I think it was Ronald Reagan who first referred to "sitting on our
laurels" not realizing how painful that can be. Laurels have thorns. I
think the phrase is "rest on our laurels".
I heard another version of the same joke:
"A businessman, a lawyer and a musician are waiting at the pearly gates.
Peter says to the businessman, 'What did you do for humanity?' The
businessman replies, 'I gave a lot of money to charity and supported the
arts.' Peter says, 'Okay, you can come in.' Turning to the lawyer, he
says, 'What did you do for humanity?' The lawyer replies, "I did a lot
of pro bono work and civil rights work.' Peter says, 'Okay, you can come
in.' He then says to the musician, "What did you do for humanity?" The
musician scratches his head and says, "I practiced real hard and played
the best tunes I could think of playing." Peter says,"Well, okay you can
come in, but go around back, passed the garbage cans, through the
kitchen, and don't touch the Hors D'ouvres (sic) on the way in.'"
Gary
On 2015-03-29 22:15, Ed Durbrow wrote:
On Mar 30, 2015, at 1:59 AM, David van Ooijen
<davidvanooi...@gmail.com> wrote:
David - musician = not smart with money by definition
Reminds me of the joke:
Saint Peter is checking ID's at the Pearly Gates, and first comes a
Texan. "Tell me, what have you done in life?" says St. Peter.
The Texan says, "Well, I struck oil, so I became rich, but I didn't
sit on my laurels--I divided all my money among my entire family in my
will, so our descendants are all set for about three generations."
St. Peter says, "That's quite something. Come on in. Next!"
The second guy in line has been listening, so he says, "I struck it
big in the stock market, but I didn't selfishly just provide for my
own like that Texan guy. I donated five million to Save the Children."
"Wonderful!" says Saint Peter. "Come in. Who's next?"
The third guy has been listening, and says timidly with a downcast
look, "Well, I only made five thousand dollars in my entire lifetime."
"Goodness!" says St. Peter. "What instrument did you play?"
Ed Durbrow
Saitama, Japan
http://www.youtube.com/user/edurbrow?feature=watch
https://soundcloud.com/ed-durbrow
http://www9.plala.or.jp/edurbrow/
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