[Magdalen] Safely arrived

[James Oppenheimer]

"People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to
find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong
wall."

This reminds me of a photo I saw in BAR.

In Jerusalem, church affairs are based on agreements forged by the Ottoman
Empire. Certain domains are specifically assigned to certain faiths, and in
the standoff between these feuding and hateful disciples of Our Lord, the
boundaries are rigidly and spitefully adhered to.

So it is that due to an arcane division, established many moons ago, it is
virtually impossible to repair a window in certain churches without getting
heads of state together to hammer out an agreement of who does what. And
because of this, a ladder has been leaning against the wall next to a
church window for decades, undisturbed, because moving this ladder would
constitute the incursion of one domain into the boundaries of another.

Then, one morning, some wag looked up and saw that the ladder was moved,
and now leaned against the wall on the other side of the same window. BAR
helpfully published pictures of the ladder before and after the mid-night
switch.  It only meant the ladder had moved about ten feet, but it caused
quite a firestorm.  After a while, one morning, it was found the ladder had
quietly been returned to its former silly position.  And the world was once
again a safe place.



Other thoughts on the quote:



"If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."


"If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably wind up someplace
else."


both of these quotes can be attributed to the man who for years wrote
nothing but small items to place in blanks at the end of news articles, the
venerable Phillip A. Space.



James W. Oppenheimer
*“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better
for people coming behind you, and you don’t do it, you're wasting your time
on this Earth.”  -- *Roberto Clemente

On Wed, Oct 22, 2014 at 11:48 AM, Lynn Ronkainen <ichthys89 at comcast.net>
wrote:

> So glad it was so smooth... my opinion of the Atlanta airport has gone up
> a notch!
> Lynn
>
> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>
> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not
> a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me."
> attributed to Erma Bombeck
>
> Thomas Merton writes, "People may spend their whole lives climbing the
> ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is
> leaning against the wrong wall."
>
> "What you seek is seeking you." - Rumi
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "ROGER STOKES" <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 6:26 AM
> To: <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
>
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Safely arrived
>
>  I think it was quicker than Houston last year, let alone the agony of JFK
>> the year before.  The lines were relatively short and the whole thing
>> seemed efficient even if the machine had problems reading my fingerprints.
>> I just have to remember not to confuse the locals with the facts if they
>> start getting political.
>>
>> Roger
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Lynn Ronkainen <ichthys89 at comcast.net>
>> To: magdalen at herberthouse.org
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2014 3:21 AM
>> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Safely arrived
>>
>>
>> Happy arrival in the USA *again* !  I'd say that doing anything,
>> especially coming through customs at the Atlanta airport is possibly a
>> miracle! (no fan of that airport here : )
>>
>> Have a wee dram and go to bed and may you wake up to adventure
>> tomorrow... all good, of course!
>>
>> peace
>> Lynn
>>
>> website: www.ichthysdesigns.com
>>
>> When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have
>> not a single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave
>> me." attributed to Erma Bombeck
>>
>> Thomas Merton writes, "People may spend their whole lives climbing the
>> ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is
>> leaning against the wrong wall."
>>
>> "What you seek is seeking you." - Rumi
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "ROGER STOKES" <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2014 9:13 PM
>> To: <Magdalen at herberthouse.org>
>> Subject: [Magdalen] Safely arrived
>>
>>  in Atlanta and in my room at the hotel.  I got to the room 90 minutes
>>> after the wheels touched the runway which I reckon was good going.  We were
>>> delayed leaving London, first by four passengers who did not show at the
>>> gate and then there were delays with Air Traffic Control because of the
>>> remains of Hurricane Galvano.
>>>
>>> At Immigration I was asked if I had used that passport to visit the USA
>>> before (yes) so I was then inducted into using the electronic passport
>>> system before proceeding to the friendly DHS man and wait for my checked
>>> case.  Transfer to the Domestic Terminal and then transfer to the hotel. It
>>> was all much quicker than I had feared but it's been a very long day and I
>>> am going to wet my whistle before getting my head down.
>>>
>>> Roger
>>>
>>>