|
To the Editor:
We recently returned from a business/
pleasure trip to France and Belgium with Gary and Lea Ann Burau. We found this prayer for tourists at a church in Brugge, Belgium. Thought your readers might enjoy it ...
Heavenly Father, look down on us, your humble tourist servants, who are doomed to travel this earth, taking photo-graphs, mailing postcards, buying souven-irs, and walking around in drip-dry under-wear.
We beseech You, Oh Lord, to see that our plane is not hijacked, our luggage is not lost, and our overweight baggage goes unnoticed. Protect us from surly and un-scrupulous taxi drivers, avaricious porters, and unlicensed English-speaking guides.
Give us this day divine guidance in the selection of our hotels, that we may find our reservations honored, our rooms made up, and the hot water running from the correct tap if at all. We pray that the telephone works, that the operator speaks our tongue, and that there is no telegram waiting from our children that would force us to cancel the rest of the trip.
Lead us, dear Lord, to good inexpen-sive restaurants where the food is superb, the waiters friendly, and the wine included in the price of the meal. Give us the wis-dom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand. Forgive us for undertip-ping out of ignorance and overtipping out of fear. Make the natives love us for what we are and not for what they can screwe out of us.
Grant us the strength to visit muse-ums, cathedrals, palaces, and castles listed as "musts" in guidebooks and, if per-chance we skip an historic monument, to take a nap after lunch, have mercy on us, for our flesh is weak.
Dear God, keep our wives from shop-ping sprees and protect them from bargains which they neither need nor can afford. Lead them not into temptation for they know not what they do.
Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at foreign women and com-paring them with us. Save them from making fools of themselves in cafes and nightclubs. Above all, please do not for-give them their trespasses for they know exactly what they do.
And when our voyage is over and we return to our loved ones, grant us the favor of finding a willing audience for our movies and a sympathetic ear for our stories, so that our lives as tourists shall not have been in vain. Amen.
Jeanette and Dale Ratzlaff
Waconia, Minnesota
To the Editor:
Thank you, Veteran!
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, World War I ended. The "war to end all wars" did more than take the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. It awakened the consciousness of America. The war re-minded people that peace and freedom come at a price - a price that, tragically, hit home for too many families.
Lost brothers, sons, and fathers be-came the fallen heroes of the generation. A soldier willing to risk his life for the sake of a man, woman, and child he would never meet became the ideal citizen of this country.
To honor this patriot, Woodrow Wil-son designated November 11th as Armistice Day in 1919. Nineteen years later, Congress voted the day a national holiday.
Unfortunately, World War II started a year later. Another 407,000 lives would be lost in service and countless more shattered. In 1954, November 11th was renamed Veterans Day in respect of all war veterans.
Today we honor the occasion with personal and public reflection of those who served during peacetime, in both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Bosnia, and Serbia. We recognize the commitment and dedication of veter-ans who keep our forces strong and operations running smoothly here.
For all veterans past and present, we show our appreciation by sharing a moment of silence at cemeteries. We visit our nation's capital and fight back tears at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and other war memorials.
On November 11th, we celebrate you, Veteran, for the job you did well years ago and for what you are doing now. Your service strengthened our country's foundation. Thank you.
Dan Steinhagen
Carver Co. Veterans Services Officer
Waconia, Minnesota
To the Editor:
We are now underway in CAP Agency's Give Where You Live cam-paign. I ask that you please consider a financial contribution.
Give Where You Live raises money to help our agency support local people through services that largely rely on com-munity support such as Crisis Nursery, Senior Nutrition, Thrift Shop, Food Shelf, Emergency Services, Getting There, and our community projects.
As the economy and the nation face uncertainty, this year your support is especially critical to local individuals and families. This fall we saw a 64% increase in the number of families who needed winter coats. Also, the amount of families registering for our holiday projects is elevated, and our food shelf has experi-enced a 28% increase in service over this time last year.
Each year we are overwhelmed by the generosity of the local community. Your continued support is appreciated. Dona-tions can be sent to the CAP Agency GWYL Campaign, 712 Canterbury Road South, Shakopee, MN 55379. Thank you.
Mary Sullivan, CAP Agency Executive Director
To the Editor:
Your fishhook is on page 4 on the post with the mailbox full of mail. It's nice to read all the compliments you get for being a super great editor. Happy Thanksgiving.
Marie Otten, Waconia, Minnesota
Click here for more letters to the editor.
|
|
