I recently accepted the challenge of participating in VISIONWALK, a big step in boosting research for retinal degenerative diseases, hosted by The Foundation Fighting Blindness.
My husband Lee has RP (sorry can't begin to spell the name) it's an eye diease that causes blindness. He is blind in one eye and see's only a small area and in black and white with the other. He was born with this diease. Many children are born with this and other such eye dieases. We attended a meeting of the FFB (Foundation Fighting Blindness) where they showed a video of 3 children with eye dieases. It was heart breaking. One little boy, seven years old, made this comment. " I'm doing ok, but I just wonder who's going to love me when I get older. Who would love a blind man." This had us all in tears. A seven year old should not be worrying who is going to love him.
I am asking you to help by supporting this research so that maybe one day no child will ever say those words again!!
Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in the lives of many! It is faster and easier than ever to support this great cause - you can make your donation online by simply clicking on the link at the bottom of this message. If you would prefer, you can also send your tax-deductible contribution to the address listed below.
Any amount, great or small, helps in the fight. I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress.
For information about this volunteer fundraiser and its programs, you can visit http://www.fightblindness.org/site/PageServer
Sincerely,
Karen
To make a donation online, visit my personal page. http://www.fightblindness.org/site/TR?px=1162885&pg=personal&fr_id=1970
To send a donation:
Make all checks payable to: Foundation Fighting Blindness
Mail to:
Lee Morley
1403 N Avalon Street
West Memphis, AR72301-1901
I received this in an email and wanted to share it because it's so very true!!!
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There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'
One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages
came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.
He asked her,'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The
girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The
sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected
that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life
led her to refuse to marry him.
Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her
saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before
they were yours, they were mine.'
This is how the human brain often works when our status changes.
Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who
was always by their side in the most painful situations.
Life Is a Gift
Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't
speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone
who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone
who's crying out to GOD for a companion.
Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went
too early to heaven.
Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who
desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or
sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive Think of someone who
walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the
unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your
job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning
another - Remember that not one of us is without sin.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on
your face and think: you're alive and still
around.
Tishomingo
I am originally from Tishomingo, Ms and have always be interested in this Chief Tishomingo. I found this info on him and thought I would share it with my blog friends. The above picture is in the Tishomingo State Park.
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Looking into retrospect, we find that deep in the heart of history, there was a wise old counselor and renowned Chickasaw Indian Chief, named Tishomingo. He lived in the Chickasaw Nation and was almost forgotten, except in legend, for little of his life is actually known except that he was born around the year 1737 and that he probably died in 1838 or in March of the year 1839. There was a Chief Tishomingo who was known as “Captain Tishomingo” of the Choctaw Nation who lived ten miles from the Choctaw Agency in Oktibbhea County, Mississippi.This person is not to be confused with our Chickasaw Indian Chief Tishomingo.
We find very little information about the life of Chief Tishu Miku. What we do have regarding him is often speculation and suppositions. Writers tend to differ more regarding his name. Some say his name was 'Tishu Minco'; some say 'Tishu Mingo'; 'Tishu Miku' and most refer to him by the European adaptation of his name (and or title) as 'Tishomingo'. Even with those discrepancies, most agree that the meaning of the name was actually the title given to the highest assistant or tribal consultant to the 'King' or 'High Chieftain' of the Chickasaw tribe. Many writers take the meaning of 'Tishu' from the Choctaw language (a close relative to the Chickasaw tongue) which means 'warrior', and therefore say that Tishu Miku means warrior chief. The correct meaning in the Choctaw language for 'tishu' is servant and 'miku' meaning 'King'. We will probably never know which is the correct version or meaning nor have a direct translation from his native Chickasaw tongue.
According to Mississippi Historical Society, Vol. VII, page 462: "Tishomingo lived on the place in Lee County, known in 1870 as the Larkin Cambrell place and was the Chief of that district. He was then (1836) a hundred years old, his wife seventy or eighty, and his mother (who lived with him) one hundred and twenty. He had been living at that place 61 years. He had come from the Chickasaw Old Fields. The Creeks came to the Chickasaw Old Fields and killed the Chickasaws, and the latter scattered out from this place which had been, up to that time, the headquarters of their tribe. Tishomingo was a good, clever man, and very influential."
He lived a long life with much sadness and at the end of his life, losing his culture and home lands. It is believed that his home land was near Pontotoc and that he lived there at least 64 years; riding horses, raising livestock and hunting deer and other game. Because prominent positions in the tribe were inherited and the tribal system was a matriarchy, it is believed that he inherited his position as Tishu Miku from his mother. It is known that he received two sections of land under the Pontotoc Treaty of 1832 and 1834, in the Bethany Community.
Tishomingo was a warrior of great distinction who served with General 'Mad' Anthony Wayne against hostile tribes in the northwest. Perhaps then, we settled down and lived a comfortable life until the white settlers encroached on his lands. He received a silver medallion from George Washington for his service, along with Chief Piamingo and (William Colbert who was a chief of mixed ancestry.) He kept the medal throughout his lifetime up to his death and it must have been a proud possession. Newspaper accounts in Tupelo, Mississippi and Arkansas give differing accounts of the medal; one saying he had lost it and someone in Baldwyn Mississippi found it and returned it to him and the other saying he had never lost it. In any event, it is known that the Chief made several trips to Washington and to Philadelphia before the capital was moved to Washington.
It is known that the Chief traded in the towns of Ripley and Old Carrolville and visited Jacinto, the county seat, often. As he lived nearest Pontotoc, he most likely traded there also, as it was a very busy Indian trading center. He also visited his friend Chief Iuka at his home in what is presently known as 'Iuka' Mississippi and partook of the mineral springs there. Surely he must have also visited the town of Eastport as it was a very busy river port and trading center before the railroad was built. His favorite hunting ground was what is now called 'Tishomingo State Park'. It is said that here, he would tell children of his battle experiences and of his friends. An interview with M. Prim Haynes of Belmont, Mississippi, former Mississippi State Park Commissioner, tells us that “the Chief loved to ride white children on his red-spotted pony and that he loved to tell children stories of the past. “
Bear and deer were plentiful in the areas known as Saddle Back Ridge and Bear Creek furnished him his favorite meal of catfish. He most likely stored the meat in a cave close to the present day Natchez Trace. Mary McCarley Sumners (interview of 1935-1936) tells us: 'My great-grandfather, Samuel Carson McCarley, was a pioneer blacksmith. He owned a blacksmith shop and a tanyard in Old Carrollville, located about six miles from where Chief Tishomingo lived. He was also a close friend of the Old Chieftain in his olden days and he related to my grandmother their friendship; and she in turn told me the following story: ' Chief Tishomingo often visited my great-grandfather's blacksmith shop and tanyard and had him shoe his horses. Also, they went on several hunting parties together and rode horses together. Just before Chief Tishomingo and the Chickasaw Indians were driven to the Indian Territory, he visited with my great-grandfather and told him that he had something he wanted to show him in the light of the next moon. When the moon became full, he cam to get my grandfather with several other warriors, and they began a journey riding very fast horses. After traveling about six or eight hours, they arrived at the edge of a tall bluff where out before them lay a flat valley that had a silver and phosphorus life reflection, possibly reflected from a deposit of lead or similar metal that existed in great abundance. The Chieftain felt that they did not have time to go into the valley that night, but told him they would return again before they made the trip to the West. But, unfortunately, the United States Indian Drivers came and drove the Indians away before Chief Tishomingo could return. My great-grandfather thought that Chief Tishomingo was honest, very intelligent, friendly and well-liked by all who knew him."
Sources not mentioned previously: Research by Sharon Anderson, The True Story of Chief Tishomingo, by Cecil L. Sumners, Published 1974.
THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were
when they were growing up; what with walking
twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphill BOTH ways
yadda, yadda, yadda
And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
there was no way in hell I was going to lay
a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it
and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of
thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.
You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you
don't know how good you've got it!
I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The
Internet . If we wanted to know something,
we had to go to the damn library and
look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write
somebody a letter ..with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and
put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!
There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to
steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the
beginning and the end and @#*% it all up!
We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you
were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!
And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!
When the phone rang, you
had no idea who it was! It could be your school,
your mom, your boss, your
bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you
just didn't know!!! You had
to pick it up and take your chances, mister!
We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video
games with high-resolution
3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games
like 'Space Invaders' and
'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You
actually had to use your
imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or
screens, it was just one screen
forever!
And you could never win. The game just kept getting
harder and harder and
faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!
When you went to the movie theater there no such
thing as stadium seating!
All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy
or some old broad with a hat
sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were
just screwed!
Sure, we had cable television, but back then that
was only like 15 channels
and there was no on screen menu and no remote
control! You had to use a
little book called a TV Guide to find out what was
on! You were screwed when it
came to channel surfing! You had to get off
your butt and walk over to the TV to change the
channel and there was no
Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons
on Saturday Morning. Do you
hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK
for cartoons, you spoiled
little rat-bastards!
And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
something up we had to
use the stove or go build a frigging fire ..
imagine that! If we wanted
popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing
and shake it over the stove
forever like an idiot.
That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids
today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted
five minutes back in 1980!
Regards,
The over 30 Crowd
