Some things to contemplate, forwarded to me by George Wells from his Aussie
colleague...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 1998 17:15:05 +1000
From: Schouten Janeen <Janeen.Schouten@dnr.qld.gov.au>
> JUDGEMENT - TRUE STORY
>
> A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun
> threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly
> without an appointment into the Harvard president's outer office.
> The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks
> had no business at Harvard and probably didn't even deserve to be in
> Cambridge.She frowned.
>
> "We want to see the president," the man said softly.
> "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped.
>
> "We'll wait," the lady replied. For hours, the secretary ignored
> them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go
> away.
>
> They didn't. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided
> to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always
> regretted doing. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll
> leave," she told him.
>
> And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his
> importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he
> detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer
> office.
>
> The president, stern-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple.
>
> The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He
> loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was
> accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial
> to him, somewhere on campus."
>
> The president wasn't touched, he was shocked. "Madam," he said
> gruffly. "We can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard
> and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
>
> "Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't want to erect a
> statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard."
>
> The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and
> homespun suit, then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any
> earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half
> million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard."
>
> For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He
> could get rid of them now.
>
> And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all
> it costs to start a University? Why don't we just start our own?"
> Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and
> bewilderment.
>
> And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto,
> California where they established the University that bears their name, a
> memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
>
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> THE GOOSE STORY
>
> This Fall, when you see the geese heading south for the winter flying
> along in a "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what
> science has discovered about why they fly that way.
>
> It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an
> uplift for the bird immediately following. Thus, by flying in a "V"
> formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range
> than if each bird flew on its own.
> Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag
> and resistance of trying to go it alone, and quickly gets back into
> formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird
> immediately in front.
>
> When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and
> another goose flies point.
> The geese at the back of the formation constantly honk to encourage
> those up front to maintain their speed.
>
> Finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshots and drops
from the
> sky, two other geese immediately fall out of formation and follow him
down to > fly to help or protect him. Moreover, they stay with him until
he is either able
> to fly again or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their
> own again or with another formation to catch up with their group.
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>