Archives for March 2019

Four Generations of Singing the “PAL” Song

March 31, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

My friend told me that his family has sung the same song for four generations.

It all started in the 1950’s when my friend heard his father sing the song to his mother, when she was upset or sad. My friend called it the “PAL” song. He didn’t know the actual title He heard his father emphatically accentuate the word “PAL” in the beginning of the song:

“With someone like you – a PAL good and true.
We’ll go and leave it all behind and go and find.
Some place that’s known, to God alone.
Just a spot to call our own.

We’ll find the perfect peace. Where joys never cease.
And let the rest of the world go by…”

The song seemed to work because his mother smiled when his dad finished singing.

Fast Forward. When my friend became a father for the first time, he offered to help his wife by changing their daughter’s diaper, giving her a bath, putting on her nightgown, and tucking her into bed. Between the nightgown and tucking-in steps, he decided to rock his daughter while singing the “PAL” song to her. She seemed to smile when he placed her into the crib. Even at age two, his daughter wanted to hear the “PAL” song before she went to sleep.

Her brother was born 3 years later. My friend repeated the bed-time process: diaper change, bath, nightgown, rocking chair & singing the “PAL” song, before tucking his newborn son into the crib. My friend then had to go to his daughter’s room to sing the “PAL” song, before she went to sleep.

And, so it went, every night, for 6 continuous years. Then, his final two sons were born, two years apart. The same nighttime changing, bathing, nightgown, rocking, singing, tucking-in process continued. My friend sang the “PAL” song every night, for over a decade. (His daughter performed the bedtime rituals when her parents needed a night out.)

Fast Forward. At my friend’s daughters’ Wedding Rehearsal Dinner, he spontaneously decided to instruct his Son-in-Law to sing the “PAL” song to his new wife when she would get upset or be sad. (My friend assured the groom that those occurrences would happen.) The “PAL” song was the only antidote. (The Son-in-Law thanked my friend years later.) So, my friend also sang the “PAL” song at each of his three son’s Wedding Rehearsal Dinners.

While singing the song, at his last son’s Rehearsal Dinner, my friend’s voice began to falter. Perhaps, the flood of collective memories of singing the “PAL” song was emotionally overwhelming, so his voice began to crack and weaken. Just then, a strong, young, pitch-perfect, female voice sang every word, with him, without missing a beat. (Akin, to Julie Andrews helping Christopher Plummer finish singing “Edelweiss” in the “Sound of Music”.) Only, this voice was my friend’s 14-year-old granddaughter’s. (Her great-grandfather would have been so proud.)

It was the best rendition of the “PAL” song ever – judging by the decibel level of the applause, the amount of tears shed, and the smile on my friend’s face.

Recent Renditions: My friend’s entire family celebrated his eldest Son’s 43rd birthday. His son loves playing the guitar. So, my friend hired 2 guitar players to play requests from the guests at the party. When all the requests & guests were exhausted, and ready to leave, the guitar players had a “Surprise” gift. They began playing the “PAL” song. Within a few notes, the room was filled with different decades of voices singing those precious lyrics. (In the same month, the family celebrated my friend’s 73rd birthday, singing the “PAL” song, with smiles all around.

N. B. The song’s actual title is: “And Let the Rest of the World Go By” – written & recorded in 1919. It was re-recorded by Gene Autry in the 1940’s, and again by Willie Nelson in the 1990’s. My friend heard his father sing it in the 1950’s. He sang it to his children in the 1970’s & 1980’s as babies. And then sang it at their weddings in the 21st century. It was recently sung at a family birthday party in 2019, a hundred years after it was written.

Above YouTube Music Video Captures the Essence of this Blog Post Message

Sometimes, the thread that holds relationships together can be as simple as singing, a timeless song, for generations.

Civilization Hangs in the Balance

March 1, 2019 by admin 1 Comment

Civilization Hangs in the Balance

*Above YouTube video enhances blog post message Below

My friend told me a true story about civilization hanging in the balance. It’s a story about the essence of our humanity.

It’s about the inclination that motivated the Samaritan to help the distressed Jew. That motivated Mother Theresa to care for the discarded children in the squalor of Calcutta. That motivated Doctor Albert Schweitzer to attend the sick of Africa.

That inclination transcends politics, religion, and philosophical beliefs. The reality of unselfish compassion is hard-wired into our hearts, and minds, and souls and is what separates humanity from the savage instincts of the animal. Compassion is the significant human distinction with a difference.

The difficulty is deciding what is compassionate. No one chooses Evil over Good. Our choices are more subtle, sometimes choosing “Apparent Good” over “Actual Good”. That’s the basis of the wise Scottish saying, “The Devil’s boots don’t creek.”

So our souls suffer the thousand cuts of compromise and rationalization, often beginning with good intentions. The New York State legislation was originally well-intended: It wanted to provide various humane medical options to the heart-breaking conditions of tormented mothers bearing babies with awful physical anomalies. You could almost hear a merciful God whispering into the legislators’ ears, to ease those mothers’ burden.

But, there is a reason for the astute axiom: “You don’t want to watch how laws or sausages are made.“ Along the way, special interests begin to corrupt the pristine good intention, polluting the final draft of the Law passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor. *(What originally starts out to be a magnificent thoroughbred horse, often ends up as a mangy, ugly camel.) Likewise, legislation that provides the needed legal options to assuage the anxiety and trauma of wonderful mothers, also contains some vague amendments that allow some unsavory outcomes not originally intended.

The worst and most extreme, albeit rare outcome, is that a healthy, viable baby is born without any medical trauma to the mother. The problem is that the abortion doctor failed to abort the baby in the mother’s womb, as the mother intended. Now, the baby is a healthy, viable living-breathing person. That young person is now guaranteed “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” by the US Constitution.

The abortion doctor’s role should now switch to provide that healthy person with all the reasonable medical care that the Doctor’s oath and Law demands. Except now, the New Law changed that. With the stroke of a Governor’s pen, the doctors option is to kill that healthy baby. And he does.

It was only a few years ago that Doctor Gosnell was convicted and jailed for killing a newborn baby, that he threw into a toilet, before he had the time to kill it. Society was appalled at his depraved indifference to human life. Today, in New York State, Doctor Gosnell would be legally allowed to murder innocent, defenseless infants outside the womb.

That’s the unsavory part of the legislative process. It permits some heinous things to happen, while providing the greater good, for the greater number.

Today, we must decide: Either to denounce and eliminate those particular segments of the New York State legislation that allows depraved indifference to human life. Or, do nothing, and let the slaughter of the defenseless innocent triumph. As Edmund Burke warmed, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing.”

Above YouTube Music Video Capture The Essence of this Blog Post’s Message

My friend had tears rolling down his cheeks as he was telling me this story. Perhaps, tears may be rolling down the cheeks of God. After all, God made everyone in His Image & Likeness – to be children of God, and heirs to heaven. Civilization hangs in the balance of what we allow.

The Breakthrough Effect

March 1, 2019 by admin 1 Comment

The Breakthrough Effect

*Above YouTube Music Video Enhances Blog Post Message Below:

My friend gave me the book, “The Breakthrough Effect”. “It’s a collection of the actual life experiences of 17 women, ten of whom are #1 bestselling authors. These are powerful stories of breakthrough from an abusive situation to a higher calling, a life transformation, or a new life free from struggle. These women overcame violent attacks to the loss of a loved one. The book provides practical lessons about Faith, Truth, Personal Responsibility, Proper Tools, and Solid Support to guide a person through the life-changing breakthrough a person’s spirit need.” In short, it is a gyroscope for the soul.

The book’s first Chapter, entitled “From Breakdown to Breakthrough” was written by Kimberly Joy Krueger, four-time best-selling author and President of FEW. Suffice to say that she suffered severe challenges that would have buckled the knees of the strongest men and tested the souls of the most spiritual. Kimberly’s story confirms that premise.

Kimberly wrote, “I failed at everything that I had set my mind to: ` My marriage failed. I failed as a mother. We were failing financially. I failed to apply God’s word to my life. I was a complete disaster.”

Kimberly considered the deep, dark pit she was in, a punishment. (God saw her pit as a process.) She made the following comparisons:

I saw only destruction. He was rebuilding my life.
I saw a pit of temptation. It was only a test.
I saw a pile of rubble. He was laying a new foundation.
I saw a pit of denial. He was the Truth that set me free.
I saw only doubt. He was teaching me to trust.
I saw a broken heart. He was teaching me how to love.
I saw only failure. He was teaching me to overcome.
I saw abandonment He never left me.
I saw anger & bitterness. He was teaching me to forgive.
I saw myself as dirty. He was cleansing me.
I saw my guilt & shame. He had acquitted all of it.
I saw all my weaknesses. He let me lean on His strength.
I saw blame & pity. He taught me to own my choices.
I saw a pit of despair. He renewed my hope

Those comparisons led her to seek professional help and spiritual guidance. Those interventions led her to the five factors, along with the grace of God, that led to her breakthrough:

Faith was the foundation that became the catalyst for all of her other breakthroughs.
Truth, about the “Word of God”, and all the other circumstances surrounding her life.
Personal Responsibility for her part in problems, i.e. as an enabler for her husband’s additions.
Proper Tools, the practical wisdom for life and relationships, that ditches “victim hood, for “growth”.
Solid Support from growth-minded encouragers, such as her therapist and church leaders.

Those five factors worked together, multiplying each other, creating a synergy to breakthrough barriers. “Breakthrough”: Noun. An act of removing or surpassing an obstruction or restriction. The overcoming of a stalemate. Synonyms: Advancement. Enhancement. Refinement. Upgrade. Uptrend.

Psalm 40.2 says, “He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on rock, making my steps secure.” The combination of the “Word of God” & “God’s Grace” applied to effective, practical solutions to real problems results in “Breakthroughs”.

Above YouTube Music Video Reflects the Wisdom & Effectiveness of the Above Psalm 40.2

Read the book. Try the 5 factors. Enjoy the breakthrough.

(My friend purchased his book, “The Breakthrough Effect”, on-line thru: paypal.me/newendings – Provide address for FREE SHIPPING)

Lessons Learned from the Movie “the Upside”

March 1, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

Lessons Learned from the Movie “the Upside”

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My friend has provided me with many insightful & inspiring personal experiences, on a variety of topics. He said that the lessons learned from the movie “the Upside” certainly equaled anything that he had experienced. Obviously, he insisted that I see the move. The world would be a better place if everyone saw the movie.

Not to ruin my movie experience, he didn’t reveal the plot sequence. He was bursting to talk about some of the themes. The rags to riches theme. By sheer hard work, talent, courage, vision, perseverance, and passion, a man amassed a fortune beyond wildest dreams. The personal growth theme. Through the appreciation of beauty in art & opera, the revelations of poetry & literature, and the unlimited love of a wonderful woman, a mind opened and a heart softened.

The lessons learned of risk & reward. By venturing into areas that most minds can’t imagine, well beyond the road less traveled, his fearless spirit provided an immense fortune. He could do whatever he wanted, like paragliding on a stormy day. But he didn’t assess the risks that day. So, when his chute failed, he plunged to the ground, leaving him a quadriplegic.

Powerless below his neck, he required hospitalized rehab for the next two years. Concurrently, his wife was dying from cancer, also hospitalized during those same two years. His recklessness prevented him from caring for her, from even visiting her for any length of time. He relived the agony of his arrogance, every moment, of every day. He wished that he had died that day.

In time, he learned the lessons of humility & acceptance, to rely on others for assistance to provide the most basic human functions. One care provider was a con man/convict, out on parole, whose wife & son abandoned him. The con man had to learn the lessons of caring for someone other than himself, in a world so foreign & mysterious. He was a 24-hour, live-in caregiver, in a penthouse, surrounded by countless, priceless treasures, begging to be stolen. No one could possibly know if a thing or two were missing. So, he stole a priceless, first-edition book.

The lessons learned from watching those two opposite worlds on a collision course with explosive force, and equal resistance to change direction, (but must in order to survive) are precious beyond measure:

Like an ox, learning to appreciate the “Swings of Pleiades”, or the “reddening of a rose”.
Like a King, disguised as a peasant, going into a local pub, drinking beer, smoking a “joint”, and rubbing his face in a barmaid’s ample bosom.
Like a thief, returning stolen goods, confessing his crime, willing to accept the consequences.
Like a heart, shattered by the loss of irreplaceable love, piecing together the courage to be vulnerable once again, only to be painfully shattered into more pieces, by rejection, then, accepting intervention, to love again.
Like a convict’s reformation, similar to “Les Misérables” Jean Val Jean, only to be crushed by hatred greater than “Javert’s”, to be open to love, and become a better man.
Like a bright, beautiful woman, scrupulously faithful to her tasks to eschew companionship at all levels, at all costs, by building insurmountable walls of enormous emotional defense, then, succumbing to the slightest beam of warm light, seeping through a crack, into her heart.
Like a child, so corrupted by his father’s criminal influence, that his own inevitable life of crime, resulted in being jailed in the same prison with his father, who said, “Welcome Home”. Yet, he broke out of those personal prison bars, with the strength of others’ confidence in him, which allowed him to abandon his past, and live with hope for a rewarding future.

My friend laughed & cried, throughout this entire comedic/drama (or dramatic/comedy), and left the theater with a smile on his lips, tears in his eyes, and hope in his heart. Everyone should see the movie “the Upside”. There’s no downside.

Movie review published in the local newspaper; submitted by: P. Julian Malison, from his website: www.messagesfrommyfriend.com

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