Heh...heh... Winston. =================== "Can you imagine????? Two Garys'? Three? Hundreds????? =================== Jack asked about the movie "Batman Begins." Have you seen "I Robot?" Goodness gracious. Hundreds of me even scares me. I'm not even gonna mention that to my wife. She reckons sonny boy is just another chip off the old block anyway. =================== "Ah, but your not such a bad egg in the long run Gary! That's okay if you like long runny eggs????" =================== What sort of an eggsample was that? If you said it to make me eggstatic then I guess it was eggcellent. So I will eggxit that line of thought now. But folks... seriously... get the focus of attention off me. That's not why I wrote what I wrote, despite what some readers may think. I was trying to advance what Linda started - the difference between the "haves" and the "have-nots." It just occurred to me that this time of the year was an opportune time to make the points I did. Gary Simpson

=========================================== What sort of an eggsample was that? If you said it to make me eggstatic then I guess it was eggcellent. So I will eggxit that line of thought now. ============================================ I had to mention eggs didn't I! LOL I should know better. =========================================== It just occurred to me that this time of the year was an opportune time to make the points I did. ============================================ Definitely an opportune time. I think too, it's also important to remember to help where and when we can throughout the rest of the year as well, because not only is it hard for them at Chrismas time but they struggle all the time.

Hi Winston, Great point! ================ "I think too, it's also important to remember to help where and when we can throughout the rest of the year as well, because not only is it hard for them at Chrismas time but they struggle all the time." ================= That is why we need to teach them HOW to fish. Feeding them fish is only a temporary solution. I'm referring to the old adage here folks - in case you are wondering why all of a sudden I have become piscatorial. On the egg-yolks I should warn you now NEVER mention anything about ants. Ants get me all antagonised. Gary Simpson

Winston, It may be even MORE important to help throughout the year. It seems more people are in a giving mood at Christmas time. I was recently told that a pet project of mine has to plan on getting by for the whole coming year on what is given for Christmas. How sad that our generosity is often turned on just for Christmas, like holiday decorations. Cheri

Hi Jack! Boy, you start some great conversations! ====================================== Now your touching an area that intrigues me. It's good to give, right. How good is it to receive? You said... "If you've ever read Psycho Cybernetics, you'll be familiar with this concept. There is a theory that we humans are made of energy, like all things and thus, we attract what we give off. Kind of like using a tuning fork and having a piano return the same note. We "attract" the same frequency we emanate. " I believe this but I have not reached a level of understanding where I can say I believe it completely. I'm a young mind. It's my belief that everyone has a natural frequency and when we are in close contact to other people with similar characteristics you can engoy the greatness of synergy. ====================================== I agree completely on the synergy. Yes, we all have a "frequency" or energy that we give off. And YES - it IS affected by who we spend time with. Infinitely so. There have been all sorts of studies done on this. If you take the 10 people you interact with most, their thinking and their opinions and their earnings will reflect yours. The old saying about it's hard to fly like an eagle when your strutting around with the turkeys is quite true. People who have scarcity mentality will bring yours down. People who have abundance in everything they do - the people who walk their talk - they will bring it up. Interestingly, we can *change* who influences us by what we read, too, not just the live people we're around. To be a winner, hang out with winners. To be a loser, hang out with losers. We teach our kids not to hang out with the "bad" crowd because the behaviour will rub off... but many adults need to take their own advice, too. ====================================== Now back to the wealthy people giving to the less fortunate. I was poor once and I would do it again. There are things you learn from being poor that you cannot completely appreciate if you have not walked in those same shoes. It's all experience and it's not a waste of time. ====================================== I completely agree. Nothing is a waste of time unless we fail to learn from it. ====================================== When I see people making an offering in an act of kindness so they can feel better about themselves, I wonder how well they understand their offering. ====================================== LOL. I actually agree. For what it's worth, I think there's a world of difference between helping others as a mental scorecard for one's own shaky self worth, and helping others simply because we CAN and want to. Usually, the people doing it for all the wrong reasons *say* it in a different way. Not sure I know how to explain that, other than that I can HEAR the difference. : ) Linda