Howard Dean: "A Holiday Story"..... an excellent and moving column.

[madfloridian]

http://www.caglecartoons.com/previewColumn.asp?columnID={6B9D079D-8345-432B-8E23-7BC50EA9CF7A}

SNIP.."A Holiday Story

By Gov. Howard Dean, M.D.

"I generally write political columns and I have written a lot about the need for different kinds of people with different backgrounds to focus on what we have in common, not on what divides us. I think the following example, sent to me by Amos Kamil in Jerusalem, captures the true holiday spirit in all of us:

"“Last month, we were at a beach north of Tel Aviv with a group of Israeli families. There were soft waves, a gentle breeze, a campfire and an idyllic moonlit Mediterranean night. After dinner my seven-year-old daughter, Maia, and her friend entered the water for a twilight swim. Perhaps 20 seconds later I followed them into the sea with Lea, my four-year-old, in my arms..." (More at the site)

....." “After the trauma there were slaps on the back, thank-yous, and hugs. It was only then that I learned that the stranger was not only an Arab from a nearby village but also that he didn't know how to swim. I learned, too, that the human chain that brought the five of us back to the shore comprised almost equally Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. The Arab stranger and I both agreed that the situation could have ended up much worse. He said, "Baruch Hashem!" - Hebrew, not Arabic, for "Thank God."

[quiet.american]

1. Perfect. Just perfect. n/t

[Cha]

2. That's a beautiful story!

That's what this world should be like.

[mandyky]

3. Oy, Howard! To bad some people reject such spirit!

Just when I think he's the best, he does one better!!