>> This comes from Dr. Sky Hilts, an ex-Vietnam medico and birder based in
>> Tucson, Texas. I
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> An Old Guy and a Bucket of Shrimp This is a wonderful story, and it
>>> is true. You will be pleased that you read it, and I believe you will pass
>>> it on. It is an important piece of American history. It happened
>>> every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant
>>> orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean.
>>>
>>> Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier.. Clutched in
>>> his bony hand was a bucket of shrimp. Ed walks out to the end of the pier,
>>> where it seems he almost has the world to himself. The glow of the sun is a
>>> golden bronze now.
>>>
>>> Everybody's gone, except for a few joggers on the beach. Standing out on
>>> the end of the pier, Ed is alone with his thoughts...and his bucket of
>>> shrimp.
>>>
>>> Before long, however, he is no longer alone. Up in the sky a thousand white
>>> dots come screeching and squawking, winging their way toward that lanky
>>> frame standing there on the end of the pier.
>>>
>>> Before long, dozens of seagulls have enveloped him, their wings fluttering
>>> and flapping wildly. Ed stands there tossing shrimp to the hungry birds. As
>>> he does, if you listen closely, you can hear him say with a smile, 'Thank
>>> you. Thank you.'
>>>
>>> In a few short minutes the bucket is empty. But Ed doesn't leave.
>>>
>>> He stands there lost in thought, as though transported to another time and
>>> place.
>>>
>>> When he finally turns around and begins to walk back toward the beach, a
>>> few of the birds hop along the pier with him until he gets to the stairs,
>>> and then they, too, fly away. And old Ed quietly makes his way down to the
>>> end of the beach and on home.
>>>
>>> If you were sitting there on the pier with your fishing line in the water,
>>> Ed might seem like 'a funny old duck,' as my dad used to say. Or, to
>>> onlookers, he's just another old codger, lost in his own weird world,
>>> feeding the seagulls with a bucket full of shrimp.
>>>
>>> To the onlooker, rituals can look either very strange or very empty. They
>>> can seem altogether unimportant .... maybe even a lot of nonsense.
>>>
>>> Old folks often do strange things,
>>> at least in the eyes of Boomers and Busters.
>>>
>>> Most of them would probably write Old Ed off, down there in Florida .
>>> That's too bad. They'd do well to know him better.
>>>
>>> His full name: Eddie Rickenbacker. He was a famous hero in World War I, and
>>> now he was in WWII. On one of his flying missions across the Pacific, he
>>> and his seven-member crew went down. Miraculously, all of the men survived,
>>> crawled out of their plane, and climbed into a life raft.
>>>
>>> Captain Rickenbacker and his crew floated for days on the rough waters of
>>> the Pacific. They fought the sun. They fought sharks. Most of all, they
>>> fought hunger and thirst. By the eighth day their rations ran out. No food.
>>> No water. They were hundreds of miles from land and no one knew where they
>>> were or even if they were alive. Every day across America millions wondered
>>> and prayed that Eddie Rickenbacker might somehow be found alive.
>>> The men adrift needed a miracle. That afternoon they had a simple
>>> devotional service and prayed for a miracle. They tried to nap. Eddie leaned
>>> back and pulled his military cap over his nose. Time dragged on. All he
>>> could hear was the slap of the waves against the raft..
>>>
>>> Suddenly, Eddie felt something land on the top of his cap.
>>> It was a seagull!
>>>
>>> Old Ed would later describe how he sat perfectly still, planning his next
>>> move. With a flash of his hand and a squawk from the gull, he managed to
>>> grab it and wring its neck. He tore the feathers off, and he and his
>>> starving crew made a meal of it - a very slight meal for eight men. Then
>>> they used the intestines for bait. With it, they caught fish, which gave
>>> them food and more bait . . . and the cycle continued. With that simple
>>> survival technique, they were able to endure the rigors of the sea until
>>> they were found and rescued after 24 days at sea.
>>>
>>> Eddie Rickenbacker lived many years beyond that ordeal, but he never forgot
>>> the sacrifice of that first life-saving seagull... And he never stopped
>>> saying, 'Thank you.' That's why almost every Friday night he would walk to
>>> the end of the pier with a bucket full of shrimp and a heart full of
>>> gratitude.
>>>
>>> Reference: (Max Lucado, "In The Eye of the Storm", pp..221, 225-226)
>>>
>>> PS: Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines. Before WWI he
>>> was race car driver. In WWI he was a pilot and became America's first ace.
>>> In WWII he was an instructor and military adviser, and he flew missions with
>>> the combat pilots. Eddie Rickenbacker is a true American hero. And now
>>> you know another story about the trials and sacrifices that brave men have
>>> endured for our freedom.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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