Philosopher’s Corner

Philosopher?s corner is all about inspiration and the truly important things in
our lives. Our intention is to create a place on our site that anyone can visit
to ground us in our day-to-day lives. To allow us to remember what is important
in the face of any adversity that we may be facing. At times life can be hectic
and we sometimes need to find some solace, inspiration and strength without losing
sight of the love we share in our lives. The following pieces are picked because
they inspire us. If you happen to come across a true story that inspires you please
send it to us at services@itmtrading.com.
Please enjoy.

<%if Request.QueryString("article")<>“table” then %>
The Table Cloth
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The Table Cloth
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<%if Request.QueryString("article")<>“through” then %>
Through a Child’s
Eyes
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Through a Child’s Eyes
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<%if Request.QueryString("article")<>“jasmine” then %>
Jasmine
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Jasmine
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<%if Request.QueryString("article")<>“freedom” then %>
Freedom and Jeff
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Freedom and Jeff
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<%if Request.QueryString("article")<>“teddy” then %>
Teddy
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Teddy
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<%if Request.QueryString("article")="table" then %>

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their First ministry, to reopen
a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.
When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set
a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas
Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and on December
18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19 a terrible tempest
– a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor
went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing
a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the
sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but
postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home.

On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for
charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored,
crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right
in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall.
He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction
was trying to catch the bus, she missed it.

The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.
She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers,
etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry.

The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire
problem area.
 
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.
”Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The
pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if
the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials
of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the
Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do
people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was
going to follow her the next week but he was captured, sent to prison and she never
saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for
the church.

The pastor insisted on driving her home that was the least he could do. She lived
on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning
job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full.
The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his
wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return.

One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood continued to sit
in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical
to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war
and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike.

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety
and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never
saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove
to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three
days earlier.

He helped the man climb up the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment
and knocked on the door. The pastor saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could
ever imagine. True Story – submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

Who says God does not work in mysterious ways. I asked the Lord to bless you as
I prayed for you today, to guide you and protect you as you go along your way.

His love is always with you, His promises are true, and when we give him all our
cares you know He will see us through.

So when the road you’re traveling on seems difficult at best, just remember I’m
here praying and God will do the rest.

Father, God, bless all my friends and family in what ever it is that you know they
may be needing this day! May their life be full of your peace, prosperity and power.

Amen.

<% elseif Request.QueryString("article")="through" then %>

THROUGH A CHILD’S EYES

<% elseif Request.QueryString("article")="jasmine" then %>

Jasmine

In 2003, police in Warwickshire , England , opened a garden shed and
found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned.
It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female Greyhound, to
the nearby Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock
and known as a willing haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.
Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims – to restore the
dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually
both goals were achieved..

They named her Jasmine, and started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

But Jasmine had other ideas. No one remembers now how it began, but she started
welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn’t matter if it was a puppy,
a fox cub, a rabbit or any other lost or hurting animal. Jasmine would peer into
the box or cage and, where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been
abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another
was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the center
and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth
and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them,
cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes
all the stress out of them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to
settle into their new surroundings.

"She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs; she licks the rabbits
and guinea pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary’s resident
surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned
and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger
cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.

And one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a
field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm
and then went into the full foster-mom role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble
the Roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted.

"They are inseparable," says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs
and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It’s a
real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned
to woodland life.

When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love
and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.

Pictured from left to right above: Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, orphaned
Roe deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; Hopper, a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured
barn owl; and Jasmine with a Mother’s heart doing best what a caring Mother would
do… Such is the order of Creation.

<% elseif Request.QueryString("article")="freedom" then %>

Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in
1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn’t open all the way even after surgery,
it was broken in 4 places. She’s my baby.

When Freedom came in she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated
and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took
her to the vets office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge
dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded with shredded newspaper for her
to lie in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight, while she
would lie there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed
her for weeks.

This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn’t stand. It got to the
point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn’t stand in a week.
You know you don’t want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked
like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday. I didn’t want
to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn’t bear the thought of her being
euthanized, but I went anyway. When I walked in, everyone was grinning from ear
to ear. I went back immediately to her cage. There she was, standing on her own,
a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then.
That was a very good day.

We knew she could never fly, so the director of Sarvey Wildlife Center asked me
to glove train her.. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started
doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers
and radio (believe it or not) and some TV. In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed
with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma! I had stage 3, which is not good. One major organ plus
everywhere else. So I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost all my hair. I missed
a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to ‘Sarvey’ and take Freedom
out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the
cancer. This happened to me time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanks- giving. I went in for my last
checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo,
then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests. and
I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that
I was free of cancer.

So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk.
It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front
to the top of the hill. I hadn’t said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She
looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing
in on my back. (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her
beak and stared into my eyes. We just stood there like that for I don’t know how
long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This
is a very special bird.

<% elseif Request.QueryString("article")="teddy" then %>

Teddy

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big ‘F’ at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.

Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners…he is a joy to be around..’

His second grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.’

His third grade teacher wrote, ‘His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.’

Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.’

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy’s. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, ‘Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.’

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her ‘teacher’s pets..’

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer. The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, ‘Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.’

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, ‘Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.’

(For you that don’t know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

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