Silly Old Bear

I remember as a child hearing someone tell a joke (and probably repeating it myself) that went something like this:

• “What do you call a kid with no arms and no legs?”
• Answer: “First Base!”

Nick Vujicic (pronounced Voy-a-chich) probably heard lots of jokes like that growing up. Nick was born in December of 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. He was a healthy, happy, beautiful baby. There was just one problem. Nick was born with no arms and no legs. He was the kid we all joked about in third grade. Except, when it’s real, it’s not very funny at all.

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I have never been a huge fan of Reggae music. To be honest, though, I’ve never really given it much of a chance.

I was eating lunch with my good friend Zach yesterday, and the conversation turned to music. Zach is a big fan of Reggae music, and Bob Marley is his favorite artist in the genre. So I asked Zach what his favorite song is, and he quickly replied, “Three Little Birds”. I told Zach I was going to go home and find that song on the Internet and listen to it.

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What would you do if you were born without eyes, and with a tightening of the joints that prevented you from being able to straighten your arms and legs? Would you feel sorry for yourself? Would you consider yourself “disabled”? Life would certainly come with a greater level of difficulty.

I can’t even imagine being unable to see or walk. Yet, that’s exactly the situation in which Patrick Henry Hughes has found himself since the day he was born. However, when asked, “How would you describe your disabilities?”, Patrick just smiles really big and responds, “Not disabilities at all; more abilities.”

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Olympic Gold Medalist Nikki Stone has written a book promoting her unique philosophy of success, a philosophy which she calls “The Turtle Effect”. Nikki explains: “The Turtle Effect was taught to me by my mother when I was a young girl. She told me that I could achieve anything I wanted to as long as I remembered to have a soft inside, a hard shell, and be sure to stick my neck out.” [1] Nikki’s book is entitled Why Turtles Fly and is due out in January 2010. It can be pre-ordered through Amazon.com . 25% of the author’s net proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the American Cancer Society. [2]

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When I was in high school, I purchased a ukulele and learned how to play a handful of songs. It was a lot of fun, and I kind of wish I still had that old uke.

A couple of years ago, I ran across a video on YouTube of a guy playing George Harrison’s song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on the ukulele. The musician’s name is Jake Shimabukuro , and his ukulele skills are unbelievable.

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Some of you may have already heard of this, but I just discovered it, so I thought I’d share it with you.

I was on FaceBook, accepting a couple of new “Friend Requests” (one from Becky Woods, a high school friend I haven’t seen in almost 20 years!), and then just looking around at a few other people’s profiles. One of my FaceBook Friends had updated his profile to say, “Matt Burnett is in love with the JCB Song”. I thought to myself, “Huh? What in the world is the JCB Song?” So I did what I normally do when such a question arises. I Googled “JCB Song”.

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Alyssa

OK, so I was doing a little blog-hopping tonight. I started on my sister-in-law Alyssa’s blog , where she talks about the daily challenges and hilarity of raising her three kids: Lauren and Camryn (the two precious girls to whom she gave birth), and my baby brother Clint (whom she married of her own free will, bless her heart!)

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“Ashokan Farewell” is a song that grabbed my soul years ago and has never let go.

By the way, it’s pronounced “uh-SHOKE-un”. I wasn’t sure until tonight. You learn something new every day!

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