Sunday, April 15, 2007

A moment of silence, please . . .


. . . for Edward Charon, whose obit in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye. Mr. Charon died April 8 at age 71 in Oregon and was minister of an independent church he founded.

Why would the WSJ report on Mr. Charon? Because, in the words of the headline, "He Ripped Phone Books for a Higher Purpose."

"To demonstrate to his church congregation and to prison audiences the seemingly miraculous willpower it takes to overcome addictions, minister Ed Charon became a world record-setting telephone book ripper."

After watching someone else rip a phone book in 1992, Mr. Charon practiced at home until he perfected the techniques. He set his first mark in 1992--at age 57, he ripped 19 directories in the three minutes that the Guinness World Record rules require.

As recently as last September, he demolished 56 Portland, Oregon directories. Then he retired.

Wonder if he'll be ripping phone books in heaven? Probably on the new earth, then. :-)

~~Angie

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