REFLECTIONS ON LIFE

One day, when Thomas Alva Edison was a small child, he came home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, “My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.”  His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child, “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself or find a wise man.” Many years after Edison’s mother had died, Edison had become one of the greatest inventors of the century. One day he was going through the old closet and he found a folded letter which was given to him by his teacher for his mother.  He opened it. The message written on the letter was, “Your son is addled (mentally ill). We can not let him attend our school anymore. He is expelled.” Edison became emotional reading it and then he wrote in his diary, “Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally ill child whose mother turned him into the genius...

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes and went directly to the surgery block.  He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor. On seeing him, the father yelled, “Why did you take all this time to come? Don’t you know that my son’s life is in danger? Don’t you have any sense of responsibility?” The doctor looked at him and said, “I am sorry, I wasn’t in the hospital and I came as fast as I could after receiving the call and now, I wish you’d calm down so that I can do my work”. “Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son dies while waiting for the doctor, then what will you do?!” said the father angrily.  The doctor smirked and replied, “We will do our best by God’s grace and you should also pray for your son’s healthy life, besides God knows what is the best for us and for them”. “Giving a piece o...

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after  having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've got a favour to ask.  I have a friend I'd like to bring with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him." "There's something you should know" The son continued,  "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped  on a land mined and lost an arm and a leg. He has  nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us." "I'm sorry to hear that, son.  Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live." The mother said "No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us." "Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking.  Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.  We have our own lives to live, and we can't let somethin...

A man just got married and he was returning home with his wife.  They were crossing a lake in a boat, when suddenly a great storm arose.  The man was a warrior, but the woman became very much afraid because it seemed almost hopeless. The boat was small and the storm was really huge, any moment they were going to be drowned. But the man sat silently, calm and quiet, as if nothing was happening. The woman was trembling and she said, “Are you not afraid ?”.  This may be our last moment of life! It doesn’t seem that we will be able to reach the other shore. Only some miracle can save us; otherwise death is certain.  Aren't you afraid? Are you mad or something? Are you a stone or something? Tell me, please! The man smiled and took the sword out of its sheath.  The woman was even more puzzled:  What he was doing?  Then he brought the naked sword close to the woman’s neck, so close that just a small gap was there, it was almost touching her neck. ...

While at the park one day, a woman sat down next to a man on a bench near a playground. "That's my son over there," she said, pointing to a little boy in a red sweater who was gliding down the slide. "He's a fine looking boy" the man said. "That's my son on the swing in the grey sweater." He added.  Then, looking at his watch, he called to his son. "What do you say we go, Todd?" Todd pleaded, "Just five more minutes, Dad. Please? Just five more minutes." The man nodded and Todd continued to swing to his heart's content. Minutes passed and the father stood and called again to his son. "Time to go now?" Again Todd pleaded, "Five more minutes, Dad. Just five more minutes." The man smiled and said, "O.K." "My dear, you certainly are a patient father," the woman responded. The man smiled and then said, "My older son Tommy was killed by a drunk driver last year ...

To my dear child: On the day when you see me old, weak and weary, Have patience and try to understand me. If I get dirty when eating, If I can not dress on my own, Please bear with me and remember the times I spent feeding you and dressing you up. If, when I speak to you, I repeat the same things over and over again, Do not interrupt me. Listen to me.  When you were small, I had to read to you the same story a thousand and one times until you went to sleep. When I do not want to have a shower, Neither shame nor scold me.  Remember when I had to chase you with your thousand excuses to get you to the shower? When you see my ignorance of new technologies, Help me navigate my way through those world wide webs.  I taught you how to do so many things, To eat the right foods, to dress appropriately, To fight for your rights. When at some moment I lose the memory Or the thread of our conversation,  Let me have the necessary time to remember. And if I...

A wise man saw a scorpion drowning and decided to draw it from the water, and when he did, the scorpion stung him. Because of the pain, the master dropped the animal which fell in the water. The master attempted a second time to get it out of the water and the animal stung him again. Someone who was observing approached the master and said:-. Excuse me, but you are stubborn! Don't you understand that whenever you’ll attempt to pull it out of the water, it will sting you?  The master replied: the nature of the scorpion is to sting, and this will not change mine which is to help. Then, he was able to see a leaf and using it, the master drew the scorpion from the water and saved its life and continued: - Do not change your nature if someone hurts you; just take precautions.  Some pursue happiness, others create it. When life presents you thousands of reasons to cry, show it that you have a thousand reasons to smile. Worry more about your consciousness than your repu...

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, ...

Once a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it. The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat. One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly. The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out. At first the bo...

Must the glass always be half-full or half-empty? What if there was a different way of looking at things entirely? A new perspective that eliminates the need to decide just how full the glass really should be? By way of illustration, here is a story based on an old proverb: There was an old man who had a beautiful horse. This horse was not only his family’s pride and joy, but it was also a means to an income for the family because it was used to till his fields.  One day, the horse ran away. Fellow villagers visited the old man to give their condolences for such a stroke of bad luck, as the loss of his horse represented a staggering financial blow that would be hard to recover from.  “Good luck, bad luck: Who knows?” replied the old man. “It is as it is. My horse is gone.”  Perplexed at the man’s nonchalance towards the apparent tragedy, the villagers went about their business.  A few days later, the horse returned with a pack of 12 wild horses ...