A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case the students wrote, "He hasn't got a chance." Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen.

The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with feeling, "There was a teacher."
The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.

The teacher's eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. "It's really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."

- Eric Butterworth    

Valentine's Day - Chocolate

Theobroma cacao, is the scientific name of the plant from which we get chocolate. It is tropical American tree of the family Sterculiaceae. The cacao tree is grown throughout the wet lowland tropics, often in the shade of taller trees. It has a thick trunk and rises up to 40 feet tall. Its leathery oblong leaves are up to 1 foot long. The small pinkish flowers are borne directly on the branches and trunk and smell quite foul. The flowers are followed by the fruit, or pods, which are ovoid, yellow-brown to purple, and divided on the surface by 10 ribs, or ridges. The pods may be up to about a foot long and 4.5 inches in diameter. Each pod yields 20-40 seeds, or cocoa beans. The beans, about 1 inch long, are embedded within the pod in a pink mucilaginous pulp.

The usefulness of the cocoa bean was well known to the Pre-Colombian inhabitants of tropical America. Chocolate was fist known only as a beverage. It was a ceremonial brew of at least three Indian civilizations: the Mayans, the Toltecs, and the Aztecs. It was so prized that for some time the beans were used as currency in these societies.

The Aztecs allowed the cocoa beans to ferment in the pod for several days. The broken kernels were then roasted in earthenware vessels, then ground into a paste in a heated concave stone. The naturally bitter flavor of the paste was flavored by the addition of vanilla, spices and various herbs. In many cases hot pepper seeds were also added to the paste. The paste was molded into small cakes and dried on shiny leaves in the shade. When the time came to brew the drink, the cakes were crumbled, mixed with hot water (or chicken broth), and stirred with a wooden beater, called a molinet, until the desired consistency was obtained. The Aztecs called their chocolate beverage xocoatl which means bitter drink.

Sources:
The Browser's Book of Beginnings and Origins of Everything under, and Including the Sun - Charles Panat | Encyclopaedia Britannica |

Tomorrow Chocolate Part 2 .

LOVE Quotation

Always, love is a choice. You come up against scores of opportunities every day to love or not to love. You encounter hundreds of small chances to please your friends, delight your Lord and encourage your family. That's why love and obedience are intimately linked--you can't have one without the other.

– Joni Eareckson Tada, from Diamonds in the Dust