Forwards & Stuff that I like J

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

There would be:

57 Asians

21 Europeans

14 from the American Continent, both north and south

8 Africans

52 would be female

48 would be male

70 would be non-white

30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian

30 would be Christian

Six people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth

1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education

1 would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

The following is also something to ponder...

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation ... you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death...you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75% of this world.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, spare change in a dish someplace...you are among top 8% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married ... you are very rare, even in the United States and Canada.

Work like you don't need the money.

Love like you've never been hurt.

Dance like nobody's watching.

Sing like nobody's listening.

LESSON:

To all the rocks in your life...

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full? They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.  He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.

The students laughed. The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.  "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life.

The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - anything that is so important to you that if it were lost, you would be nearly destroyed. The pebbles are the other

things that matter like your job, your house,  your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff."

"If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your energy and time on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that

are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing.

Once in a while you meet someone, and soon you both discover the two of you are truly something special to each other... You share your thoughts and feelings so relaxed, so openly, and right away you know your friendship's truly meant to be.

Life isn't about keeping score.

Its not about how many friends you have or how accepted you are.

Not about if you have plans this weekend or if you are alone.

It isn't about who you're dating, who you used to date, how many people you've dated or if you haven't been with anyone at all.

It isn't about who you have kissed.

It's not about sex.

It isn't about who your family is or how much money they have.

Or what kind of car you drive.

Or where you are sent to school.

Its not about how beautiful or ugly you are.

Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on, or what kind of music you listen to.

It's not about if your hair is blonde, red, black or brown.

Or if your skin is too light or too dark.

Not about what grades you get, how smart you are, how smart everybody thinks you are, or how smart standardised tests say you are.

Its not about what clubs you're in or how good you are at your sport.

Its not about representing your whole being on a piece of paper and seeing who will "accept the written you".

 LIFE JUST ISN'T!!!!

But, life is about who you love and who you hurt.

Its about who makes you happy or unhappy purposefully.

It's about keeping or betraying trust.

It's about friendship used as a sanctity or a weapon.

It's about what you say and mean, maybe truthful, maybe heart - breaking.

About starting rumours and contributing to petty gossip.

It's about what judgements you pass and why. And who your judgements are spread to.

It's about who you've ignored with full control and intention.

It's about jealousy, fear, ignorance and revenge.

It's about carrying inner hate and love, letting

it grow and spreading it.

 A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to
 hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it.
 
 I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show. I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.
 
 He was talking about "a thousand marbles" to someone named "Tom." I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say.
 
 "Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to
 be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."
 
 He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities." And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles."
 
 "You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I
 know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."
 
 "Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."
 
 "It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail," he went on, "and by that time I
 had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I
 only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy."
 
 "So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had.

THE CRACKED WATER POT

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole that he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of  water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the  cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one  and a half pots full of water in his master's house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was  made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made  to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Moral: Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are, and look for the good in them. There is a lot of good out there. There is a lot of good in you!  Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.