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A touching story:

A story to make us think.....

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same
hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his
bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the
fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's
only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his
back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke
of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs,
their involvement in the military service, where they
had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the
man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would
pass the time by describing to his roommate all the
things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those
one-hour periods where his world would be broadened
and enlivened by all the activity and color of the
world outside. The window overlooked a park with a
lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water
while children sailed their model boats.

Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of
every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced
the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline
could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this
exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the
room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque
scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window
described a parade passing by. Although the other
man couldn't hear the band -- he could see it in his
mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed
it with descriptive words.

Then unexpectedly, a sinister thought entered his
mind. Why should the other man alone experience all
the pleasures of seeing everything while he himself
never got to see anything?

It didn't seem fair.

At first thought the man felt ashamed. But as the
days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his
envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour.
He began to brood and he found himself unable to
sleep. He should be by that window -- that thought,
and only that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the
man by the window began to cough. He was choking on
the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the
dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window
groped for the button to call for help. Listening
from across the room he never moved, never pushed his
own button which would have brought the nurse running
in. In less than five minutes the coughing and
choking stopped along with that the sound of
breathing. Now there was only silence-deathly silence.

The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring
water for their baths. When she found the lifeless
body of the man by the window, she was saddened and
called the hospital attendants to take it away. As
soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if
he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was
happy to make the switch, and after making sure he
was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow
to take his first look at the world outside. Finally,
he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He
strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside
the bed. It faced a blank wall.

The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his
deceased roommate who had described such wonderful
things outside this window. The nurse responded that
the man was blind and could not even see the wall.
She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Epilogue. . . .

You can interpret the story in any way you like,
but one moral stands out:

There is tremendous happiness in making others happy,
despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the
sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you
want to feel rich, just count all of the things you
have that money can't buy.

"Yesterday is the past, also known as history....
Tomorrow is the future, which remains a mystery...
Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present."

"The tears shed over heartbreaks, are the words left unsaid and the deeds left undone."

"You've got to dance like nobody's watching, and love like it's never going to hurt."

"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."

"I will not drag you along; i will not leave you alone; i will stand by you and have my hand there for you to hold when you need to."

"Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart."

"To handle yourself, use your head;
To handle others, use your heart.
Anger is only one letter short of danger."

"If someone betrays you once, it's his fault;
if he betrays you twice, it's your fault."

"Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
small minds discuss people."

"He who loses money, loses much;
He who loses a friend, loses more;
He who loses faith, loses all."

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature,
But beautiful old people are works of art."

"Learn from the mistakes of others.
You can't live long enough to make them all yourself."

"Friends, you and me.... you brought another friend... and then there were 3...
We started our group... Our circle of friends... and like that circle...
there is no beginning or end..."

"It's not about how hard you push along the way,
It's what you have left inside of you to finish." -Michael "Air" Jordan

Funny Sayings :
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they are sticking to their diets.

You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking
chair that you once got from a roller coaster.

Perhaps you know why women over fifty don't have babies: They would
put them down somewhere and forget where they left them.

One of life's mysteries is how a two pound box of candy can make a
woman gain five pounds.

My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely.

Every time I think about exercise, I lie down 'til the thought goes away.
God put me on earth to accomplish a certain number of things.
Right now I am so far behind, I will live forever.

It's frustrating when you know all the answers, but nobody bothers to
ask you the questions.

If you can remain calm, you just don't have all the facts.

I finally got my head together, and my body fell apart.

There cannot be a crisis this week; my schedule is already full.

The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right
place, but also to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Time may be a great healer, but it's also a lousy beautician.

The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

Brain cells come and brain cells go, but fat cells live forever.

The nice part of living in a small town is that when I don't know
what I'm doing, someone else does.

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then
your body and your fat are really good friends.

Age doesn't always bring wisdom. Sometimes age comes alone.

Life not only begins at forty, it begins to show.

Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today.

Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain consciousness.

If at first you don't succeed, see if the loser gets anything.

You don't stop laughing because you grow old;
you grow old because you stop laughing.

I don't mind the rat race, but I could do with a little more cheese.

WOMEN: Remember, as we get older we no longer have hot flashes.
We now have power surges.

It is bad to suppress laughter; it goes back down and spreads to your hips.

Age is important only if you're a cheese.

The only time a woman wishes she were a year older is when she is
expecting a baby.

Freedom of the press means no-iron clothes.

Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but she can
usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake.

Can it be a mistake that "STRESSED" is "DESSERTS" spelled backwards??

Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.

Despite the high cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?