Dec 27, 2016

Value

A little boy went to his old grandpa and asked, "What's the value of life?". The grandpa gave him one stone and said, "Find out the value of this stone, but don't sell it."

The boy took the stone to an Orange Seller and asked him what its cost would be. The Orange Seller saw the shiny stone and said, "You can take 12 oranges and give me the stone. "The boy apologized and said that the grandpa has asked him not to sell it.

He went ahead and found a vegetable seller. "What could be the value of this stone?" he asked the vegetable seller. The seller saw the shiny stone and said, "Take one sack of potatoes and give me the stone. "The boy again apologized and said he can't sell it.

He then went into a jewelry shop and asked the value of the stone. The jeweler saw the stone under a lens and said, "I'll give you 1 million for this stone." When the boy shook his head, the jeweler said, "Alright, alright, take 2,  24 Karat Gold necklaces, but give me the stone. "The boy explained that he can't sell the stone.

Further ahead, the boy saw a precious stone's shop and asked the seller the value of this stone. When the precious stone's seller saw the big ruby, he lay down a red cloth and put the ruby on it. Then he walked in circles around the ruby and bent down and touched his head in front of the ruby. "From where did you bring this priceless ruby from?" he asked. "Even if I sell the whole world, and my life, I won't be able to purchase this priceless stone."

Stunned and confused, the boy returned to the grandpa and told him what had happened. "Now tell me what is the value of life, grandpa?" Grandpa said, "The answers you got from the Orange Seller, the Vegetable Seller, the Jeweler & the Precious Stone's Seller explain the value of our life. You may be a precious stone, even priceless, but, people will value you based on their financial status, their level of information, their belief in you, their motive behind entertaining you, their ambition, and their risk taking ability. But don't fear, you will surely find someone who will recognize your true value."

Respect Yourself. Don't Sell Yourself Cheap. You are Rare, Unique, Original and no one can replace YOU. 

Dec 16, 2016

One Step at a time!!

There was a man taking a morning walk in a beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun rays. The man thought that  they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfishes were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He did that repeatedly. 

Right behind him there was another person who couldn't understand what this man was doing. He asked, "What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish. 

How many can you help? What difference does it make?" This man did not reply-he took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said, "It makes a difference to this one."

They say that one of the most common reasons we procrastinate is because we see the challenge before us as overwhelming, and that a good way to counter that is to break the big challenge down into smaller pieces and then take those one at a time–like one starfish at a time.  And to that one starfish, it can make a world of difference.

A single, ordinary person still can make a difference – and single, ordinary people are doing precisely that every day.”

Dec 13, 2016

The Cookie Thief

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to sit.

While she was engrossed in her book ,a man sitting beside her grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”

With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other, she snatched it from him and thought… ooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled, and sighed with relief when her flight was called. 
She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others belonged to him and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

When you jump to conclusions you often skip over the truth and sometimes it is too late to make amends…….

Dec 2, 2016

Stay Strong !!

A man was an avid Gardener. He saw a small butterfly laying few eggs in one of the pots in his garden. Since that day he kept looking at the eggs with ever growing curiosity and eagerness. 

One day, an egg started to move and shake a little. He was excited to see a new life coming up right in front of his eyes. He spent hours watching the egg. The egg started to expand and develop cracks. A tiny head and antennae started to come out slowly. The man's excitement knew no bounds and he got his magnifying glasses  and sat to watch the life and body of a pupa coming out. He saw the struggle of the tender pupa and couldn't resist his urge to help. He went and got a tender forceps to help the egg break, a nip here and there, to help the struggling life. The pupa was out and the man felt ecstatic! 

Though he waited each day for the pupa to grow and fly like a beautiful butterfly, that never happened .The larvae pupa had an over-sized head and kept crawling along in the pot for 4 weeks and then died! 

Depressed, the man went to his botanist friend and asked for the reason. 
The botanist told him that, the struggle to break out of the egg helps the larvae to send blood to its wings and the  push helps the head to remain small so that the tender wings can support it through its 4 weeks of life cycle. In his eagerness to help the pupa, the man had destroyed a beautiful life! 

Struggle helps us all in our lives. It is that effort we put in to overcome difficulties in life, that actually builds us .