Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?

"Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect."
-  Margaret Mitchell

Once upon a time, there was a farmer who used an old mare to till his fields. One day, the mare escaped into the woods and the farmer’s neighbors get together and sympathized with the old man over his bad luck. The farmer replied, “Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”

A week later, the mare returned with a young stallion from the woods and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his great and good luck. His reply

Which lion wins?

“You make the world a better place by making yourself a better person.”

- Scott Sorrell

Once upon a time, grandfather sat his grandson on his lap and told him a story, a true tale of life.

“There is a raging battle in the soul of every man. Not unlike the clash of two lions, this battle is fought in the soul of each and every one of us. One lion represents EVIL - rage, jealousy, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, sin, anger, inadequacy, deceit, false pride...

The other lion represents GOOD. He represents true joy – peace, harmony, love, hope, enjoyment, optimism, friendliness, kindness, warmth, generosity, truth and compassion.”

The obstacle in everyones path

"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action." 
- Benjamin Disraeli

Once upon a time, a king had a boulder placed on a road. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge obstacle. Some of the king's richest merchants and administrators came by and simply walked around it.

Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. 

Then an elderly peasant came along carrying a load. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move

Echo as life

“Civility costs nothing and buys everything.” 

- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Once upon a time, a man and his son were walking in the forest. Suddenly the boy tripped and screamed, "Ahhhhh." Surprised, he heard a voice coming from the mountain, "Ahhhhh!"

Filled with curiosity, he yelled "Who are you?", but the only answer he received was: "Who are you?"

This made him rather angry, so he screamed "You are a coward!" and the voice answered: "You are a coward!"

The boy looked at his father and asked, "Dad, what is going on?" "Son," the man replied, "pay attention!" 

Then he yelled, "I admire you!" 

The voice answered: "I admire you!" 

The father shouted, "You are wonderful!", and the voice answered: "You are wonderful!"

The boy stood surprised, still not understanding what is going on.

Up where we belong...

"Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens." 

- Jimi Hendrix

"Up Where We Belong" is a quite an inspirational song from the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman performed by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes. Although this was oldie in my youth, I loved this song in my high-school days. Do you remember the lyrics...

This too shall pass

"Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."
- Harriet Beecher Stowe

Once upon a time, in a faraway Chinese province, lived a poor scribe who lived with his only and very much loved son. He was so poor, that the only inheritance he could leave to his son was knowledge of calligraphy.

Then, one day, it came time for the poor scribe to depart this valley of tears. Before he passed away, he gave his son two small boxes, one white and one black. “Alas, I have nothing to leave to you except this. Please, my son, remember and keep them always with you. When one day, you are in terrible sorrow, and it seems that life is not worth living anymore, open the black box. White one you keep, and open it when you think that you are the luckiest man on earth.” Saying this, the old man died and the son was left weeping, holding one black and one white box.

As he was now alone, young man went from job to job, often forced to work hard and long, just for daily bread. He wandered from province to province, slept hungry in forests, without any opportunity to find his place under the sun. One morning, he woke up feeling pain from hard work in all his joints and started weeping. “This is the end; I can’t live like this anymore” he thought. Suddenly, as he remembered his fathers dying words, he reached in this bag and with his trembling hands, opened the black box.

Keeping love alive

You know very well that love is, above all, the gift of oneself!

- Jean Anouilh

Once upon a time, a mother and her son were walking along the beach. Suddenly, the boy asked: "Mom, how do you keep love alive?"

The mother looked at her son and replied, "Take some sand in your hand and squeeze it as hard as you can." The boy did as instructed, but the harder he squeezed the sand, the faster it escaped his hand, running through his fingers. "But like this the sands falls out." complained the boy.

"Yes," said the mother. "Now, open your hand wide." The boy opened his hand and the wind blew away all the remaining sand. "I can't keep it in my hand that way either!"

Survival lesson

"Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all."

- Dale Carnegi

Once upon a time, on a hot summer day a farmer’s donkey fell down a deep well. For hours on end, the poor animal cried out in distress as the farmer tried to imagine a way to get the donkey out. Finally he determined, since the poor donkey was really rather old and not worth saving, besides, he decided to use this accident to his advantage by covering over the well.

Thus, he invited all of his neighbors over to help him cover the well and put the old donkey out of its misery.  Courteously, the other farmers dropped by, grabbed shovels and began to scoop dirt down into the well.

The donkey realized what was happening and cried out wretchedly in despair.  After some time, he quickly quieted down and, much to their amazement, looked up at them almost calculatingly. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was amazed at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something incredible. He would simply shake it off, and climbed on top of the falling dirt.

Rock, Pebbles and Sand

"People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges." 

-  Joseph F. Newton

Once upon a time, a philosophy professor stood before his class placing down some items on the table in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty glass jar and proceeded to fill it with large rocks. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They all agreed that it was, since no more space for rocks remained inside.

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

Lastly, the professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up every open area in the jar. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a thunderous "Yes."

"Now," said the professor, "I want you to imagine that this glass jar represents your entire life. The rocks within are the most important things - your family, your partner, your children, your health - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.”

Neighbor’s dirty laundry

"One should look long and carefully at oneself before passing judgment on others." 

- Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin)

A young couple moved in to their newly bought house. One morning, young wife looked out her window at her neighbor’s laundry hanging on the line and began making remarks about how dirty the laundry still was.

Days went by, and still the neighbor didn’t learn how to clean her dirty laundry properly. As time went by, every day when the neighbor hanged the laundry, young wife continued to complain: “Hadn’t she heard of bleach?  Was she using cheapest detergent? Worse yet, wasn’t she aware of the fact that everyone would see the dingy towels hanging on the clothes line.” All this time, the husband was silent and it seemed that he was not interested in this issue.

Who is that girl?

"People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  When you figure out which it is, you’ll know exactly what to do."

-  Michelle Ventor

Once upon the time, a thirteen-year-old son of a wealthy mandarin official had a dream in which he met the old Sage and learned that he was destined to wed the girl who worked in the fruit stand across the street. When he awoke, he was quite skeptical, but, curious as he was, he went out to have a look at the girl.

She was six years old, was completely filthy, and had a stream of snot running from her nose. He was horrified and furious! “I am never going to marry this horrible abomination!” In his anger, he threw a rock that hit her eyebrow and sent her crying into the house.

A decade passed, and son of the mandarin official, now 23, took the imperial exams and received his first government job. Since the rulers respected and honored his father, a marriage was arranged for him to the daughter of the Prime Minister.

If I had known this...

O! What men dare do! What men may do! What men daily do, not knowing what they do!

- William Shakespeare

Once upon a time, king with his large entourage went sailing across the sea. On the second night of a journey, a terrible storm struck and the ship sunk. Only the king, his queen and youngest daughter managed to wash ashore at some small village in a far away land.

In this land, nobody has ever heard about his kingdom and he had no money with which to support the family. They were even afraid to acknowledge that they were a royal family. Since they had to eat, the king went looking for work and, being the king, he did not have any usable skill. Only job he managed to get was a shepherd, taking care of the village’s sheep.

Several years passed and the prince of this country arrived in the village where they lived. He noticed the king’s daughter, which has grown into a very beautiful girl, and vowed that he will marry no other girl but the shepherd's daughter.

His father, the king, tried to dissuade him, but seeing that the prince was unwavering, he sent envoys to the shepherd, asking his daughter to marry a prince. The shepherd received the envoys, thanked them for this offer and asked what handcraft was the prince skilled in? The envoys were outraged. “What need does the prince and future king have for a craft? He has lands and servants!”