Silence Your Phones

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."

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