Humor 12/13/99: Borrowing Money & A Christmas Story II

Hi everyone,

I finished my final on Friday and a group paper and presentation
tonight. Now, all I have is my field study research paper left, and
then I'm all done! I hop on a plane on Thursday to fly back to NYC.
Can't wait.

Phil & Wendy Lin and their baby Charissa came to LA to visit Phil's
parents. Steve Lee, Charles & Genevieve and Clarice and I met up with
them for dinner in Monterey Park. It was fun to see them again. I'll
post the pictures I took on the BCEC Connections page. Please email me
if you can't access it.

This week's thought provoking question is: "If you could give a single
piece of advice to the film industry in Hollywood, what would you say?"

This week's humor was forwarded by Anna Man (I thought the joke was
extremely funny, but I had to make a slight alteration), followed by an
inspirational Christmas story forwarded by Ethel Lai. I actually sent
out this story last year around this time. In this hectic, busy
Christmas season, I hope that you will remember the true meaning of
CHRIST-mas!

Enjoy!

-Josh.
_________________________________________

A woman walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan
officer. She says she is going to Europe on business for two weeks and
needs to borrow $5000.

The bank officers says the bank will need some kind of security for such
a loan, so the woman hands over the keys to a new Rolls Royce, parked on
the street, in front of the bank.

Everything checks out, and the bank agrees to accept the car as
collateral for the loan. An employee drives the Rolls into the bank's
underground garage and parks it there.

Two weeks later, the woman returns and repays the $5000, and the
interest, which is $15.41.

The loan officer says, "We are very happy to have had your business, and
this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little
puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are
a multimillionaire. What puzzles us is why would you bother to borrow
$5000?"

The woman replied, "Where else in New York City can I park my car for 2
weeks for $15.00?"
____________________________

A CHRISTMAS STORY II

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our
Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has
peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas --- oh, not the
true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of
it-overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get
a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma --- the gifts
given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts,
sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for
Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin, who was 12
that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended;
and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a
team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black. These youngsters,
dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only
thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in
their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was
wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a
wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not
afford. Well, we ended up walloping them.

We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the
mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of
street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat. Mike, seated beside me,
shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them could have won," he
said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take
the heart right out of them."

Mike loved kids-all kids-and he knew them, having coached little league
football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present
came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought
an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously
to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on
the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was
his gift from me.

His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in
succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition---one
year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey
game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had
burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the
last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their
new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted
the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.

As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but
the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there. You
see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas
rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the
tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree,
and in the morning, it was joined by three more.

Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope
on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will
expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with
wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope.

Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the
true Christmas spirit this year and always.

God bless---pass this along to your friends and loved ones.
--
_____________________________________

Joshua Li
14400 Addison Ave. #119
Sherman Oaks CA 91423
(818)461-8930
Instant Messenger ID: joshli
Permanent Email: joshli@post.harvard.edu
http://personal.anderson.ucla.edu/joshua.li/