Meaningful Stories For Reflection In Life
(1) Non-violent Parenting
Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K.
Gandhi Institute for Non-violence, in his June 9 lecture at the
University of Puerto Rico, shared the following story as an example of
"non-violence in parenting":"I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my
grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in
the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and
had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to
going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day
conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my
mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day
in town, my father ask me to take care of several pending chores, such
as getting the car serviced. When I dropped my father off that morning,
he said, 'I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home
together.'After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest
movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I
forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to
the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting
for me, it was almost 6:00.He anxiously asked me, 'Why were you late?' I was so ashamed of telling
him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, 'The car
wasn't ready, so I had to wait,' not realizing that he had already
called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: 'There's
something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the
confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went
wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it.'So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the
dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads. I couldn't leave him, so for
five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through
this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered.I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again. I often
think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we
punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I
don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing
the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that
it is still as if it happened yesterday. That is the power of
non-violence."(2) LOVE
A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a
loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes. When the boy was
around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle
open. He was late for the office so he asked the wife to cap the bottle
and keep it in the cupboard.The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The
boy playfully went to the medicine bottle and, fascinated with its
colour drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for
adults in small dosages. When the child showed signs of poisoning the
mother took him to the hospital, where he died.The mother was devastated. She was terrified how to face her husband.
When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child,
he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.QUESTIONS :
What were the four words ? What is the implication of this story ?
Check with the answers only after you have tried to come up with your
own.
*** Please scroll down ***
ANSWER :
The husband just said " I love You Darling "The husband's totally unexpected reaction is proactive
behaviour. He is indeed a genius in human relationships. The
child is dead. He can never come back to life. There is no
point in finding fault with the mother. She had also lost her
only child. What she needed at that moment was consolation and
sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her.If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would
be much fewer problems in the world.To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a
little. To be happy with a woman you must understand her a lot and love
her with ALL your heart."A journey of a thousand miles, begins with but with a single
step.
Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness,
selfishness, and fears AND you will find things are actually
not so difficult as you may think."(3) TEMPER
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a
bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must
hammer a nail into the back of the fence.The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next
few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails
hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to
hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.... Finally
the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his
father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one
nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.The day passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father
that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and
led him to the fence.He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the
fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger,
they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and
draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the
wound is still there."A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are a very rare
jewel indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They
lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open
their hearts to us."(4) YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE
This story is very touching. Do read on.
Something I would like to share with all of you. Everyone of us make a
difference in other people's life. Try to spend some time to read
this...There is a story many years ago of an elementary teacher.
Her name was Mrs. Thompson. And as she stood in front of her 5th grade
class on the very first day of school, she told the children a lie.
Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved
them all the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front
row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he
didn't play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy
and that he constantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It
got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in
marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then
putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review
each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However,
when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first
grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He
does his work neatly and has good manners...he is a joy to be around.
"His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student,
well-liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has
a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third
grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries
to do his best but his father doesn't show much interest and his home
life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth
grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest
in school. He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleeps in class."
By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of
herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas
presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for
Teddy's.His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got
from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle
of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she
found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing and a
bottle that was one quarter full of perfume.But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty
the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her
wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to
say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to."After the children left she cried. On that very day, she quit teaching
reading, and writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach
children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she
worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged
him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become
one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she
would love all the children the same. Teddy became one of her
"teacher's pets."A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her
that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six
years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote
that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still
the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Four years after that,
she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at
times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon
graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs.
Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had
in his whole life. Then four more years passed and yet another letter
came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree,
he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was
still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a
little longer. The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, M.D.The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter that
spring. Teddy said he'd met this girl and was going to be married. He
explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was
wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the
wedding that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of
course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the
one with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was using
the same type of perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on
their last Christmas together.They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's
ear, "Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. Thank you so much
for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a
difference" Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She
said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me
that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met
you."Warm someone's heart today.... Pass it along. Never underestimate the
Power of Purpose.Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift
That's why it's called the 'Present'
This is quite a long story. But take time to read it, cos after reading it,
you'll realise how important your saturdays are to be spent in the office
working!The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet
solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the
unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours
of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.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 broadcasting 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 that 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. I ended up having to visit three
toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside
of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the
radio."Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.
I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really
important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on
this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my
lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble
out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God
has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones."It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved
ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!"You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show's Producer
didn't have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot
to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, and then go to
the gym.Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. "C'mon honey, I'm
taking you and the kids to breakfast." "What brought this on?" she asked
with a smile. "Oh, nothing special," I said. " It has just been a long
time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at
a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles."
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND MAY ALL SATURDAYS BE SPECIAL AND MAY YOU HAVE MANY HAPPY YEARS AFTER YOU LOSE ALL YOUR MARBLES.
Self-inspection - the best use for self-esteem. - Wordsworth
