The Lighter Side of Life / We Are ALL a Modern Work of Art / Sept. 1 We Begin Again

Dedicated to my Wonderful Friend
Rev. Donald Graves
Tucson Center for Spiritual Living

Don and I grew up together
and had so very many
wonderful adventures in
Boy Scout Troop 17.
What
a Truly Wonderful
Friend.

Thank You
for the Beautiful memories.
You are deeply admired
and Loved.

“You are the Beloved.
Be sure to treat yourself that way.”
– Rev. Donald Graves

I was recently joking around
with one of our very young students,
something I am wont to do,
(do frequently)
saying:
“Well, you know,
because I”m lazy, fat and ugly.”
At which point he looked intently into my eyes
and quietly said,
“Your not fat.”

I laughed so hard
I lost two pounds.

My Dear Friends,
we need to laugh
at the confusion that prevails
in Life
and in living.
.
It is hilarious!

“Eventually all things fall into place. 
Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment,
and know everything happens for a reason.” 
– Albert Schweitzer

The illogical, superficial,
and unbelievable things we do,
collectively and as individuals
of unbelievable perfunctory indifference
toward the nature of our reality,
can be truly funny.
.
So why not enjoy it?

“Do not take Life too seriously.
You will never get out of it alive.”
– Elbert Hubbard

According to Alison Bonds Shapiro,
one kind of humor is based on Love –
celebrating the general Joy and goofiness
that comes with being Human.
This is laughing with someone.
read more

.Patrick Allmond tells us
that Children laugh on average 200 times a day
and adults only 26 times a day.
And he states, “How many times a day
do you experience the rich joy of laughter?
If we want to be happier, healthier, and more productive
we seriously need to make time to laugh.”
click here to read more

“Unless you change
and become like little children,
you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
(Matthew 18:3)

                       Where is the average person?

If we can laugh at our mistakes,
and I do mean,
“out loud“,
we can, in a more positive manner,
effectively take some credit for them,
(here is where you take a bow)
and allow for them to become acceptable
lessons learned on this all too difficult
path of Life.

And you get three guesses
as to who made it so difficult,
and the first two
don’t count!

We are so perfectly and Beautifully
imperfect,
that the result is:
there is simply no one
we can call normal
or average.
(Thank God!)

“Normal
is a setting
on a washing machine.”
– author obviously not normal and unknown

I counsel with others,
especially children,
to make at least one mistake
on purpose,
daily.

This creates a highly controlled
learning opportunity.
It admits to our Humanity.
It opens the window
of our awareness.

Children, of all ages,
view it as time for a
great practical joke.

It causes one to
pause to reflect upon
what is really going on.
And ultimately
we learn over the years,
not to take Life so seriously.
Supercilious serious attitudes
lead to stress, strokes,
and striking out.

The lighter side of Life
is also a great adventure
and a broad avenue of opportunity
that may lead to
being on Comedy Central,
finding a new friend,
falling deeply in Love,
or stumbling up to the Altar
and muttering, “I did”
instead of, “I do”.

Creating us
proves to some of us
that God
has a sense of humor.

Perhaps the best indication
is that He created man in His image (Genesis 1:27),
and people are able to perceive
and express humor.

When you think of someone
who has a great sense of humor,
you will usually find this person laughs a lot.
Laughter and a good sense of humor go hand in hand.
And our ability to laugh
comes from God.
It is a great
Gift.

Abraham Lincoln
used to quip that God had to have a sense of humor
to make us all as we are.

Our God has an absolutely delightful
sense of humor.

“He who sits in the Heavens laughs;
He holds them in derision.”
(Psalm 2:4).

My Dear Friends,
we almost always act like
we are going to survive
this very brief existence.
And the Truth is:
we are precariously
and very briefly perched
upon this Beautiful planet.

              It opens the window of our awareness.

Live in the moment.

One of my very favorite expressions is:

“Now remember,
We are just a nice normal family”.

You know,
I am always wondering,
where is this normal family?
Where is the average person?

“Normal”
Is Also a Dryer Setting.

We go through Life thinking
I am too short,
Too tall,
Too fat? Too whatever?
Ever get stuck
in a comparison cycle,
pursuing the
unattainable?

Yes we have!

My Friends,
I have news for you:
A NORMAL child
simply does not exist.
That is an illusion.
If not,
please introduce to me to one.
One will be sufficient!
(Now, don’t drag your child up here!
He or she will embarrass you
in a highly abnormal manner.)

“Only ONE person in 6,500
could be credited with achieving true
averageness in every measurable respect.
That person having molded himself into
the nicest, dullest and most proper
“freak of normalcy”
for miles around.”
– Guy Murchie

Our exceptionality is but one
of one of the things
that make us,
and our lives,
so very interesting
and very, very Beautiful.

We are all a
Modern work of art,
you know,
expensive,
different,
museum quality
and something
no one understands.

But can you imagine how dull,
how terminally boring
would Life be
surrounded by a plethora
of normal, average Human beings.
What would we ever talk about?

My Dear Friends,
stop worrying, wondering, and doubting.
Have Faith
that things will work out.
And if they don’t,
well, my fellow Humanoid,
celebrate!
You now have something to talk about,
something to laugh at
and something to think about.

“No one knows enough
to be a pessimist.”
– Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

                                 We all live for Love.

“A hundred years from now
it will not matter
what my bank account was,
the sort of house I lived in,
or the kind of car I drove,
but the world may be different
because I was important
in the Life of a child.”
– Forest E. Witcraft

The past,
if left undenied,
can become a thief.
Don’t let the past steal Today.
Today is your property,
your beautiful Gift from God.

You’ve got to Love this life.
If not,
you are probably
going to hate it.

And how do you Love it?

Well,
it’s actually quite simple:
quit thinking so much about it.
And stop thinking about yourself.
Think about someone else!
That’s called Love.
And when you Love others,
they Love you back.
And Life, my friend,
is good to Live
again.

We all live
for Love.

And if you think deeply about it,
Love is the only thing
worth living for.

Yes,
it is that simple.

Now,
go to bed
in a really dark bedroom.
Your body needs to produce
melatonin
to fight cancer!
read more

And tomorrow,
wake up and do more good
than you ever thought possible
for someone else.
And tomorrow night,
you will sleep well,
and wake up the next day
deeply Loved
by someone else,
and
Happy.

“We know
that for those who Love God
all things work together for good,
for those who are called
according to his purpose.”
– Romans 8:28

Remember,
turn out all the lights,
It needs to totally dark
when you are asleep
to prevent cancer.

Sleeping while exposed to light at night
causes a dramatic drop
in blood melatonin levels,
setting the stage
for growth and proliferation
of breast cancer cells
and other cancer cells.

I Love You.

Goodnight.

                                    Anderson Private School
                                            School Calendar
                                                 2020-2021
.
Sept. 1                         First Day of Semester
Other days to be scheduled.
.
Dr. & Mrs. Anderson may schedule 2-5 additional days
(to be announced later) for In-service Training.
Visit our website at http://www.andersonschool.net
for updated information.

A Father to Many, A Savior to Me / Nearer My God to Thee / Friday: Half Price Books and FLIGHT DECK

Please take the kid for a walk.

There are many stories to tell.
And our children love to hear them.
Some tell of hope, survival and salvation,
Some of Love everlasting.

As I stood at grave of a man I deeply admired and loved, beyond belief, I paused to reflect upon the meaning of his life, and mine. He first appeared to me at the tender age of ten. His name, Werner Bendorf, and his life is forever engraved in my memory and alive in my heart. He still lives in my life, day by day, between every beat of my heart, he smiles, he laughs, he is vibrant in my memory and still shares his love. My heart continues to beat because of his deep and abiding love, because the depth of his compassion was far greater than anything I had ever known.

He became the Father I never knew. He was a Father to many young souls, and a Savior to me.

When we practice
Loving kindness and compassion
we are the first ones to profit.
– Rumi

I was visiting, at the invitation of my friend and neighbor, Roger Carter, Boy Scout Troop 17. We had earlier formed a club, the Fox Club, in our neighborhood for the purpose, unbelievably today, of “doing good” for others.

Our club of three, met on the banks of the infamous Gonzales creek to plan good things to do and lay the groundwork for combating evil. Seriously, we met for that purpose. We had great plans to right wrongs.

Television was a big influence. You may remember Superman and the Lone Ranger and Roy Rogers, among others. But the dynamic and good person that I found in Roger Carter, was far greater. He always thought of others and sought to help people in any way that he could. He became for me, and many others, a personal hero.

I was ten at the time, and Roger was older. As a Patrol Leader in the Troop, he wanted another member. And when I arrived to visit, at the tender age of ten, I discovered that he really did need another member, since he was the only member of the, you guessed it, Fox Patrol. I imagined that he elected himself the Leader garnering 100% of the vote. I knew I would have voted for him, and later I did.

“There are only two ways to live your life:
as though nothing is a miracle,
or as though everything is a miracle.”
– Albert Einstein

Dr. Lester Kuperman

The one other Patrol in the Scout Troop had ALL of the other members in Troop 17 (about twenty five boys). Yes, I thought it was strange, until I thought more about it.

“You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.”                 – A. A. Milne

And the Senior Patrol Leader was none other than Lester Kuperman, who you may know today is Dr. Lester Kuperman, a highly respected Orthodontic Specialist serving the citizens of Fort Worth (including, by the way, our daughter, Annie, when she was younger). I paid him a visit a few years ago and truly enjoyed seeing him after all these years. Yes, I highly recommend him to you. He is a man of integrity.

I thought it strange that Roger was, by himself, the entire Fox Patrol. I just knew there would be other members. So I joined the Patrol of one and, together, we were the Fox Patrol, evolved from the Fox Club. It made sense though, because the Boy Scout slogan was, “Do a Good Turn Daily”, which reflected the purpose of the Fox Club. read more

“Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all the barriers
within yourself
that you have built against it.”
– Rumi

Later, I would come to realize that Roger was a singular, unique and lone young man because he was not like the others. He was, and remained until his death, dedicated to being a good, kind and truly compassionate person. And since no one else held to this standard, he was truly alone and deeply admired by me. Time would see him evolve into a jet pilot and heroic fighter.

The others in this large Troop were rascals, dedicated to having a good time, even at your expense. Yes, Lester had his work cut out for him, corralling these rascals. And he exerted Herculean efforts to mold them into shape. Yes, he was very successful!

“When you Love
you should not say,
“God is in my heart,”
but rather,
“I am in the Heart of God.”
– Rumi

Our Fox Patrol meetings were, essentially, time for planning “Good Deeds”, while the others were satisfied, as I recall, with pranks and games and some “put down” kinds of things. Let’s face it, they were just having a good time.

Werner with Alex & Annie Anderson.

Now, into this mix arrived a truly remarkable man, a new Scoutmaster, Werner Bendorf. He was much more remarkable than I ever realized at the time, and was to me, a Gift from God and my personal Savior. And his story is both remarkable and unbelievable. And I would love to share it with you.

“I’ve learned that if you pursue happiness,
it will elude you.
But if you focus on your family,
the needs of others, your work,
meeting new people,
and doing the very best you can,
happiness will find you.”
– author unknown

In growing up, I thought life was difficult. But I had no idea what difficult meant. Werner shared with me stories from his life. Then I knew what the word meant. And I became truly grateful for the Blessings bestowed upon me by my precious Mother, Marie, and Werner and Donald and so very many others. In recognizing the seemingly impossible obstacles others have had to overcome to survive, we gain perspective and a depth of appreciation.

Later, when I dry my tears, I will share some of the unbelievable stories Werner told me about surviving the evil of the holocaust. He and his wife hid in the attic of a farm house for over three years. From the floor to the peak of the attic was about 3 & 1/2 feet. And the discomforts only began there. I could not believe they had a baby during this time. But more about their inspiring story of survival later.

My Mother, Marie, and Werner Bendorf, present the Eagle Scout Award to a younger me (age 12).

Remembering Werner always brings my heart closer to God. The words of John Newton’s beloved song, “Amazing Grace” touch each of us with Truth in a Grace of its own. And I now know that “home” is a place found deeply embedded in my heart. It is a place where Werner and his family have resided for many years.

And in his heart, I found something difficult to believe. After all the suffering, the loss of precious lives and the horror found everywhere, Werner led me to the threshold of something far more powerful than guns and bombs and torture and the pure evil of murderous minds. He opened his wounded Heart to show me his forgiveness. And I have never been the same since that day filled with such Amazing Grace.

“Through many dangers, toils and snares…
we have already come.
T’was Grace that brought us safe thus far…
and Grace will lead us home.”
– John Newton

Troop 17 camped out every other weekend, rain or shine, hail or high winds. Nothing stopped us from our adventures, except the summer heat. From September to June, we explored every possible terrain.

There are so many stories to share and I simply do not know where to start. I am not sure how I survived my younger days, but God had to be beside me. Allow me to elucidate.

Making it to the top of motorcycle hill had to be easier than making it to the bottom!

We were camping at the base of what was called Motorcycle Hill, just outside of Mineral Wells. In my mind, nothing was challenging enough, ever. That’s called being a “Rascal”. And brother, I was!

It was about 1961. And brave young men frequently attempted to ride their motorcycles all the way to the top of this very, very steep and high hill. Few made to the top. You can just imagine the trip back down with your motorcycle following you or on top, when you failed.

The pace of activities at camp was not up to my standard, so, alone, I climbed up motorcycle hill, from the backside. At the top, I decided to run down the steep incline where so many others, on their motorcycles, had failed to reach the top. Yes, I was young and in love with daring adventures and living on the edge!

True wisdom lies in gathering the precious things out of each day as it goes by.    – E. S. Bouton

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but gravity was about to become my teacher of the year. And it sure looked like fun! So off I went, running down the extremely steep and dangerous hill, by myself. And yes, I picked up so much speed that I really needed to STOP and very quickly. I could not keep my legs under me.

About half way down, I spotted a large flat rock off to the right side and decided to “land” on top and thereby prevent death. So I did. I landed on top and instantly, and I do mean instantly, a LARGE rattlesnake came from underneath the giant bolder and struck at my right leg. I did not stay long. We had nothing to share in a conversation. I leaped off the rock just as the rattle snake opened his large mouth, replete with splendid looking fangs, and moving very, very fast toward my uninvited foot.

Apparently, I disturbed his rest. And did I ever move fast. I bounced off that rock so fast and so high that I should have had a pilot’s license. I think that this is the moment when I fell in love with flying and (very quickly) began my search for God. I was headed in the right direction (up!).

We are made kind by being kind.               – Eric Hoffer

It was then that I noticed I had another problem. I was very high in the air and about half way down the infamous motorcycle hill. Oh hell! I had to, and I mean had to, stay on my feet and run, what felt like eighty miles an hour, to the base of this impossibly steep hill.

In a way, the rattle snake really did save my life. I learned about something to avoid. Stopping, although briefly, on the rock did slow my decent. And I became highly motivated to end this misadventure. All I thought about at that moment was being at the base of this hill, unknown to anyone, battered and bruised from tumbling all the way down, perhaps unconscious and having highly deadly venom from a large rattlesnake coursing its way up my leg toward my rapidly beating heart. Assuming, of course, that I survived the fall! What doesn’t kill you makes you never try that again.

Well, I actually made it to the bottom, alive. The landing found me tumbling and dizzy. And I was so happy that no one was watching. And did I share this story with anyone? Heck no!  No one wants to admit to this level of stupidity, uh, I mean adventure (gulp!).

Love is the Universal language.

Scouting taught me many, many things. And one was to bounce off things and run like the wind, perhaps, even taking flight. It’s a philosophical bent. I did tell the others that I went hunting for rattlesnakes and found one. Having grown up in West Texas, I failed to share that a rattlesnake actually went hunting for me. Which proved I was a fisherman at heart.

Hey, it wasn’t the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, but close. We’ll save those other stories for later. Remind me to tell you about my high flying dance with death when I took my one and only lesson to become a pilot. The instructor failed to tell me I was not a stunt pilot. A few cows failed to show up for milking. Hey, it looked like a landing strip to me! Moooooove over. And no, I did not see the barbed wire fence. In fact, I do not recall seeing the instructor get out of the plane or what was left of it. I think he was glued to his seat. He did scream a little. God watches over us, even when we are high in air or, as I call it, nearer my God to Thee.

Mom only had one child. And I never wondered why.

Philosophy Program For This Week:
This is for Carter who is unable to be with us this week.
I know you did not want to miss the program.
Holographic Universe
The perceptions we observe
may well be coming from an artificial source.
click here to view movie
The Holographic universe suggests
that the physical world we believe to be real
is in fact illusion.
Energy fields are decoded by our brains
into a 3D picture,
to give the illusion of a physical world. 

 “The Earth may not be
the center of the Universe,
But you are.”
– Wm. C. Anderson

Plans for FRIDAY:

For Friday Nov. 13, 2015

By Popular DEMAND!
We will meet at 9:30 a.m. at Half-Price Books, located at 475 Sherry Lane, north of Ridgmar Mall –Telephone: 817-732-4111.

We will then meet at Flight Deck (817) 246-2710 (info@fdtp.com) located a half mile west of Ridgmar Mall, at the Cherry Lane exit off I-30, at 7751 Scott St. in Fort Worth, to enjoy jumping and acting, otherwise, a little abnormal.

                      PICK UP will be at FLIGHT DECK at 2:30 p.m.

         “The two most important days in your life
are the day you are born
    and the day you find out why.”
      – Mark Twain

DESTINATIONS: FLIGHT DECK is where FUN and fitness take flight! It integrates rebounding (trampoline jumping) along with strength and flexibility training. Reconnect with your inner child. Flight Deck features a mix of aerobics, core strengthening, coordination & flexibility exercises. * YOU WILL NEED WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM YOUR PARENTS (contact Flight Deck (817) 246-2710 / or go ONLINE: info@fdtp.com for the form and instructions. Print it, have it signed and bring it with you.

If you arrive late, we shall have departed with your child(ren) and will return to school.  Please call if you will be late.

Students are NOT to leave the bookstore, restaurant or take flight
from the flight deck without the approval of Dr. A. He is well known for
melodramatic swoons and fainting spells if you are missing and it is a bit much for Mrs. A.

FINANCIAL: The cost for Flight Deck is approximately $12.00 for our one hour – please pay at the Flight Deck. And please provide funds for a good book and for lunch. Refreshments: Yes!

Uniform pants with a belt & red monogrammed school shirts are required. PARENTS / FRIENDS / NEIGHBORS, are always invited to participate on our trips.

IMPORTANT DATES:
Nov. 12 Shakespeare Scene and Monologue Competition
Nov. 20 Texas Civil War Museum (Avoid wearing blue!)
Nov. 23 – 27 (Monday – Friday) Thanksgiving / Fall Break
Dec. 3 – 4 Texas A.G.T. Conference (No school)
Dec. 18 Last Day of Fall Semester
Dec. 21 – Jan. 4 Winter Break Holidays
Jan. 22 Fort Worth Stock Show
March 18 DFW New Auto Show in Fort Worth
April 29 Scarborough Renaissance Festival
A. n . d . e . r . s . o . n

                          “Happiness is someone to love,
                                        something to do
                              and something to hope for.”
                                                            – Chinese proverb