Random picture thread for Friday

Finally, with my new convertible top. 1930 Ford Cabriolet. Yes, these are original paint colors including the wheels. Been working on this, on and off for 50 years to get it all restored very close to what it was really like when minted.

The Backstory:

I was asked to give an inspirational message yesterday via Zoom to a class of students meeting in Japan. Included in my remarks I shared this story that had a Japanese connection.

The added challenge though was finding photos to illustrate the points in the story. My internet photo album search feature was able to pull up the above three relevant photos that I had taken in the past:

In my search for a photo I had taken of a rose I came across roses from a trip to Hawaii.

In my search for a twig I located a photo I had taken of branches on a Sakura (Cherry Blossom) tree photographed in Japan,

The lilies popped up from a photo I had taken in China.

For anyone interested, here is the story:

In a 1947 talk, David O. McKay shared a story with a Japanese connection relating to happiness. As he described it there was in ancient days in Japan a scholar who went out of the city’s gates each day returning at night to teach the townspeople what he had learned. One day as he left one of the townsmen asked him to bring back a rose. Another asked him to bring back a twig. A third asked him to bring back a lily.

He returned having done as requested. As he handed the rose to the one person the individual responded, “Why here is a thorn clinging to the stem of my rose.”

When he handed the twig to the second person, he responded, “And here is a dead leaf on my twig.”

Then when the third person received his requested lily, his response was, “And here is dirt clinging to the roots of my lily.”

At this point the scholar took back the rose, the twig, and the lily. He then plucked off the thorn, the dead leaf, and removed the dirt handing each back while keeping the rose, the twig and the lily for himself.

The lesson the scholar taught was that if one looks only for flaws, that is what one sees and the beauty is missed.

David O. McKay explained, “In each one of us probably there is a thorn in the character; there may be a dead leaf clinging to the reputation of some of us; there may even be dirt. We shall find it if we look for it. But in each of us there is also a rose and a twig and a lily. ..... "

Northern Central Railway. Aug. 10th 2017 New Freedom PA