~ i, Marie Tracy Dear Readers: Please let me introduce myself. 1 I am a grateful member of the human race. I say grateful because I had the good fortune to successfully quit smoking before messing up‘my health completely. My interest. in the problems of quitting smoking came as a result of my days of personal frustration, agony and { feelings of inadequacy and helpless- ‘ ness during each attempt to quit, | always due to the difficulties I | i experienced in attempting to termin- ate an association of many years - { ‘ ‘ that I quit smoking several hundred times. Usually the decision was reached within seconds of stamping out my last butt. I'd say to my- self, ''That's it. I'm not going to smoke another cigarette."' My good intentions dissolved as the follow- ing hours heightened my restlessness and I became nervous and irritable. Soon my ability to rationalize © fwould take over and I would once more exchange my intentions to becom a Non-Smoker for a warm and comfort- ing smoke. Of course my conscience nagged me, but I usually felt a bit smug as well when I would admit that my suididal habit was the lesser of two evils. Otherwise (I consoled myself) I would probably be jailed for murdering one of my children or dear spouse. OBITUARY Cora Pete -Born August 27, 1958, Died December 1, 1976 from injuries incurred in an automobile acci- dent near Blue River. WATSON LAKE HOTEL 536-7481 ATLAS TRAVEL . MICHAELS GIFT SHOP. Fed, and he climbed and he ate. me reason Joe just wasn't satisfied, same chance. Reverend Dan Sargent —"'Sg it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is imperishable.... It is sown a physi- cal body, it is raised a spiritual body." 1 Corinthians 15:42 JOE was a really no different from any other caterpillar. Like everyone else, the first thing he did upon hatch- ing from his egg, was eat the egg. And like everyone else, the second thing he did was eat the leaf upon which the egg was laid. So his life began, and so it continued: eating and growing and climb- ing. It wasn't long before Joe wa old _enough to go to caterpillar school; there to learn what life was all about. Joe remendered nodding his head as the wise old professor told them that the world was called Tree; and that the goal of life was to be a success; ''To be a success a caterpillar has to strive to get to the top of the Tree, for there ¢ 5 20 to be specific. ,the leaves are tender, and the sun is I am not exaggerating when I say — } warmer, and life is good and happy," he had said. Well, when Joe graduated, he set about: e ate, and he climb- But for being a success. e wasn't happy. ‘''There must be more to ife than this?" he thought,"besides =limbing and pushing your way past other oeople, in order to get to the top before hem." , It just didn't seem right to Joe. same; some were smaller and weaker than thers, some were crippled and sick, some weren't as smart or as fast as the rest. If the purpose of life was to get to the top of the Tree, then it didn't seem right that everyone didn't have the But what else was there? So Joe kept on climbirig and eating and climbing. - : One day Joe came upon a group of caterpillars sitting on a leaf talking. He stopped and listened. One ole white-haired caterpillar was telling the others about someone called the Great Butterfly, and how the Great Butterfly had become a caterpillar. This Great Caterpillar has said that all ca- terpillars could become Butterflies if only they would believe in him and stop living the way they had been. They had to start loving one another, they had to help the weak and the crippled and to. care for one another. _As he was listening, a group of cat- He saw that all caterpillars were not the ODE TO THE CATERPILLAR Well, Joe wasn't a very successful ~ caterpillar. Some said it was because he was too soft. "Always stopping and helping some loser out."' Others said it was because his head was too full of this nonsense about the Great Cater- pillar. Whatever the reason, Joe hadn't got- ae very far when it came his time to e. Now nobody really knows how a cater- pillar knows it's his time to die, he just knows. And Joe Just Knew. He chose a suitable twig, hooked himself up on it, spun his coffin around him- self, and waited to die. | ms He didn't know how long he had bee asleep when he woke.but he felt strong and rested. 'Maybe it's not my time to die'', he thought. ''Maybe I was just tired and needed a rest." He started breaking out of his co- coon and was soon free of it and han-- ging from his twig. As he hung there, catching his bre ath, he felt very strange and differ- ent. He looked at himself...and saw that he was different! He had wings! He had changed into a whole new crea- ture...and yet he was still Joe. He leaped for joy and found himself flying, soaring high above the Tree. ~"Tt's true!. It's true!" He looked about and saw that the world wasn't just Tree, but thousands of Trees and lakes, and so much more than he had ever imagined. "How can I have been so blind? Why couldn't I see all this before?" He flew down to the Tree and land- ed on a leaf. He tried to tell the others about it, but no one seemed to hear him. : Jesus said "Now you can only see as if you were looking through a thick- ly clouded glass, but then you will see clearly." There is one more thing you should know about caterpillars; and that is, that not every caterpillar that builds his cocoon hatches into a butterfly. ~ Some just hang on the twigs and rot. "Not everyone who cries 'Lord, Lord' shall enter into the kingdom of God; but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven." Matthew 7:21 The only way to-live happily with people is to overlook their faults and admire their erpillars came up and started ridiculing virtues. and laughing at such foolish talk. They called them deluded fools and even’ threw stones at them. Joe didn't want to be laughed at or called a fool so he continued on his way; eating and climb- ing, climbing and eating. Some time later Joe came upon a cof- fin hanging in a branch. Caterpillar coffins are called cocoons. Joe remembe- red being taught that when it came time for caterpillars to die, he spun his co- coon around himself and closed himself in, and died. "Is this the goal of life? Is this al there is? If only the Great Caterpillar were right'', he thought. _ He was shaken out of his reveries wh- en someone beside him said: ''He sure didn't get very far, did he? Just a lo- ser, I guess. At least we will be more successful than him". "Will we?" Joe wondered. : Hours ........ SAO) si seee Ceres at tea PHILLIPS: Sravel (Lt Marvel Nitti. 190 Zimmerman St. 778-7220 Travel Packages Hawaii Caribbean . Mexico Low charter and excursions available | A sieie eka ge rt ae Hrpoerict 2 4 Pe hs a a ae SN rege ine ...... Closed Tuesday and all day Sunday, othe Ve eas e. ean 3 Sey Peed i Ps IR RecN MUR Lea SAS 8 ES We YAOL aay soc : : i : ah | Aeros ric} - : Teas Hai sao eal eater ele emp aod We jan hls ates ered epl oho og i ar ms Wermenemarens < 2 . am : 7. = . $ - ein A Ye yee c pI aN SS Satis - ; _ ‘ — — a oo : er ee et 10 AM to 6PM . : God gives us memory so that we may have, ‘ Woses in: December. 0 ee Ce ee ee ee re ee SN NS