Without Even Knowing It . . . Our World Came Dangerously Close to Destruction

 

On the night of September 26, 1983,

the world came dangerously close

to total destruction

without even knowing it.

In a Soviet early-warning command center, officer Stanislav Petrov was on duty, monitoring the systems that detected potential nuclear attacks from the United States.

Suddenly, alarms blared. The system reported that a nuclear missile had been launched from the US toward the Soviet Union. Moments later, it detected four more missiles following the same path. The catastrophe seemed imminent.

According to strict protocol, Petrov was supposed to immediately inform Soviet command, who would likely order a massive nuclear counterattack, potentially destroying half the planet.

But Petrov stood in front of the flashing screen, frozen for a moment, thinking:

"Why only five missiles? If the Americans were starting a nuclear war, wouldn’t they launch hundreds of missiles at once?"

The system might be wrong — machines don’t understand human intentions, but he, as a human, might.

At that crucial moment, he made his decision: he would not inform the command. He told his colleagues the system was likely mistaken and declared the alarm a false one. Minutes passed — and nothing happened. Indeed, it was a false alarm, caused by a malfunction in the satellite system that misinterpreted sunlight reflections on clouds as missile launches.

Had he followed protocol, Soviet leadership might have launched a massive nuclear retaliation, leading to the worst nuclear nightmare in history.

For years, this incident remained secret, and instead of being celebrated, Petrov was almost punished for disobeying orders.

When asked later why he did what he did, he simply said:

"Because I didn’t want to be the one responsible for starting World War III."

On February 24, 1989 - PILOT SAVES 346 LIVES WITH INCREDIBLE LANDING SKILLS

NINE PASSAGERS WERE SUCKED OUT OF A UNITED AIRLINES 747 AFTER ITS CARGO DOORS BLEW OFF

Captain David Cronin was 59 years old and two flights away from mandatory retirement when he pushed the throttles forward on United Airlines Flight 811 just before 2:00am on February 24, 1989. He had 28,000 flight hours under his belt. He was about to need every single one of them. 

The Boeing 747 lifted off from Honolulu with 337 passengers and 18 crew members, bound for Auckland, New Zealand. Sixteen minutes into the flight, as the plane climbed through 22,000 feet over the dark Pacific Ocean, a loud thud shook the aircraft. A second and a half later, the forward cargo door blew off. The explosive decompression ripped a hole in the right side of the fuselage, the cabin floor collapsed, and two entire rows of seats were ejected into the night. Nine passengers vanished. Their bodies were never found.

Inside the cockpit, the crew thought a bomb had gone off. It had only been two months since Pan Am Flight 103 was blown out of the sky over Lockerbie. Flight Engineer Randal Thomas left the cockpit to see how bad it was. He came back pale. A massive section of the fuselage was simply gone. Two of the four engines were destroyed. The emergency oxygen system was knocked out. And they were still over the ocean in the middle of the night.

Captain Cronin turned the crippled 747 around and headed back to Honolulu. The plane was carrying a full load of fuel for the long Pacific crossing, making it far heavier than normal. He landed using a non standard flap setting that no training manual had prepared him for. Every single one of the 346 remaining passengers and crew walked off that plane alive.

United Airlines later tried to recreate the same scenario in a flight simulator. They ran it over and over. They could never land it successfully.

The investigation revealed that Boeing had known about flaws in the 747 cargo door locking mechanism since 1975. The fix cost $3,000 and took 15 hours, but United delayed the work to avoid disrupting flight schedules. N4713U was scheduled for the upgrade in April 1989. It never made it. The crew received the Secretary's Award for Heroism, and Captain Cronin's skill on what was nearly his final flight saved 346 lives.


Wikipedia - United Airlines Flight 811

THE FLIGHT THAT LANDED SAFELY - BUT NO ONE SURVIVDED - SAUDIA FLIGHT 163

It was August 19, 1980. A Lockheed L-1011 TriStar took off from Riyadh carrying 301 people. Most were pilgrims heading to Mecca. Some had never been on a plane before.

Seven minutes after takeoff, an alarm sounded. Smoke in the rear cargo hold. The crew spent five critical minutes debating whether the warning was real. By the time they turned back, the fire had already burned through the cabin floor. A flight attendant radioed the cockpit and said passengers were fighting in the aisles. She could not get past the middle of the plane.

At 9:35 PM, the aircraft touched down in Riyadh. Smooth. Controlled. From the tower, it looked completely normal.

But instead of stopping on the runway, the captain kept taxiing for nearly three minutes. Then the plane stopped but the engines kept running for another three minutes. This was catastrophic. The L-1011 had plug type doors that open inward first. With the engines running, the cabin stayed pressurized, making the doors nearly impossible to open from inside or outside.

No evacuation was ever called. No one could get out. No one could get in.

Firefighters rushed to the plane but had never fought an aircraft fire before. They did not know how to open an L-1011's doors. It took them 23 minutes. When they finally got one open, they shouted into the darkness. No one answered. Seconds later, fresh air triggered a flashover. Trapped gases ignited and fire tore through the cabin.

All 301 people were dead. Autopsies confirmed every one died from smoke inhalation, not burns. They were almost certainly alive at touchdown. Every body was found in the forward half of the cabin, pressed against exits that never opened.
The pilots were found still in their seats.

It is the only known case of a widebody jet landing safely with no survivors. It changed aviation forever.

Wikipedia - Saudia Flight 163

Sometimes All We Need Is A Little Kindness - This Will Touch Your Heart

 

From this shady_et  Instagram account

INCREDIBLE Story of Betsy Stockton - First Single Missionary Sent From America - Influenced Tens of Thousands of People Around the World!!

INCREDIBLE WOMEN

BETSY STOCKTON

 

International Missionary Board

Princeton University

Wikipedia

Hero Edith Cavell From WWI - A Nurse Who Did MUCH - and Was Executed

Learn about Edith Cavell, the nurse who saved over 200 people and was later executed for doing so.

I tried to find this exact video on YouTube - but was not able to. Sorry. 

Find the YouTube video below:
 

Instagram video:

CLICK HERE

Life Story of Edith Cavell | British Nurse Who Rescued 200+ Soldiers in WW1

So unfortunately - this person won't allow other to play their video on other websites - you have to click on "watch on YouTube"

I'll look for another one!

For some reason this video sometimes does not show up

So here is the link, if it shows unavailable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7T4HhwKzMY

"This Is My Story . . . "

Incredible story of a random shooting - shot 8 times! And he LIVED!!
If it doesn't come right up, scroll down and find the title on the lower left hand side -
"This Is My Story" - he tells you the whole incredible experience!!

Click Here to see the post on youtube dated Feburary 14, 2024

Click Here to see post on Instagram dated June 17, 2024

marcusastanley youtube account

marcusastanley Instantagram Account

This Incredible Woman Gave Wounded WWI Veterans A Second Chance In Life

Anna Coleman Ladd 

made masks for Veterans who suffered 

horrific face injuries during World War I

I have tried to upload this video from youtube, but for some reason, 

it is not coming up as a playable  video.  So here is the link:

Click Here

1:55 minutes

Sculptor Made Masks for Wounded 

WWI Soldiers with Disfigured Faces

1:58 Minutes

A Message From A Friend

You are in your car driving home. Thoughts wander to the game you want to see or meal you want to eat, when suddenly a sound unlike any you've ever heard fills the air.

The sound is high above you.

A trumpet?

A choir?

A choir of trumpets?

You don't know, but you want to know....

So you pull over, get out of your car, and look up. As you do, you see you aren't the only curious one. The roadside has become a parking lot. Car doors are open, and people are staring at the sky.

Shoppers are racing out of the grocery store. The Little League baseball game across the street has come to a halt. Players and parents are searching the clouds And what they see, and what you see, has never before been seen.

As if the sky were a curtain, the drapes of the atmosphere part . . . A brilliant light spills onto the earth . . . There are no shadows... None.

From every hue ever seen and a million more never seen.  Riding on the flow is an endless fleet of angels. They pass through the curtains one myriad at a time, until they occupy every square inch of the sky.

North – South – East - West.

Thousands of silvery white fabric rise and fall in unison, and over the sound of the trumpets, you can hear the angels chanting,
"Holy, Holy, Holy..." The final flank of angels is followed by twenty-four silver-bearded elders and a multitude of souls who join the angels in worship.

Suddenly, the heavens are quiet. All is quiet. The angels turn, you turn, the entire world turns and there He is.... Jesus.

Through waves of light you see the silhouetted figure of Christ the King. He is atop a great stallion, and the stallion is atop a billowing cloud. He opens his mouth, and you are surrounded by his declaration:

"I am the Alpha and the Omega."

The angels bow their heads... The elders remove their crowns...

And before you is a Figure so consuming that you know, instantly you know: Nothing else matters... Forget stock markets and school reports: Sales meetings and football games.. Nothing is newsworthy..  All that mattered, matters no more.. For Christ has come.

This morning when the Lord opened a window to Heaven, he saw me, and he asked: "My child, what is your greatest wish for today?"

I responded: 'Lord please; take care of my family, my friends, the person who is reading this message, their family and their special friends. They deserve it and I love them very much.'

The love of God is like the ocean, you can see its beginnings but not its end.

ANGELS EXIST, but sometimes, since they don't have wings we call them FRIENDS, SUCH AS YOU.

Heaven and Hell

A Holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said,
'Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.

The Lord led the holy man to two doors.
He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
  
In the middle of the room was a large round table.

In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew,  
which smelled delicious and made the holy man's mouth water.

The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly.

They appeared to be famished.

They were holding spoons with very long handles
that were strapped to their arms and each found it possible
to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful.

But because the handle was longer than their arms,
they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
  
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering.

The Lord said,
'You have seen Hell.
They went to the next room and opened the door.
It was exactly the same as the first one.

There was the large round table with the large pot of
stew which made the holy man's mouth water.
 
The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons,
but here the people were well nourished and plump,    
laughing and talking.



The holy man said, 'I don't understand.  

'It is simple,' said the Lord.  'It requires but one skill...
 
You see, they have learned to feed each other.
  
The greedy think only of themselves.'
 
When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you.

   Remember -
I will always share my spoon with you.
   
Live Simply
Love Generously
Speak Kindly
Leave the rest to God... 


   January 2012

A Dad's Story

As I frequently do, I turned to the internet to check this story out and what I found was most interesting. The story below is a very good (true) story that will touch your heart. But there is more.

What circulates as a shortened form of “A Dad’s Story” was originally named “Free The Birdies”, a title that aptly described the thrust of the unabridged account. It was penned in 1994 by Lloyd Glenn, a Mormon then living in Mission Viejo, CA, about the accident that befell his son Brian, on July 22, 1993.

Read the story below then go to this page: Click Here for more info
to read the rest of the story. At the beginning of the page, is starts with the same story below. Scroll down the page and start with “origins” and I think you will find it very interesting.

A DAD' S STORY 

On July 22nd I was en route to Washington , DC , for a business trip.  

It was all so very ordinary, until we landed in Denver for a plane change. As I collected my belongings from the overhead locker, an announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn (that’s me) to see the United Customer Service Representative immediately. 

I thought nothing of it until I reached the door to leave the plane and I heard a gentleman asking every male if he were Mr. Glenn. At this point I knew something was wrong and my heart sunk.  

When I got off the plane, a solemn-faced young man came toward me and said, "Mr.Glenn, there is an emergency at your home. I do not know what the emergency is, or who is involved, but I will take you to the phone so you can call the hospital."  

My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm took over. 

Woodenly, I followed this stranger to the distant telephone where I called the number he gave me for the Mission Hospital . My call was put through to the trauma center where I learned that my three-year-old son had been trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes and that when my wife had found him he was dead. CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor, and the paramedics had continued the treatment as Brian was transported to the hospital. 

By the time of my call, Brian was revived and they believed he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum right over his heart. He had been severely crushed. After speaking with the medical staff, my wife sounded worried but not hysterical, and I took comfort in her calmness. 

The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come down. When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could have prepared me to see my little son laying so still on a great big bed with tubes and monitors everywhere. He was on a respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood and tried to give me a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a terrible dream. I was filled-in with the details and given a guarded prognosis. 

Brian was going to live, and the preliminary tests indicated that his heart was OK, two miracles in and of themselves. But only time would tell if his brain received any damage.  

Throughout the seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung on to her words and faith like a lifeline. All that night and the next day Brian remained unconscious.. It seemed like forever since I had left for my business trip the day before. 

Finally at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken.  He said, "Daddy hold me" and he reached for me with his little arms. 

By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital. You cannot imagine, when we took Brian home, we felt a unique reverence for the life and love of our Heavenly Father that comes to those who brush death so closely. 

In the days that followed, there was a special spirit about our home.
Our two older children were much closer to their little brother. My wife and I were much closer to each other, and all of us were very close as a whole family. Life took on a less stressful pace. 

Perspective seemed to be more focused and balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt deeply blessed. Our gratitude was truly profound.
The story is not over (smile)! 

Almost a month later to the day of the accident, Brian awoke from his afternoon nap and said, "Sit down Mommy.. I have something to tell you". At this time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so to say a large sentence surprised my wife. She sat down with him on his bed, and he began his sacred and remarkable story. 

"Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door? Well, it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then it hurt too bad. And then the ' birdies ' came." 

"The birdies?" my wife asked puzzled.

Yes," he replied. "The birdies made a whooshing sound and flew into the garage. They took care of me". 

"They did?" 

"Yes," he said. "One of the birdies came and got you.  She came to tell you 'I got stuck under the door'.

A sweet reverent feeling filled the room. The spirit was so strong and yet lighter than air.  My wife realized that a three-year-old had no concept of death and spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came to him from beyond as "birdies" because they were up in the air like birds that fly.

"What did the birdies look like?" she asked. 

Brian answered, "They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white, all white. Some of them had green and white. But some of them had on just white." 

"Did they say anything?" 

"Yes," he answered. "They told me the baby would be all right".

"The baby"? my wife asked confused. 

Brian answered. "The baby laying on the garage floor".

He went on, "You came out and opened the garage door and ran to the baby. You told the baby to stay and not leave".

My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this,  for she had indeed gone and knelt beside Brian's body and seeing his crushed chest whispered, "Don't leave us Brian, please stay if you can".

As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that the spirit had left his body and was looking down from above on this little lifeless form.

"Then what happened"?  she asked. 

"We went on a trip," he said, "far, far away".

He grew agitated trying to say the things he didn't seem to have the words for. My wife tried to calm and comfort him, and let him know it would be okay.  He struggled with wanting to tell something that obviously was very important to him, but finding the words was difficult. 

"We flew so fast up in the air. They're so pretty Mommy," he added. 

"And there are lots and lots of birdies"?

My wife was stunned. Into her mind the sweet comforting spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency she had never before known. Brian went on to tell her that the "birdies" had told him that he had to come back and tell everyone about the "birdies".  He said they brought him back to the house and that a big fire truck and an ambulance were there. A man was bringing the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man that the baby would be okay.

The story went on for an hour. 

He taught us that "birdies" were always with us, but we don't see them because we look with our eyes and we don't hear them because we listen with our ears. But they are always there, you can only see them in here (he put his hand over his heart).  They whisper the things to help us to do what is right because they love us so much.

Brian continued, stating, "I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan.  Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We must all live our plan and keep our promises. The birdies help us to do that cause they love us so much".

In the weeks that followed, he often came to us and told all, or part of it, again and again.  Always the story remained the same.  The details were never changed or out of order.  A few times he added further bits of information and clarified the message he had already delivered.  It never ceased to amaze us how he could tell such detail and speak beyond his ability when he talked about his birdies. 

Everywhere he went, he told strangers about the "birdies".

Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he did this. Rather, they always got a softened look on their face and smiled. 

Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that day, and I pray we never will be. 

You have an Angel to watch over you.  Some people come into our lives and quickly go.  Some people become friends and stay a while . . . leaving beautiful footprints on our hearts ... and we are never quite the same because we have made a good friend.

Irena Sendler - WWII Saver of Children

Irena Sendler

 There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (she being German).   Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried.  She also carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids).   She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto.   The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.   During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.   She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely.   Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard.   After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived and reunited the family.   Most had been gassed.   Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.      Last year (2007) Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.

The story of Irena Sendler is true.  According to a website set up in her honor at - Life In A Jar-THE IRENA SENDLER PROJECT- she was not widely known until a series of events that started in Kansas in the U.S.A. in 1999.

A teacher in a rural Kansas town discovered a short magazine article that claimed that a Polish woman saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942 and 1943.  He gave the story to four high school students and asked them to check it out.  He said he'd never heard of the woman and speculated that the article may have gotten the facts wrong.

The students looked into the story and discovered that Irena Sendler was real, her story was accurate, and that she was still alive and living in Poland.

Sendler was a Catholic social worker during the 1940s who saw the handwriting on the wall for the Jews of Poland.  She became concerned for the children in the Warsaw Ghetto, which was one of the largest ghettos of Jews established by the Nazis.  The population of the Warsaw Ghetto dropped from 450,000 to about 70,000 people because of starvation, sickness, and tens of thousands of Jews deported to concentration camps and death.

Sendler convinced Jewish parents that their children were facing death either in the Ghetto or in concentration camps and offered to rescue them.  She smuggled the children out of the Warsaw Ghetto and hid them in the homes of Poles who adopted them or in orphanages or convents.  She made lists of the children's names and family connections and hid them in jars in her garden so that someday she could find the children and tell them who they were.
Sendler was eventually discovered, arrested, tortured, and imprisoned by the Nazis.  The Polish underground bribed a guard to let her escape and she spent the rest of the war in hiding.

The students in Kansas developed a performance titled Life In a Jar that tells the story of Irena Sendler.  Those performances and the publicity that resulted have thrust the news about Irena Sendler around the world.

The Sparrow at Starbucks

By John Thomas Oaks  

"It was chilly in Manhattan but warm inside the Starbucks shop on 51st Street and Broadway, just a skip up from Times Square. For a musician, it's the most lucrative Starbucks location in the world, I'm told, and consequently, the tips can be substantial if you play your tunes right.

"I was playing keyboard and singing backup for my friend who also added rhythm with an arsenal of percussion instruments. During our emotional rendition of "If You Don't Know Me by Now," I noticed a lady sitting in one of the lounge chairs across from me. She was swaying to the beat and singing along.

"After the tune was over, she approached me. "I apologize for singing along on that song. Did it bother you?" she asked.

"'No," I replied. "We love it when the audience joins in. Would you like to sing up front on the next selection?"  To my delight, she accepted my invitation.

"'You choose,' I said.   

What are you in the mood to sing?'

"'Well ... do you know any hymns?'

"Hymns" This woman didn't know who she was dealing with. I cut my teeth on hymns. Before I was even born, I was going to church. I gave our guest singer a knowing look. "Name one."

"'Oh, I don't know. There are so many good ones. You pick one."

"'Okay," I replied. "How about 'His Eye is on the Sparrow''?

My new friend was silent, her eyes averted. Then she fixed her eyes on mine again and said, "Yeah. Let's do that one."

"She slowly nodded her head, put down her purse, straightened her jacket, and faced the center of the shop. With my two-bar setup, she began to sing.

"'Why should I be discouraged?    

Why should the shadows come?'

"The audience of coffee drinkers was transfixed.

"'I sing because I'm happy;   

'I sing because I'm free.    

'For His eye is on the sparrow      

'And I know He watches me.'

"When the last note was sung, the applause crescendo to a deafening roar.

Embarrassed, the woman tried to shout over the din:

"'Oh, y'all go back to your coffee! I didn't come in here to do a concert! I just came in here to get somethin' to drink, just like you!'

"But the ovation continued. I embraced my new friend. You, my dear, have made my whole year! That was beautiful!'

"'It's funny that you picked that particular hymn,' she said.

"'Why is that?'

"She hesitated again, That was my daughter's favorite song.'

"She grabbed my hands. By this time, the applause had subsided and it was business as usual. She was 16. She died of a brain tumor last week.'

"I said the first thing that found its way through my silence. Are you going to be okay?' She smiled through tear-filled eyes and squeezed my hands.

"'I'm gonna be okay. I've just got to keep trusting the Lord and singing his songs, and everything is gonna be just fine.' She picked up her bag, gave me her card, and then she was gone.

"Was it just a coincidence that we happened to be singing in that particular coffee shop on that particular November night?

"Coincidence that this wonderful lady just happened to walk into that particular shop?

"Coincidence that of all the hymns to choose from, I just happened to pick the very hymn that was the favorite of her daughter, who had died just the week before? I refuse to believe it.

"God has been arranging encounters in human history since the beginning of time, and it's no stretch for me to imagine that He could reach into a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan and turn an ordinary gig into a revival.

"It was a great reminder that if we keep trusting Him and singing His songs, everything's gonna be okay."

The Pink Dress

       There was this little girl sitting by herself in the park.  Everyone passed by her and never stopped to see why she looked so sad.  Dressed in a worn pink dress, barefoot and dirty, the girl just sat and watched the people go by.

She never tried to speak.  She never said a word.

Many people passed by her, but no one would stop.

The next day I decided to go back to the park in curiosity to see if the little girl would still be there. Yes, she was there, right in the very spot where she was Yesterday, and still with the same sad look in her eyes.

Today I was to make my own move and walk over to the little girl.  For as we all know, a park full of strange people is not a place for young children to play alone.  As I got closer I could see the back of the little girl's dress. It was grotesquely shaped.  I figured that was the reason people just passed by and made no effort to speak to her.  Deformities are a low blow to our society and, heaven forbid if you make a step toward assisting someone who is different.

As I got closer, the little girl lowered her eyes slightly to avoid my intent stare.  As I approached her, I could see the shape of her back more clearly. She was grotesquely shaped in a humped over form.  I smiled to let her know it was OK; I was there to help, to talk.  I sat down beside her and opened with a simple, “Hello”.

        The little girl acted shocked, and stammered a 'hi '; after a long stare into my eyes.  I smiled and she shyly smiled back. We talked until darkness fell and the park was completely empty.

       I asked the girl why she was so sad. The little girl looked at me with a sad face said, “Because, I'm Different”.

       I immediately said, “That you are”! and smiled.  The little girl acted even sadder and said, “I know”.

      “Little girl”, I said, “you remind me of an angel, sweet and innocent”. 

       She looked at me and smiled, then slowly she got to her feet and Said, “Really”?  

       “Yes, you're like a little Guardian Angel sent to watch over all the people walking by”. She nodded her head and smiled.

With that she opened the back of her pink dress and allowed her Wings to spread, then  she said “I am”.

       “I'm your Guardian Angel”, with a twinkle in her eye.

I was speechless -- sure I was seeing things.  She said,  “For once you thought of someone other than yourself. My job here is done”.

I got to my feet and said, “Wait, why did no one stop to help an Angel”.

She looked at me, smiled, and said, “You're the only one that could see me”, and then she was gone.

And with that, my life was changed dramatically.

So, when you think you're all you have, remember, your angel is always watching over you. 

Angels - Explained by Children

I only know the names of two angels. Hark and Harold.

Gregory, 5

Everybody's got it all wrong. Angels don't wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it.

Olive, 9

It's not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to heaven, then there's still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes.

Matthew, 9

Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else.

Mitchell, 7

My guardian angel helps me with math, but he's not much good for science.

Henry, 8

Angels don't eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!!.

Jack, 6

Angels talk all the way while they're flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.

Daniel, 9

When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there's a tornado.

Reagan, 10

Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow.  Then when it gets cold, angels go north for the winter.

Sara, 6

Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who's a very good carpenter.

Jared , 8

All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn't go for it.

Antonio, 9

My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth.

Katelynn, 9

Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets.  And if they don't make the animals get better, they help the child get over it.

Vicki, 8

What I don't get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them.

Sarah, 7