Humor 6/1/98: Story for a Thursday morning

Hey,

Welcome to all those of you who are new to my weekly humor email. It's
funny that I'm adding it this week, because it will be the last one
during the summer, while I'm in Asia. I hope to resume these emails in
September.

For those of you who came to my "surprise" going away party, thanks for
coming and your words of encouragement. I'm glad to see you one last
time and take some pictures with you. Thanks to Anna and Rich for
organizing it!

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you were to change your
career/job every seven years, what are some of the different careers you
would most likely to fave during your lifetime?" Feel free to send me
any of your responses.

This week's humor email comes to us from Dave Shim, followed by a
Chicken Soup story. Enjoy!

-Josh.

P.S. My permanent email address is: joshli@post.harvard.edu. I'm
getting rid of my GIS account this week. Starting now, please remove me
from your humor emails until I get back from Asia. I'll try to access
my email through the Internet while in Asia, but it may be sporadic.

P.S. I'm planning on driving cross-country, from New York to LA in
September. At this point, I'm thinking of leaving on Friday, September
4th, early morning and arrive in LA a week later, on September 11th. I
hope to stop in Chicago from Saturday, 9/5, to Sunday, 9/5. After
Chicago, I hope to drive to the Grand Canyons, and spend a day or two
there. Please let me know if you're interested in making this trip.
_____________________________

Story for a Thursday morning...

After Quasimodo's death, the bishop of the cathedral of Notre
Dame sent word through the streets of Paris that a new
bellringer was needed. The bishop decided that he would
conduct the interviews personally and went up into the belfry
to begin the screening process.

After observing several applicants demonstrate their skills, he
had just decided to call it a day when a lone, armless man
approached him an announced that he was there to apply for
the bellringer's job. The bishop was incredulous. "You have
no arms!" "No matter," said the man, "observe!"

He then began striking the bells with his face, producing a
beautiful melody on the carillon. The bishop listened in
astonishment, convinced that he had finally found a suitable
replacement for Quasimodo.

Suddenly, rushing forward to strike a bell, the armless man
tripped, and plunged headlong out of the belfry window to his
death in the street below.

The stunned bishop rushed down the many flights of stairs to
his side. When he reached the street, a crowd had gathered
around the fallen figure, drawn by the beautiful music they
had heard only moments before. As they silently parted to let
the bishop through, one of them asked, "Bishop, who was
this man?"

"I don't know his name," the bishop sadly replied, "but his
face rings a bell."


But wait.....there's more!!

The following day, despite the sadness that weighed heavily
on his heart due to the unfortunate death of the armless
campanologist, the bishop continued his interviews for the
bellringer of Notre Dame. The first man to approach him said,
"Your excellency, I am the very close friend of the poor,
armless wretch that fell to his death from this very belfry
yesterday. I pray that you honour his life by allowing me to
replace him in this duty."

The bishop agreed to give the man an audition, and as the
armless man's friend stooped to pick up a mallet to strike the
first bell, he groaned, clutched at his chest and died on the
spot. Two monks, hearing the bishop's cries of grief at this
second tragedy, rushed up the stairs to his side.

"What has happened?" the first breathlessly asked, "Who is
this man?"

"I don't know his name," sighed the distraught bishop, "but
he's a dead ringer for the guy that was here yesterday."
__________________________________________

As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped
to watch a local Little League baseball game that was
being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind
the bench on the first-baseline, I asked one of the boys
what the score was.
"We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile.
"Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very
discouraged."
"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on
his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been
up to bat yet."

By Jack Canfield
from Condensed Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor
Hansen & Patty Hansen