The Darwin Awards are famously given out each year for the most stupid death, rewarding the person’s willingness to “remove themselves from the human gene pool.”

Larry Walters is one of the few to contend for the Darwin Awards and live to tell the tale. “I have fulfilled my 20-year dream,” said Walters, a former truck driver. “I’m staying on the ground. I’ve proved the thing works.”

Larry’s boyhood dream was to fly. But fates conspired to keep him from his dream. He joined the Air Force, but his poor eyesight disqualified him from the job of pilot. After he was discharged from the military, he sat in his backyard watching jets fly overhead.

He hatched his weather balloon scheme while sitting outside in his “extremely comfortable” Sears lawnchair. He purchased 45 weather balloons from an Army-Navy surplus store, tied them to his tethered lawnchair (dubbed the Inspiration I) and filled the four-foot diameter balloons with helium. Then, armed with some sandwiches, Miller Lite, and a pellet gun, he strapped himself into his lawnchair. He figured he would shoot to pop a few of the many balloons when it was time to descend.

Larry planned to sever the anchor and lazily float to a height of about 30 feet above the backyard, where he would enjoy a few hours of flight before coming back down. But things didn’t work out quite as Larry planned.

When his friends cut the cord anchoring the lawnchair to his Jeep, he did not float lazily up to 30 feet. Instead he streaked into the LA sky as if shot from a cannon, pulled by the lift of 45 helium balloons, holding 33 cubic feet of helium each.

He didn’t level off at 100 feet, nor did he level off at 1000 feet. After climbing and climbing, he leveled off at 16,000 feet.

At that height he felt he couldn’t risk shooting any of the balloons, lest he unbalance the load and really find himself in trouble. So he stayed there, drifting cold and frightened with his beer and sandwiches, for more than 14 hours. He crossed the primary approach corridor of LAX, where startled Trans World Airlines and Delta Airlines pilots radioed in reports of the strange sight.

Eventually he gathered the nerve to shoot a few balloons, and slowly descended. The hanging tethers tangled and caught in a power line, blacking out a Long Beach neighborhood for 20 minutes. Larry climbed to safety, where he was arrested by waiting members of the LAPD. As he was led away in handcuffs, a reporter dispatched to cover the daring rescue asked him why he had done it. Larry replied nonchalantly, “A man can’t just sit around.”

The Federal Aviation Administration was not amused. Safety Inspector Neal Savoy said, “We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, a charge will be filed.”

DarwinAwards.com

Footnote:  Larry’s efforts won him a $1,500 FAA fine, a prize from the Bonehead Club of Dallas, the altitude record for gas-filled clustered balloons, and a Darwin Awards At-Risk Survivor. He gave his aluminum lawn chair to admiring neighborhood children, abandoned his truck-driving job, and went on the lecture circuit. He enjoyed intermittent demand as a motivational speaker, but said he never made much money from his innovative flight.

Once upon a time, there were two neighbors living next to each other. One of them was a retired teacher and another was an insurance agent who had a lot of interest in technology. Both of them had planted different plants in their garden. The retired teacher was giving a small amount of water to his plants and didn’t always give a full attention to them, while the other neighbor interested in technology, had given a lot of water to his plants and looked after them too well.

The retired teacher’s plants were simple but looked good. The insurance agent’s plants were much fuller and greener. One day, during the night, there was a heavy rain and a wind due to a minor storm. Next morning, both of the neighbors came out to inspect the damage to their garden. The neighbor who was an insurance agent saw that his plants came off from the roots and were totally destroyed. But, the retired teacher’s plants were not damaged at all and were standing firm.

The insurance agent neighbor was surprised to see it, he went to the retired teacher and asked, “We both grew the same plants together, I actually looked after my plants better than you did for yours, and even gave them more water. Still, my plants came off from the roots, while yours didn’t. How is that possible?”

The retired teacher smiled and said, “You gave your plants more attention and water, but because of that they didn’t need to work themselves for it.  You made it easy for them.  While I gave them just an adequate amount of water and let their roots search for more.   And, because of that, their roots went deeper and that made their position stronger.  That is why my plants survived”.

Moral:  This story is about parenting where children are like plants.  If everything is given to them, they will not understand the hard work it takes to earn those things.  They will not learn to work themselves and respect it.  Sometimes it’s best to guide them instead of giving them.   Teach them how to walk, but let them follow their path.

Source: https://www.moralstories.org/keeping-roots-stronger/

Long ago, there lived a lion in a dense forest. One morning his wife told him that his breath was bad and unpleasant. The lion became embarrassed and angry upon hearing it. He wanted to check this fact with others. So he called three others outside his cave.

First came the sheep. The Lion opening his mouth wide said, “Sheep, tell me if my mouth smells bad?” The sheep thought that the lion wanted an honest answer, so the sheep said, “Yes, Friend. There seems to be something wrong with your breath”. This plain speak did not go well with the lion. He pounced on the sheep, killing it.

Then the lion called the wolf and said, “What do you think? Do I have a bad breath?” The wolf saw what happened to the sheep. He wanted to be very cautious in answering a question. So, the wolf said, “Who says that Your breath is unpleasant. It’s as sweet as the smell of roses”. When the lion heard the reply, he roared in an anger and immediately attacked the wolf and killed it. “The flatterer!” growled the lion.

Finally, came the turn of the fox. The lion asked him the same question. The fox was well aware of the fate of the sheep and the wolf. So he coughed and cleared his throat again and again and then said, “Oh Dear Friend, for the last few days, I have been having a very bad cold. Due to this, I can’t smell anything, pleasant or unpleasant”.

The lion spared the fox’s life.

Moral:  Do not involve yourself in a bad company or a bad situation else you may end up getting punished for no fault of yours.  Sometimes, It’s wise to stay away from certain situations.

Source:  https://www.moralstories.org/lion-clever-fox/