Do You Build A Bridge Or A Fence?

Once upon a time two brothers, who lived on adjoining farms, fell into conflict. It was the first serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods as needed without a conflict.

Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of bitter words followed by weeks of silence.
One morning there was a knock on the older brother’s door. He opened it to find a man with a carpenter’s tool box.

“I’m looking for a few days’ work.” – he said. “Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with?”

“Yes.” – said the older brother. “I do have a job for you. Look across the creek at that farm. That’s my neighbor; in fact, it’s my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may have done this to spite me, but I’ll do him one better.”

“See that pile of lumber by the barn? I want you to build me a fence –an 8-foot fence — so I won’t need to see his place or his face anymore.”

The carpenter said, “I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the post-hole digger and I’ll be able to do a job that pleases you.”

The older brother had to go to town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day.

The carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing. About sunset when the farmer returned, the carpenter had just finished his job.

The farmer’s eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped. There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge — a bridge stretching from one side of the creek to the other! A fine piece of work, handrails and all — and the neighbor, his younger brother, was coming toward them, his arms outstretched — “You are quite a fellow to build this bridge after all I’ve said and done.”

The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then they met in the middle, taking each others hand.
They turned to see the carpenter hoist his toolbox onto his shoulder.

“No, wait! Stay a few days. I’ve a lot of other projects for you,” said the older brother.

“I’d love to stay on,” the carpenter said, “but I have many more bridges to build.”

 Author Unknown

Source: Internet

 

  

Inspiring Quotes

“Never do something permanently foolish just because you are temporarily upset.” Lily

“Worrying is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do, but doesn’t get you anywhere.” Van Wilder

“The most beautiful thing is to see a person you love smiling. And even more beautiful is knowing you are the reason behind it.”

“Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt and dance like no one is watching.”
Randall G Leighton

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” Robert Frost

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” Ann Landers

“Sometimes, when you’re mad, you have the right to be mad, but you don’t have the right to be cruel.” Saphire007

“Don’t be afraid of change. You may end up losing something good, but you will probably end up gaining something better.” Unknown

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.” Alexander Graham Bell

“Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.” Unknown

“Don’t take life too seriously. You’ll never get out of it alive.” Elbert Hubbard

“Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, because hate in your heart will consume you too.” Will Smith

“Dream as if you’ll live forever, live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean

“Nobody is perfect, and nobody deserves to be perfect. Nobody has it easy, everybody has issues. You never know what people are going through. So pause before you start judging, criticizing, or mocking others.

Everybody is fighting their own unique war.”  Soulman

“Choose the guy or girl who brings you to meet his or her parents, not his or her bedroom.”  Maryann

“The best thing in life is finding someone who knows about all your flaws and still thinks you’re completely amazing.”  Shelly

“Stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone.”

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.”  Michelle

“While you’re busy looking for the perfect person, you’ll probably miss the imperfect person who could make you perfectly happy.” Lulu

“The most painful and worst possible types of goodbyes are the ones that are never said, or never explained.”  Nick

“Crying doesn’t indicate that you’re weak. Since birth, it has always been a sign that you’re alive.”  Dee

“You don’t drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.” Jonny123

“Making one person smile can change the world. Maybe not the whole world, but their world. Start small. Start now.”  Pammy

“Someone will always be prettier. Someone will always be smarter. Someone will always be younger. But they will never be you.”  Uncle.D

“Sometimes you need to distance yourself to see things clearly.”  StevenO

“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

“Giving up and moving on are two very different things.”  Chris

“A silent hug means a thousand words to the unhappy heart.”  Timmy Jim

“Letting go is not forgetting, it’s remembering without fear.”  Roger

“Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”  Unknown

“Throughout your lifetime, the most difficult choice you will ever have to make is deciding whether you should let go, or hold on a little longer.”  Angel

“We meet no ordinary people in our lives. If you give them a chance, everyone has something amazing to offer.”

Source: Internet

Believe In Yourself

There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren’t the way you had hoped they would be.
That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down.

But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself.

There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it is up to you to accept them.

Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction for you. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of who you are.

So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you want your life to be.

Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you.

Keep Believing In Yourself

Source: Internet

I've Learned...,

I’ve learned-that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.

I’ve learned-that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back.

I’ve learned-that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.

I’ve learned-that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I’ve learned-that it’s not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.

I’ve learned-that you should never ruin an apology with an excuse.

I’ve learned-that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something.

I’ve learned-that you shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.

I’ve learned-that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.

I’ve learned-that it’s taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I’ve learned-that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I’ve learned-that you can keep going long after you can’t.

I’ve learned-that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I’ve learned-that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I’ve learned-that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I’ve learned-that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I’ve learned-that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I’ve learned-that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I’ve learned-that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I’ve learned-that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.

I’ve learned-that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I’ve learned-that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.

I’ve learned-that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.

I’ve learned-that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.

I’ve learned-that your family won’t always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren’t related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren’t biological.

I’ve learned-that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you are to learn to forgive yourself.

I’ve learned-that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn’t stop for your grief.

I’ve learned-that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I’ve learned-that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.

I’ve learned-that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.

I’ve learned-that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I’ve learned-that you shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I’ve learned-that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I’ve learned-that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.

I’ve learned-that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

I’ve learned-that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I’ve learned-that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I’ve learned-that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings, and standing up for what you believe.

I’ve learned-that people will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Source: Internet

Southernisms

You know you're a Southerner when you understand the following:

He's so clumsy he'd trip over a cordless phone.

He's about as handy as a back pocket on a shirt.

That's about as useful as a trap door on a canoe.

He couldn't carry a tune if he had a bucket with a lid on it.

She was so tall she could hunt geese with a rake.

She was so tall if she fell down she would be halfway home.


He was so fat it was easier to go over top of him than around him.

Higher than a Georgia pine

I'm fixin' to go down the road a piece

Dumb as a bucket of rocks.

I'll knock you so hard you'll see tomorrow today.

Somebody beat him with the ugly stick

Good night a livin'

That wall is all catawampus.

She's got more nerve than Carter's got Liver Pills.

Your a@# is grass and I'm the lawnmower!

If you don't stop that crying, I'll give you something to cry about!

If a bullfrog had wings, he wouldn't bump his a@# when he jumped.

I had to go around my elbow to get to my thumb.

Why are you just sitting there like a bump on a pickle.

That woman had forty 'leven kids! 

Ain't that the berries!

Barking up the wrong tree.

Don't bite off more than you can chew.

Don't count your chickens until they hatch.

Don't let your mouth overload your tail.

Either fish or cut bait.

Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then.

Get the short end of the stick.

Go hog wild.

They go to bed with the chickens.

He/She has gone back on their raisin.

Why have you got your feathers ruffled. 

He's as happy as a dead pig in the sunshine. 

I don't have no axe to grind. 

Why do you holler like a stuck pig. 

Well I do declare.

He sittin in high cotton. 

I haven't seen him or her in a coon's age. 

The act like two peas in a pod. 

I believe that you two need to mend fences. 

Now that's scarcer than hen's teeth. 

Now she's a sight for sore eyes. 

Were back in our own stomping grounds. 

The sun don't shine on the same dog's tail all the time. 

Now that takes the cake. 

That ones too big for his britches. 

I can do that in two shakes of a sheep's tail. 

Well,  jest shut my mouth.

Source: Internet
  

Kids Proverbs

A grade school teacher collected well known proverbs. She gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb.

 Better to be safe than punch a 5th grader.

Strike while the bug is close.

It's always darkest before daylight savings time.

Never underestimate the power of termites.

You can lead a horse to water but how? 

 

No news is impossible.

Don't bite the hand that looks dirty.

A miss is as good as a Mr.

You can't teach an old dog new math. 

 

Love all, trust me.

If you lie down with dogs, you will stink in the morning.

The pen is mightier than the pigs.

An idle mind is the best way to relax.

Where there's smoke there's pollution. 

 

A penny saved is not much.

Happy is the bride who gets all the presents

Source: Internet