A couple important messages

Amos Stevens

New Member
> A well-known speaker started off his seminar
>
> by holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he
> asked,
>
>
> "Who would like this $20 bill?"
>
>
> Hands started going up.
>
>
> He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you
>
>
>
> but first, let me do this.
>
>
> He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill.
>
>
> He then asked, "Who still wants it?"
>
>
> Still the hands were up in the air.
>
>
> Well, he replied, "What if I do this?"
>
>
> And he dropped it on the ground
>
>
> and started to grind it into the floor with his
> shoe.
>
>
> He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.
>
>
> "Now, who still wants it?"
>
>
> Still the hands went into the air.
>
>
> My friends, we have all learned a very valuable
> lesson.
>
>
> No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted
> it
>
>
> because it did not decrease in value.
>
>
> It was still worth $20.
>
>
> Many times in our lives,
>
>
> we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt
>
>
> by the decisions we make and
>
>
> the circumstances that come our way.
>
>
> We feel as though we are worthless.
>
>
> But no matter what has happened or
>
>
> what will happen, you will never lose your value.
>
>
> Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased,
>
>
> you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you.
>
>
> The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or
> who we
>
>
> know,
>
>
> but by WHO WE ARE
----------------------------------------------------
Some people understand life better,
> And they call some of these people "retarded or
> mentally challenged "... At the Seattle Special
> Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or
> mentally
> disabled, assembled at
> the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun,
> they all started out,
> not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the
> race to the finish and win.
> All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on
> the asphalt, tumbled over a
> couple of times, and began to cry.
>
> The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down
> and looked back. Then
> they all turned around and went back......every one
> of
> them. One girl with
> Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said,
> "This will make it
> better." Then all nine linked arms and walked
> together
> to the finish line.
> Everyone in the stadium stood, the cheering went on
> for several minutes.
>
> People who were there are still telling the story...
> Why?
> Because deep down we know this one thing: What
> matters
> in this life is more
> than winning for ourselves. What matters in this
> life
> is helping others win,
> even if it means slowing down and changing our
> course.
>
 

KimonoSoul

Wacky on the Junk
Some people are truly blessed with the ability to love one another unconditionally! What a miracle it would be if everyone would follow their example! I know one day that everyone the world over will figure out that we were all put on this earth to love and care for one another.
 

Amos Stevens

New Member
Friends may be key to living longer
Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:10 PM ET


By Merritt McKinney
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Looking for the secret of
a long life? Look closely at your friends. New
research suggests that having a strong network of
friends helps people live longer.

"Older people with better social networks with friends
were less likely to die over a 10-year follow-up
period than older people with poorer friends
networks," Lynne C. Giles of Flinders University in
Adelaide, Australia, told Reuters Health.

But in what may come as a surprising finding to older
people who rely on their children and other relatives,
having a large network of relatives was not associated
with longer life, Giles and her colleagues report in
the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health.

"Of course, that is not to say that social networks
with children and other relatives are not important in
many other ways," Giles said.

Study after study has shown that elderly people who
are connected with lots of people tend to live longer
lives. However, few studies have examined whether
different types of relationships -- with friends,
partners, children and other relatives -- have
different effects on longevity.

Giles's team set out to examine the relationship
between various types of social networks and longevity
in a group of almost 1,500 Australians who were at
least 70 years old. Volunteers answered questions
about their social networks and then were followed for
10 years.

The researchers took into account several factors that
could have influenced how long a person lived,
including sex, age, health and smoking status.

What the study showed was that older people who
reported better social networks of friends were more
likely to be alive at the end of the study than people
with fewer friends. Similarly, people who reported
strong networks of confidants -- people with whom
participants shared a close, confiding relationship --
tended to live longer.

But relationships with children and relatives did not
have an effect on survival in the study.

Giles and her team are not sure why friends seemed to
help people live longer. They speculate that friends
may influence people to engage in more healthy
behavior, such as not smoking or not drinking too
much. Another possibility, according to the
researchers, is that friends may help boost people's
self-esteem.

"The list of answers to this question is potentially
long and complex," according to Dr. Carlos F. Mendes
de Leon, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago,
who is the author of an editorial that accompanies the
study.

It is possible that having a strong network of friends
may have beneficial physical effects, the reverse of
the negative physical effect stress can have,
according to Mendes de Leon.
As for the lack of a relationship between longer life
and family relationships, Mendes de Leon suggests that
it may reflect the tendency of people to rely on
family members when their health begins to decline.

Whatever the reason for the beneficial effects of
friends, Giles believes that "strategies to promote
the establishment and maintenance of these
relationships in later life warrant additional
attention."

SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,
July 2005.


© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
 

Lollipop

Banned
Amos Stevens said:
Friends may be key to living longer
Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:10 PM ET


By Merritt McKinney
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Looking for the secret of
a long life? Look closely at your friends. New
research suggests that having a strong network of
friends helps people live longer.

"Older people with better social networks with friends
were less likely to die over a 10-year follow-up
period than older people with poorer friends
networks," Lynne C. Giles of Flinders University in
Adelaide, Australia, told Reuters Health.

But in what may come as a surprising finding to older
people who rely on their children and other relatives,
having a large network of relatives was not associated
with longer life, Giles and her colleagues report in
the July issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health.

"Of course, that is not to say that social networks
with children and other relatives are not important in
many other ways," Giles said.

Study after study has shown that elderly people who
are connected with lots of people tend to live longer
lives. However, few studies have examined whether
different types of relationships -- with friends,
partners, children and other relatives -- have
different effects on longevity.

Giles's team set out to examine the relationship
between various types of social networks and longevity
in a group of almost 1,500 Australians who were at
least 70 years old. Volunteers answered questions
about their social networks and then were followed for
10 years.

The researchers took into account several factors that
could have influenced how long a person lived,
including sex, age, health and smoking status.

What the study showed was that older people who
reported better social networks of friends were more
likely to be alive at the end of the study than people
with fewer friends. Similarly, people who reported
strong networks of confidants -- people with whom
participants shared a close, confiding relationship --
tended to live longer.

But relationships with children and relatives did not
have an effect on survival in the study.

Giles and her team are not sure why friends seemed to
help people live longer. They speculate that friends
may influence people to engage in more healthy
behavior, such as not smoking or not drinking too
much. Another possibility, according to the
researchers, is that friends may help boost people's
self-esteem.

"The list of answers to this question is potentially
long and complex," according to Dr. Carlos F. Mendes
de Leon, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago,
who is the author of an editorial that accompanies the
study.

It is possible that having a strong network of friends
may have beneficial physical effects, the reverse of
the negative physical effect stress can have,
according to Mendes de Leon.
As for the lack of a relationship between longer life
and family relationships, Mendes de Leon suggests that
it may reflect the tendency of people to rely on
family members when their health begins to decline.

Whatever the reason for the beneficial effects of
friends, Giles believes that "strategies to promote
the establishment and maintenance of these
relationships in later life warrant additional
attention."

SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health,
July 2005.


© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.


That is true, my mother in law refusing to be old, she has joined a Senior Dance group and her mind is in Disney must of the time!! She is very rarely sick!
She will live forever!

My mother goes no where, visit's only with her children!
And is sick alot!! I have tried to set here up a network of friends(blind leading the blind) But she will not socialize!! So how long will she live?

And it is also said "those with a sense of humor live longer lives" So I should live forever!!(sorry) I know we should be serious here, but it is not in my nature!
 
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