Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Parshischo said that every person should have two slips of paper in his pocket.
On one should be written: “The world was created for me.”
On the other should be written: “I am but dust and ashes.”
The trick is to have the wisdom to know which slip of paper to read at the right time.
Sources: Simchas Yisroel, p.41; Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s Gateway to Happiness, p.126
As you expand your consciousness of kindness, you create a more spiritual life. Your kindness and compassion for the Creator’s children is an expression of your love for our Father, our King, Creator and Sustainer of the universe.
With your kindness and compassion you emulate God. As you help others, you create an inner light that illuminates your entire being.
-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s book “Kindness.”
RAF Ascension Island – January 2002 – licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
“There it is again. Let me put it on speaker, Richard.” Thirty-eight-year-old Kristen Hines was on assignment for the NSA at the RAF Ascension Space Communications facility on the mid-Atlantic island. Richard Porter was the fifty-five-year-old civilian division chief.
As the static switched from Kristen’s headset to the speakers in the secure communications room crewed by a dozen specialists, the regular pinging became a fragmented voice.
"Surrender...Nazi...A-10...spacecraft...aliens...releasing us..."
“Mr. Porter, Sir. Got something on radar.” Roger Bennett’s gaze didn’t deviate from his screen. “It’s entering Earth’s atmosphere.” Hines reached for the secure line to Washington as Porter muttered. “So the bloody Nazis did manage it.”
“What?” Kristen’s hand paused.
“Granddad was only one of six intelligence agents to discover that before the fall of the Reich, the Nazis had launched a manned rocket into space.”
“How could they have survived all these years.”
“They’re on re-entry. Guess we’ll find out.”
I wrote this for the What Pegman Saw writing challenge. The idea is to take a Google Maps image/location and use it as a prompt to craft a piece of flash fiction no more than 150 words long. My word count is 150.
Today, the Pegman takes us to St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha in the middle of the South Atlantic.
I did my homework and discovered that RAF Ascension, also known as Wideawake Airfield or Ascension Island Auxiliary Field, “serves as a space-based communications, signals intelligence, and navigation nexus and hub (Ground station). One of only four GPS satellite ground antennas is located there.”
I also discovered that during World War Two, the island was used by the Allies “to base patrolling anti-surface-commerce-raider and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) forces against the Axis powers’ naval units.”
When I was looking up signals intelligence, I found an online copy of the last German message intercepted by the British during the war signaling Germany’s unconditional surrender.
Putting that all together, I wondered if there were any “conspiracy theories” based on a Nazi Manned Space Program, and lo and behold, I found the answer at Astronotes which used information about Nazi Germany’s Aggregat Rocket Program.
It was a lot of fun to write, but 150 words doesn’t do it justice.
To read other stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com (link fixed).
“Part of being careful is not to be excessively careful.”
If a person is excessively careful about not doing anything unless he is absolutely certain of success, he will not accomplish very much. While we should be careful not to take rash risks, calculated risks are necessary for anyone who wishes to utilize his potential.
Before taking a risk, list the pros and cons and weigh them carefully. But don’t demand absolute certainty before taking action.
Sources: Chovos Halevovos, Introduction; Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s Gateway to Happiness, p.259
Cover art for Jon Del Arroz’s novella “Knight Training”
Yesterday, I finished reading Jon Del Arroz’s short story Knight Training, a small steampunk piece that’s part of his For Steam and Country universe. I won’t post these first few paragraphs at Amazon, but I feel it necessary, given the criticism I receive every time I mention Mr. Del Arroz on this blog, to say something about him, or at least how some folks perceive him.
About a year ago, another author, Jim C. Hines, wrote a scathing criticism of Del Arroz that he titled Jon Del Arroz’s History of Trolling and Harassing. I was doing some research on Del Arroz via Google and came across the missive (and it’s the only reason I became aware of Mr. Hines and his writing since he otherwise was not on my radar). If all this is true, it makes Del Arroz a pretty terrible person.
On the other hand, Del Arroz’s fellow writer Richard Paolinelli says he’s a pretty good guy. I like Richard and have no reason to doubt his word, but I must admit, I see two sides to a man who calls himself “The Leading Hispanic Voice in Science Fiction.”
© Russell Gayer
“What the hell?” Sixty-two year old millionaire Warren Hollister stared down the long gully carved in his quarry terminating at an unconscious man being put on a wheeled gurney by ambulance attendants.
“It’s like I was saying. Thought he was dead, but when I checked, he was breathing,” gasped Jake Fischer, the Foreman.
“Not a scratch on him.” Hollister shook his head in wonder.
“No clothes either.”
“What are you suggesting?.”
“Who knows what happened? Last year the Russkies sent up Sputnik, and today, a man falls from the sky.”
“A superman, Jake, and right now, he’s mine.”
I authored this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields flash fiction writing challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 98.
This is actually part of a story that’s been floating around my head for years, the idea that a mysterious man can fall from the sky and into the hands of what could be a ruthless millionaire. Since Jake mentions that Sputnik was put in orbit the previous year, that puts my story in 1958, just over 60 years ago.
I got the scene for my rock quarry from this news story and very loosely based it on the 1953 “Adventures of Superman” television show episode Panic in the Sky (video).
To read other stories based on the prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
The biggest blessing for a person is when someone points out to him not only his strengths and virtues, but also his weaknesses and shortcomings.
We see this in the Torah when Yaakov blessed his children before he died. Yet we see that he reprimanded some sons for having faults such as impulsiveness and acting in anger. But that itself was the blessing! When Yaakov told Revuen that he acted impulsively and Shimon and Levi that they acted in anger, he was helping them to focus on the traits they needed to improve. This is the way to self-completion and it is the best blessing possible!
Today, think of a weakness that someone pointed out to you that you need to overcome. Think about how you can improve in this area and turn this criticism into a blessing!
(Sources: see Genesis 49:1, 2, 28; Rabbi Chaim Mordechai Katz – Beair Mechokaik, pp.83-4)
Image credit: Zulkarnain Ismail
William Blake knew he was in trouble when he saw the zebra unraveling like a ball of twine, especially since there shouldn’t be any free roaming zebras in the high desert southeast of Boise.
“Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip,” he muttered to himself, pressing his hands on each side of his head. The vision wouldn’t go away, but neither did the zebra seem to mind its condition.
“Of all days, why did it have to happen today?” Every New Year’s morning, the forty-eight-year-old electrical designer took a walk in the open fields south of his home, symbolically welcoming a year of new hope. “But I have to be at Edna’s in an hour for breakfast. I can’t go like this.”
The zebra moved on but then the clouds started turning themselves inside out, swirling and shifting from white to silver, then to magenta and turquoise. The grass around his ankles and then all across the field. writhed like serpents and rubbed against his legs like affectionate house cats, while the trees in the distance grew and expanded to Pellucidar-like proportions. Then the sky became granite and the ground turned to vapor, but neither did the atmosphere collapse upon him, nor did he fall through the mist.
“Even if you are in the midst of great suffering, do not give up hope” (Pirkei Avos 1:7; Rashi). Life situations might at times seem so bleak and desperate that you see no hope for the future. You might tell yourself things like, “My life is a terrible mess, and I don’t think it will ever improve.” Such thinking leads to very painful feelings. The Sages advised us never to give up hope. Ask yourself, “What proof do I have that things will never improve?” While you might not have a guarantee that things will be better, you can never be certain that they will not improve. Don’t give up hope when in a very short time your whole situation might change dramatically for the better.
-from Rabbi Zelig Pliskin’s “Gateway to Happiness,” p.372
Allison Mack – Photo Credit: R. Umar Abbasi
Guilty pleasures confession time. I used to be a huge fan of the television series Smallville (2001-2011). I’ve watched every episode at least once, and I love the theme song (YouTube).
In case you don’t know, “Smallville” followed the adventures of young High School student Clark Kent for the ten years before he put on Superman’s tights and cape. Actor Tom Welling starred as Clark, and supporting actors included Kristin Kreuk as love interest Lana Lang and Allison Mack as Chloe Sullivan, a sort of High School newspaper version of Lois Lane.
I heard of Mack’s arrest last April on sex trafficking charges and was stunned. In her role as Sullivan, her character started out with a girl-next-door charm and a nose for bizarre news stories, plus she was as cute as a button. Of course, that has nothing to do with who the actress was as a human being.
Mack’s in the news again, this time professing her innocence in documents filed in Brooklyn’s Federal Court, basically saying that if Scientology can get away with it, she should be able to as well. Notice, at no time does she actually say she never committed the acts of sex trafficking of which she’s accused.
More’s the pity.
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