The Man without a Face

Years ago a hardworking man took his family from New York State to Australia to take advantage of a work opportunity there. Part of this man's family was a handsome son who had aspirations of joining the circus as a trapeze artist or an actor. This young fellow, biding his time until a circus job or even as a stagehand came along, worked at the local shipyards which bordered on the worse section of town.

Walking home from work one evening, this young man was attacked by
five thugs who wanted to rob him. Instead of just giving up his money
the young fellow resisted. However they bested him easily and
proceeded to beat him To a pulp.

They mashed his face with their boots, and kicked and beat his body Brutally with clubs, leaving him for dead. When the police happened to find him Lying in the road they assumed he was dead and called for the Morgue Wagon.

On the way to the morgue, a policeman heard him gasp for air, and they
immediately took him to the emergency unit at the hospital.

When he was placed on a gurney, a nurse remarked to her horror, that
this young man no longer had a face. His eye socket was smashed, his
skull, legs and arms fractured, his nose literally hanging from his face, all his Teeth were gone, and his jaw was almost completely torn from his skull.

Although his life was spared, he spent over a year in the hospital.
When he finally left, his body may have healed but his face was disgusting to
look at. He was no longer the handsome youth that everyone admired.
When the young man started to look for work again, he was turned down
by everyone just on account of the way he looked. One potential
employer suggested to him that he join the freak show at the circus as
“The man who had no face.”
And he did this for a while. He was still rejected by everyone and no
one wanted to be seen in his company. He had thoughts of suicide. This
went on for 5 years.

One day he passed a church and sought some solace there. Entering the
church he encountered a priest who had seen him sobbing while kneeling
in a pew. The priest took pity on him and took him to the rectory where
they talked at length. The priest was impressed with him to such a
degree that he said that he would do everything possible for him that could be done
to restore his dignity and life, if the young man would promise to be
the best Catholic he could be, and trust in God's mercy to free him from his
torturous life.

The young man went to Mass and Communion every day, and after thanking
God for saving his life, asked God to only give him peace of mind and
the grace to be the best man he could ever be in His eyes.

The priest, through his personal contacts was able to secure the
services Of the best plastic surgeon in Australia. There would be no cost to the young man, as the doctor was the priest's best friend. The doctor too was so impressed by the young man, whose outlook now on
life, even though he had experienced the worst, was filled with good humor and
love.

The surgery was a miraculous success. All th e best dental work was
also done for him. The young man became everything he promised God he would be.

He was also blessed with a wonderful, beautiful wife, and many
children, and success in an industry, which would have been the furthest thing from his mind as a career, if not for the goodness
of God and the love of the people who cared for him. This he acknowledges publicly.

The young man was and is…….Mel Gibson.

His life was the inspiration for his production of the movie “The Man
Without A Face.”

Tax cuts - How they really work

Sometimes Politicians can exclaim; “It's just a tax cut for the rich!”, and it is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, we hope the following will help. Please share this with your friends as you see fit.

Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In Economics

This is how the cookie crumbles. Please read it carefully.

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100.

If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

“Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.”

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man “but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that's right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!”

“That's true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!” The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.