Fwd: wonderful :)

[Rex Brooks <rexb@starbourne.com>]

I received this from a friend of mine I've never met who lives in 
Hawaii and participates in another workinggroup to which I imagine I 
will eventually form a liaison, the education effort of the content 
development working group of the Web 3d Consortium. I didn't rmember 
that she had daughters in NYC. You cannot believe how glad I am that 
they are safe. sherrie is dear to me and it would compound my own 
horror had she suffered, too.

Ciao,
Rex


>X-From_: thodt@hotmail.com  Tue Sep 18 01:08:48 2001
>X-Originating-IP: [65.162.32.63]
>From: "s thodt" <thodt@hotmail.com>
>To: thodt@hotmail.com
>Subject: wonderful :)
>Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 22:11:55 -1000
>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 18 Sep 2001 08:11:57.0109 (UTC) 
>FILETIME=[95962650:01C14019]
>
>My daughters are safe. They were at a distance from the WTC
>when the attacks occurred... I must admit I cried when one
>of them came online and messaged me that she was ok and her
>sister was already in class, 120 blocks from the WTC. About
>half an hour afterwards, she told me she could smell the
>smoke. As she watched the gaping holes from her office
>window and I watched live on TV, we both watched as the first
>building crumbled.. all of this and more, I'm sure you have
>seen on television..
>
>After days of watching the brutality of the attack on NYC,
>I encountered this story and thought it would provide some
>relief from the stresses and horror..
>
>
>The Daffodil Principle
>=======================
>
>Several times my daughter had telephoned to say,
>"Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over."
>
>I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to
>Lake Arrowhead.  "I will come next Tuesday," I promised,
>a little reluctantly, on her third call.
>
>Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy.  Still, I had promised,
>and so I drove there.  When I finally walked into Carolyn's
>house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren I said,
>
>"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn!  The road is invisible in the
>clouds and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you
>and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive
>another inch!"
>
>My daughter smiled calmly,
>"We drive in this all the time, Mother."
>
>"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears -
>and then I'm heading for home!" I assured her.
>
>"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up
>my car."
>
>"How far will we have to drive?"
>
>"Just a few blocks," Carolyn said,
>"I'll drive.  I'm used to this."
>
>After several minutes I had to ask, "Where are we going?
>This isn't the way to the garage!"
>
>"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled,
>"by way of the daffodils."
>
>"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."
>
>"It's all right, Mother.  I promise you will never forgive
>yourself if you miss this experience."
>
>After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel
>road and I saw a small church.  On the far side of the church,
>I saw a hand-lettered sign "Daffodil Garden."
>
>We got out of the car and each took a child's hand, and I
>followed Carolyn down the path.  Then we turned a corner
>of the path, and I looked up and gasped.
>
>Before me lay the most glorious sight.  It looked as though
>someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down
>over the mountain peak and slopes.
>
>The flowers were planted in majestic, swirling patterns,
>great ribbons and swaths of deep orange, white, lemon-
>yellow, salmon-pink, saffron, and butter-yellow. Each
>different-colored variety was planted as a group so
>that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its
>own unique hue.
>
>Five acres of flowers.
>
>"But who has done this?"  I asked Carolyn.
>
>"It's just one woman," Carolyn answered.
>"She lives on the property.  That's her home."
>
>Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small
>and modest in the midst of all that glory.
>
>We walked up to the house.  On the patio we saw a poster:
>
>"Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking"
>was the headline.
>
>The first answer was a simple one: "50,000 bulbs," it read.
>
>The second answer was, "One at a time, by one woman.
>"Two hands, two feet, and very little brain."
>
>The third answer was, "Began in 1958."
>
>There it was.
>
>The Daffodil Principle.
>
>For me that moment was a life-changing experience.
>I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than
>thirty-five years before, had begun-one bulb at a time-to bring
>her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountaintop.
>
>Still, just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, had
>changed the world.
>
>This unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she
>lived.  She had created something of ineffable magnificence,
>beauty, and inspiration.
>
>The principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest
>principles of celebration: learning to move toward our goals and
>desires one step at a time
>
>often just one baby-step at a time
>
>learning to love the doing
>
>learning to use the accumulation of time
>
>When we multiply tiny pieces of time with small increments of
>daily effort, we too will find we can accomplish magnificent
>things.
>
>We can change the world.
>
>"It makes me sad in a way," I admitted to Carolyn.
>
>"What might I have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful
>goal thirty-five years ago and had worked away at it one bulb at
>a time through all those years.
>
>Just think what I might have been able to achieve!"
>
>My daughter summed up the message of the day in her direct way.
>
>"Start now," she said.
>
>UNKNOWN AUTHOR
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp


-- 
Rex Brooks
GeoAddress: 1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA, 94702 USA, Earth
W3Address: http://www.starbourne.com
Email: rexb@starbourne.com
Tel: 510-849-2309
Fax: By Request