, you PINK,

 When you grow up, you WHITE,

 When you go in sun, you RED,

 When you cold, you BLUE,

 When you scared, you YELLOW,

 When you sick, you GREEN,

 When you bruised, you PURPLE ,

 And when you die, you GRAY.

 So who you callin' colored folks?

FOR BOOK LOVERS ONLY - ENJOY!!!

Guests who stay at the this Scottish Apartment 

take turns running the Bookshop downstairs!!

Wigtown, UK

https://mymodernmet.com/the-open-book-airbnb/

https://wigtownbookfestival.com/our-projects/the-open-book#:~:text=Nestled%20in%20the%20pristine%20surroundings,of%20the%20town's%20vibrant%20community.

A town known as the "Town of books"

"Known as the First Booktown in the World"

Hay-on-Wye is located on the Welsh/English Border 

in the UK and is a bibliophile's sanctuary!

https://www.hay-on-wye.co.uk/

"Beach library in Bulgaria"

in front of the Hotel Kaliakra

Albena’s Ingenious Beach Library

Situated in Albena, a sprawling Bulgarian resort 

on the Black Sea coast, 

Beach Library is the first of its kind in the European Union, 

and boasts over 6,000 books in more than 15 languages.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/world/europe/october-books-human-chain.html
Bookshop owner in Southampton, England has asked for help as he moves his library due to high rent and wants to move the books to the new location. The person is surprised by the presence of more than 250 young people, elderly, and special needs people who were also involved. They form a human chain where they take thousands of books and transfer them hand in hand from the old place to the new place at a distance of 500 feet. The job was done in just an hour.

A good many of these I took off of Author Paige Edwards Instagram account

https://www.instagram.com/authorpaigeedwards/?hl=en