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.

He Gave Me Everything I Needed

This poem, by Swami Vivekananda, is so simple and beautiful in its content and context that the reader almost connects himself at one point or the other to it. And at last, quite amicably or rather surprisingly, you find everything that went before in this poem or in your life, falling in its place nicely.

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR STRENGTH ,

HE GAVE ME DIFFICULT SITUATIONS TO FACE .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR BRAIN & BROWN ,

HE GAVE ME PUZZLES IN LIFE TO SOLVE .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR HAPPINESS ,

HE SHOWED ME SOME UNHAPPY PEOPLE .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR WEALTH ,

HE SHOWED ME HOW TO WORK HARD .

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR FAVORS,

HE SHOWED ME OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK HARD.

WHEN I ASKED GOD FOR PEACE ,

HE SHOWED ME HOW TO HELP OTHERS.

GOD GAVE ME NOTHING I WANTED ,

HE GAVE ME EVERYTHING I NEEDED

Hachiko : The World's most loyal dog

This real life story stands as an epitome of loyalty, whose measures are beyond the limits of any scales. The story is about a dog named, Hachiko (an Akita breed), who is remembered for his loyality to his owner even many years after his owner's death.

In 1924, Hachiko was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at University of Tokyo. During his owner's life, Hachikō saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day, at the nearby Shibuya Station. Within a short span of time, the owner and his pet had developed quite an amicable bondage.

One evening, the professor didn't return on the usual train. He had suffered a stroke at the university on that day. His friend waited for the master thinking that he may come one day or the other. But as days passed, he could not find his master's face among the commuters. Efforts to bring him into a new home went in vain.

Commuters who knew Hachikō brought treats and food to nourish him during his wait. This continued for 10 years with Hachikō appearing only in the evening time, precisely when the train was due at the station. He died on 1935.

In Japan, Hachiko's faithfulness is regarded as a national symbol of loyalty. A bronze statue has been erected in his likeness at Shibuya station and guess who was the guest of honour at the time of unveiling --- Hachiko himself.

Life is an echo

There was this young boy who had a terrible quarrel with his mother(as is usual during our childhood days). He went out running and went to a hill. He shouted at the helm of his angst -- "I hate you". Almost pat came the reply --- "I hate you". The boy was startled and afraid. He ran back home and told his mother about the strange voice.

Mother, so she is, understood the context and told the boy to go back immediately and yell "I love you". The boy did the same and heard the reply as "I love you".

Now we all know what the context was - of course that was an echo. But if you read it carefully, the source of the echo was nature, which is the other name of Life. The message is crystal clear. If you love life, life would love you back. But the other way round, you dont leave any other choice for life to give you back.

Anyway

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never never be enough;
Give the world the best, you've got anyway.

You see in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them....anyway

Arthur Ashe's Why me ?

Tennis enthusiasts know him well or at the most heard the name. 

Arthur Ashe - the legendary player, had won 3 Grand Slams, when he was diagnosed with AIDS (due to accidental blood transfusion for a heart surgery).

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which said :

"Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease ?"

To this Arthur Ashe replied :

The World over ------------------

5 crore children start playing tennis,

50 lakh learn to play tennis,

5 lakh learn professional tennis,

50000 comes to the circuit,

5000 reach Wimbledon,

4 to semi-final,

2 to the finals.

When I was holding a cup, I never asked GOD, "Why me?". 

And today in pain, I should not be asking GOD, "Why me ?"

It's interesting that during bad times, we question fate for choosing us the victim. We forget the same point when fate smiles and blesses us with happiness and joy. 

Life's fair or unfair is an understanding which varies depending on our maturity levels. 

We may not know the whole story, yet to be unfold, but we can always trust the story writer - The Creator.

Ways of thinking

A Man is going on a road,
Rain is the season, mates are toads,
Has to walk, default ‘coz of his mode,
No one else, to help reach his Abode

What is his mindset, let us see,
And compare ourselves to his Thee,
How the two sides of the same coin,
Makes a person, Abide from his toil

If He thinks as per cons,
He will end up with more horns,
Cursing, all the way, to his luck,
Hinders his ever decreasing buck,
Yes, he will exude greed and anger,
Emotions which he, ever linger,
Making the path more difficult as It is,
Taking him farther, than He is.

If He thinks as per prons,
No thing in the world can deter his way,
He don’t curse the stars or luck,
Instead, finds a way in every clutch,
Yes, he exudes cheerful & ‘come what may’
Taking into stride, whatever The say,
He attains the End without any gasps,
Without any reverie, long and big laps

Of the above, which is yours,
‘Prons’ than ‘cons’, would be the lure,
But it is the other way round,
Believe me, most of us are bound,
Bounded by the situations we in,
Bounded by the forces which make us in,
Bounded by physical and geographical demarche,
But not bounded for the efforts we can take,
To have the courage & heart to move on,
And not bounded to lose, when we can win