Making a Difference

Sometimes we come up with a brilliant and noble idea but when it comes to the execution part, which unfortunately is the most difficult part, we start thinking that we as individuals would not carry a say or for that sake, it doesn’t make any difference to others because that act may not be big enough to come into view. But in the larger sense, it is.

A beautiful story to keep up our momento intact, in doing good all the time, howsoever small the magnitude of the action may appear to be as it does a invaluable difference in the long run---to someone else.

My friend was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean. As my friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had washed up on the beach, and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water. My friend was puzzled.

He approached the man and said. “Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing.”
“I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see its low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.”

“I understand,” my friend replied, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, “Made a difference to that one!”

Life is too short to hate anybody....Trust me!!!

We are born humans....we die humans. But during all the phases of our life, most of the times, we tend to be what we are not. We become what we should not. We become what is not right. And then everything just doesn't fit the things.

It is but natural that at the times of adversity, we become arrogant and we drift ourselves from the right....so much that we hurt others who are in contact with us. I would just say one thing : Remember that life is too short for keeping angst or hurting others. It may not be evident at present but when you are old, when you would have grandchildren's and when you look back in your life-canvas, you would see that there could have been instances where we could have made life more colorful, more meaningful, more joyful, and more less-painful for others.

So, during the most extreme times of the life, just keep this in mind.....no matter how bad the situation may be, there is always room for us to behave in the right sense and the right way. Just ask your heart and stick to its decisions. Things would surely see the light of the day sooner or later, but atleast you could be sure that no-one is hurt during the transition.

If we could practice this throughout our life, we would be making our small yet valuable contribution towards making Life, and indeed it is, a Miracle.

Sands and Stones

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?" The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

That's how life is all about. Goodness should be kept close to our heart and badness, in any form, should be kept out of our heart's periphery.

Nature returns everything with Interest

A farmer in Scotland, by the name of Fleming, heard a voice calling for help. He immediately ran towards the call for help, and there he saw a boy neck-deep in quicksand. Fleming struggled to pull the boy up; he affectionaltely patted him and told him to go home. Then he returned to his farming job again.

Next day, a well dressed gentleman visited the farmer and thanked him for saving his son. He wished to reward the farmer but he declined saying that it was his duty. Looking at a little boy, the gentleman asked Fleming if that was his son. Fleming nodded and was told:"This boy, one day will make you proud!"

Then on, the gentleman took full responsibility for the upbringing and education of that boy. He grew up to become a world-renowned scientist. He was Alexander Fleming - inventer of Penicillin. A few months after his invention, the son of that gentleman was hit by a severe attack of pneumonia! His life was saved (the second time) with penicillin! He was Winston Churchill.

Nature has a wonderful and marvellous way of returning our goodness in mysterious ways....sometimes evident and logically fitting in our thinking and sometimes not. What goes around, comes around. Nature doesn't retain anything. It returns everything with interest.