
June 16, 2017 Impossible
Dream
Isolated in a political
prison cell clad only in his underwear, Ninoy
read through the Bible and he understood the meaning of grace. By his
own words, he became a born-again Christian. This led to his martyrdom
and a roller coaster of political events that culminated on February 25,
1986 when his nemesis, a powerful dictator, found himself strapped aboard
his final destination --- an American military plane headed to his exile
in Hawaii.
Senator Ninoy Aquino's
impossible dream brought down the 20 year reign of the abuse and corruption
of President Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. What's even more incredible?
The coup was relatively peaceful --- a revolution called People
Power. (If you are a Filipino, you know this ... maybe even lived
through it.)
Wednesday night we
watched "The
Man of La Mancha" and its title song, "The
Impossible Dream" reminded me of Ninoy because this one song
influenced Ninoy's dream to free his country.
To
dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
During the intermission,
I started a conversation with 2 college students. One was a music major.
Another was watching his first-ever Broadway play. I shared my story of
Ninoy and the music major was amazed that a revolution was influenced
by a song. The other was amazed that the beauty of this art form had eluded
him until that evening.
Here's to the power
of art --- (in this case) a 3 decade old Broadway show. Successful art
can hit you in different ways. It is timeless ... even priceless. Remember
the challenge I gave you last week to "pay your art forward?"
Did you do it? Naughty, naughty!
Someone actually asked
me if I really picked up a brush after I finished my TGIF email. Well,
see the evidence below.I did over the weekend. I'm almost done.

This painting has
a lot of symbolism. These are my brothers and sisters and they're not
just collecting shells. They're collecting dreams ... impossible dreams.
I don't intend to keep the painting. Eventually, I plan to give it to
one of my siblings. Not sure who. Maybe the one who doesn't like me the
most but will treasure my gift forever.
For you dear reader,
my challenge to create something is still there. It doesn't have to be
a painting. It only has to touch somebody's heart just enough to make
somebody a better person.
TGIF people!
Silence
Your Phones Contributed by
Raffy of Lakewood, CA
In our local church,
before the 9:00 am mass, the moderator spoke through the microphone:
Brother and
Sisters, please take this moment to silence your cell phones.
Most of the elder
ladies of the congregation looked down at their handbags and simultaneously
said:
SSSSSHH.

By the end, you wish
you had a CLUB and a SPADE.
Marriage
Counseling Contributed by
Don of Kelowna, B.C.
A TGIF Classic
After
35 years of marriage, a husband and wife came for counseling. When asked
what the problem was, the wife went into a tirade listing every problem
they had ever had in all the years they had been married.
On and on and on:
neglect, lack of intimacy, emptiness, loneliness, feeling unloved and
unlovable, an entire laundry list of unmet needs she had endured.
Finally, after allowing
this for a sufficient length of time, the therapist got up, walked around
the desk and after asking the wife to stand, he embraced and kissed her
long and passionately as her husband watched with a raised eyebrow. The
woman shut up and quietly sat down in a daze.
The therapist turned
to the husband and said, "This is what your wife needs at least
3 times a week. Can you do this?"

"Well, I can
drop her off here on Mondays and Wednesdays
but I golf on Fridays."
TGIF Videos

Kiss
Cam Consequences Sent by Charlie of New Jersey
Some people
love it. Some people hate it. Some people really really hate it.
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7
Strange Battles Sent by Art of Sierra Madre, CA
This is for
the war buffs among us. It's pretty long but it's fascinating.
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Paris
in the 20s Sent by Tom of Pasadena, CA
Rare footage
of Paris during the roaring 20s. This is almost a hundred years
ago.
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Parting
Shot Thanks
to Naomi of North Hollywood, CA

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Comments
Anonymous
Sat, 07/22/2017 - 16:39
Permalink
Painting
Amazing painting. wife & I found it to be profound & moving!
I don’t know much about painting, but in film school learned that the composition would be ‘closed film’ where the world is in the frame.
Thanks for that!
Ed, Studio City, Los Angeles