Inspiration : LAUGHTER AND SMILES

[MORTARDUDE]

Inspiration:
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LAUGHTER AND SMILES

By: Joseph J. Mazzella

One of the most delightful Christmas decorations that I saw
this year was a gigantic, plastic polar bear that someone had
set in their front yard. Its very size made me laugh and smile
as I drove by. Ten children could have sat on its lap with room
for more. It was a wonderful and joyous gift from the homeowner
to all of us who saw it. After all, there are few gifts as precious
as bringing a smile to someone's face and a laugh to someone's
heart.

I think that knowing the priceless joy of smiles and laughter
is one reason why I still read the comics page in my newspaper
each day. It is also why I so dearly love to watch children at play.
A six year old child will laugh three hundred times a day while
an adult will only laugh fifteen times a day. Perhaps we should
take lessons in joy and laughter from our kids instead of trying
to make them be more serious like us.

Laughter and smiles are not only a joy for the soul either. They
are also a fountain of youth for all who use them. They give us
health, energy, vitality, and help us to choose love easily and
often. You know I have never seen a smiling person who looked
old. Perhaps you only grow old when you stop laughing and
cease to smile. Even the most wrinkled and ancient face
instantly grows young when its lips turn up, its teeth shine
bright, and its eyes twinkle in delight.

Let us not be afraid to smile then. Let us not hold back our
laughter. Let us choose instead to smile and laugh every
chance we get. Let us love our laughter and delight in our
smiles. Let us grow young again with giggles and grins.
Let us rejoice in these glorious gifts from God and smile
and laugh our way to Heaven. It is only with a smiling face
and a laughing heart that we can create the kind love and
joy that will truly make this world the paradise God meant
for it to be.

[revwardoc]

Nebraska soldiers bring Christmas to Iraqis
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A group of Nebraska soldiers serving in Iraq decided on Christmas Eve that the best way to celebrate the holiday would be to bring the spirit of it to about 300 nearby schoolchildren.

About 30 members of the Nebraska Army National Guard's 1057th Transportation Company parked their military truck outside a schoolhouse near the city of Nasariyah on Wednesday morning.

To the students' surprise, the soldiers quickly began unloading clothes, blankets, teddy bears and other toys. They also set up a refreshment stand with lemonade, muffins and 40 pounds of cookies.

"We have been separated from our families for almost a year now and are struggling to find meaning in our continued involvement with operations over here," 1st Sgt. Glenn Muhr of the Chadron-based 1057th wrote in a Christmas Day e-mail to family and friends.

"Perhaps yesterday, on Christmas Eve, we may have learned just that. If we ever question our current mission and our objectives, all we need to do is reflect on this day. The children of this country deserve to have a future that will provide them opportunity and prosperity," Muhr wrote.

Officials with the local Iraqi Civil Affairs unit had invited the company to participate in the gift-giving operation.

Muhr, of Harrisburg, said the soldiers didn't want to leave.

The gifts handed out were collected in western Nebraska. And the cookies were baked by two women in Morrill as a Christmas care package for the soldiers.

Muhr's sister-in-law, Kathy Muhr, helped pack the cookies and was happy with their final destination.

"We were so overjoyed they were able to help the children, because the children are caught up in something they have no power over," Kathy Muhr said Friday.

"I took a copy (of Glenn Muhr's e-mail) over to one of the ladies who had baked the cookies. And she was just overjoyed, too," Kathy Muhr said. "We were shocked. You live in western Nebraska and you never expect to have any kind of an impact someplace else."