Hold a door. Save a spot

Received in WhatsApp Group

Let this story reach more hearts💚

"My name's Raymond. I'm 73. I work the parking lot at St. Joseph's Hospital. Minimum wage, orange vest, a whistle I barely use. Most people don't even look at me. I'm just the old man waving cars into spaces.

But I see everything.

Like the black sedan that circled the lot every morning at 6 a.m. for three weeks. Young man driving, grandmother in the passenger seat.

Chemotherapy, I figured. He'd drop her at the entrance, then spend 20 minutes hunting for parking, missing her appointments.

One morning, I stopped him. "What time tomorrow?"

"6:15," he said, confused.

"Space A-7 will be empty. I'll save it."

He blinked. "You... you can do that?"

"I can now," I said.

Next morning, I stood in A-7, holding my ground as cars circled angrily. When his sedan pulled up, I moved. He rolled down his window, speechless. "Why?"

"Because she needs you in there with her," I said. "Not out here stressing."

He cried. Right there in the parking lot.

Word spread quietly. A father with a sick baby asked if I could help. A woman visiting her dying husband. I started arriving at 5 a.m., notebook in hand, tracking who needed what. Saved spots became sacred. People stopped honking. They waited. Because they knew someone else was fighting something bigger than traffic.

But here's what changed everything, A businessman in a Mercedes screamed at me one morning. "I'm not sick! I need that spot for a meeting!"

"Then walk," I said calmly. "That space is for someone whose hands are shaking too hard to grip a steering wheel."

He sped off, furious. But a woman behind him got out of her car and hugged me. "My son has leukemia," she sobbed. "Thank you for seeing us."

The hospital tried to stop me. "Liability issues," they said. But then families started writing letters. Dozens. "Raymond made the worst days bearable." "He gave us one less thing to break over."

Last month, they made it official. "Reserved Parking for Families in Crisis." Ten spots, marked with blue signs. And they asked me to manage it.

But the best part? A man I'd helped two years ago, his mother survived, came back. He's a carpenter. Built a small wooden box, mounted it by the reserved spaces. Inside? Prayer cards, tissues, breath mints, and a note,

"Take what you need. You're not alone. -Raymond & Friends"

People leave things now. Granola bars. Phone chargers. Yesterday, someone left a hand-knitted blanket.

I'm 73. I direct traffic in a hospital parking lot. But I've learned this: Healing doesn't just happen in operating rooms. Sometimes it starts in a parking space. When someone says, "I see your crisis. Let me carry this one small piece."

So pay attention. At the grocery checkout, the coffee line, wherever you are. Someone's drowning in the little things while fighting the big ones.

Hold a door. Save a spot. Carry the weight no one else sees.

It's not glamorous. But it's everything."

Let this story reach more hearts💚

Coming from my heart: 

My slutations to Raymond for his thought provoking act of kindness. 

.

Choose Decency over Indifference

Story Received in Whats App. Author Unknown. 

At a party held at a school for children with special needs, one father stood up to speak. What he said stayed with everyone who heard it.

After thanking the staff who worked with such devotion, he paused and shared a reflection: “When nothing disturbs the balance of nature, the natural order reveals itself in perfect harmony.”

Then his voice began to tremble.

“But my son Herbert doesn’t learn like other children. He doesn’t understand like they do. So tell me… where is the natural order in his life?”

The room fell completely silent.

Then he continued: “I believe that when a child like Herbert is born—with a physical or cognitive disability—the world is given a rare and sacred opportunity: To reveal the very core of the human spirit. And that spirit is revealed not through perfection—but in how we treat those who need us most.”

He shared a moment he would never forget:

One afternoon, he and Herbert were walking past a field where some boys were playing soccer. Herbert looked longingly at them and asked: “Dad… do you think they’ll let me play?”

The father’s heart sank. He knew the answer was likely no. But he also knew—if they said yes—it could give his son something far more valuable than a goal: a sense of belonging.

So he gently approached one of the boys and asked: “Would it be okay if Herbert joined the game?”

The boy looked over at his teammates, hesitated, then smiled: “We’re losing 3–0 and there’s ten minutes left… Sure. Let him take a penalty.”

Herbert lit up. He ran to the bench, put on a jersey that nearly swallowed him whole, and beamed with pride. His father stood at the sidelines, tears in his eyes.

He didn’t play much. He just stood nearby, watching. But something in the boys shifted. They began to see him—not as a distraction, but as one of them.

And then, in the final minute, a miracle happened. Herbert’s team was awarded a penalty kick.

The same boy turned to the father and gave a knowing nod: “It’s his shot.”

Herbert walked slowly to the ball, nervous but radiant. The goalkeeper caught on. He made a show of diving to the side, giving the boy a clear shot. Herbert nudged the ball gently forward. It rolled across the goal line.

Goal.

The boys erupted in cheers. They hoisted Herbert into the air like he’d won the World Cup. They didn’t just let him play. They let him belong.

The father closed his speech with tears falling freely: “That day, a group of boys made a decision… not to win, but to be human. To show the world what kindness, dignity, and love really look like.”

Herbert passed away that winter. He never saw another summer. But he never forgot the day he was a hero.

And his father never forgot the night he came home, telling the story as his wife held Herbert close, weeping—not from sorrow, but from joy.

A final thought:

Every day, we scroll past distractions—memes, jokes, quick laughs.

But when something truly meaningful crosses our path, we hesitate.

We wonder: Who would understand this? Who should I send this to?

If you happen to read this story, it’s because it is believed you’re one of those people. That you see the heart in others. That you understand what really matters. Because each day, the world gives us countless chances to choose decency over indifference.

As one wise man said: “A society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable.”

The Journey is Short
(WhatsApp forward)

An elderly woman got on a bus and sat down. At the next stop, a strong, grumpy young woman climbed up and sat down beside the old woman, hitting her with her numerous bags.

When she saw that the elderly woman remained silent, the young woman asked her why she had not complained when she hit her with her bags?

The elderly woman replied with a Smile: "There is no need to be rude or discuss something so insignificant, as my trip next to you is so short, because I am going to get off at the next stop."

This answer deserves to be written in gold letters: "There is no need to discuss something so insignificant, because our journey together is too short."

Each of us must understand that our time in this world is so short, that darkening it with useless arguments, jealousy, not forgiving others, discontentment and bad attitudes are a ridiculous waste of time and energy.

Did someone break your heart? Stay calm.

The trip is too short.

Did someone betray you, intimidate, cheat or humiliate you? Relax - Don't be Stressed

The trip is too short.

Did someone insult you without reason? Stay calm. Ignore it.

The trip is too short.

Did a neighbour make a comment that you didn't like? Stay calm. Ignore him. Forgive that.

The trip is too short.

Whatever the problem someone has brought us, remember that our journey together is too short.

No one knows the length of our trip. Nobody knows when it will arrive at its stop.

Our trip together is too short.

Let us appreciate friends and family.

Let us be respectful, kind and forgiving,

Because we will be filled with gratitude and joy, after all

Our trip together is very short.

Share your smile to everyone....

Our trip is Very Short!

Hope sees the Invisible

(WhatsApp Forward)

Dr. Frank Mayfield (1908-1991, a renowned Neurosurgeon in the US) was touring Tewksbury Institute when, on his way out, he accidentally collided with an elderly floor maid. To cover the awkward moment Dr. Mayfield started asking questions.

"How long have you worked here?"

"I've worked here almost since the place opened," the maid replied.

"What can you tell me about the history of this place?" he asked.

"I don't think I can tell you anything, but I could show you something."

With that, she took his hand and led him down to the basement under the oldest section of the building. She pointed to one of what looked like small prison cells, their iron bars rusted with age, and said, "That's the cage where they used to keep Annie Sullivan."

"Who's Annie?" the doctor asked.

Annie was a young girl who was brought in here because she was incorrigible—nobody could do anything with her. She'd bite and scream and throw her food at people. The doctors and nurses couldn't even examine her or anything. I'd see them trying with her spitting and scratching at them.

"I was only a few years younger than her myself and I used to think, 'I sure would hate to be locked up in a cage like that.' I wanted to help her, but I didn't have any idea what I could do. I mean, if the doctors and nurses couldn't help her, what could someone like me do?

"I didn't know what else to do, so I just baked her some brownies one night after work. The next day I brought them in. I walked carefully to her cage and said, 'Annie, I baked these brownies just for you. I'll put them right here on the floor and you can come and get them if you want.'

"Then I got out of there just as fast as I could because I was afraid she might throw them at me. But she didn't. She actually took the brownies and ate them. After that, she was just a little bit nicer to me when I was around. And sometimes I'd talk to her. Once, I even got her laughing.

One of the nurses noticed this and she told the doctor. They asked me if I'd help them with Annie. I said I would if I could. So that's how it came about that. Every time they wanted to see Annie or examine her, I went into the cage first and explained and calmed her down and held her hand.

This is how they discovered that Annie was almost blind."

After they'd been working with her for about a year—and it was tough sledding with Annie—the Perkins institute for the Blind opened its doors. They were able to help her and she went on to study and she became a teacher herself.

Annie came back to the Tewksbury Institute to visit, and to see what she could do to help out. At first, the Director didn't say anything and then he thought about a letter he'd just received. A man had written to him about his daughter. She was absolutely unruly—almost like an animal. She was blind and deaf as well as 'deranged.'

He was at his wit's end, but he didn't want to put her in an asylum. So he wrote the Institute to ask if they knew of anyone who would come to his house and work with his daughter.

And that is how Annie Sullivan became the lifelong companion of Helen Keller.

When Helen Keller received the Nobel Prize, she was asked who had the greatest impact on her life and she said, "Annie Sullivan."

But Annie said, "No Helen. The woman who had the greatest influence on both our lives was a floor maid at the Tewksbury Institute."

What's in my cup?

Received in Social Media.

I love this analogy!

You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you or shakes your arm, making you spill your coffee everywhere.

Why did you spill the coffee?

"Well because someone bumped into me, of course!"

Wrong answer.

You spilled the coffee because there was coffee in your cup.

Had there been tea in the cup, you would have spilled tea.

Whatever is inside the cup, is what will spill out.

Therefore, when life comes along and shakes you (which WILL happen), whatever is inside you will come out. It's easy to fake it, until you get rattled.

So we have to ask ourselves... “what's in my cup?"

When life gets tough, what spills over?

Joy, gratefulness, peace and humility?

Or anger, bitterness, harsh words and reactions?

You choose!

My thoughts: As I write this now in Sept 2020, the entire world is going through a strange phase for the past six months. A lot has been happening which we had never faced before and which we never thought in the wildest of our dreams. Covid is shaking us all making us spill what is inside us. What we carry within, is what we toss around when shaken. Today let's fill ourselves with gratitude, forgiveness, joy, words of affirmation; and kindness, gentleness and love for others.

Love & Respect your Parents

Author Unknown     

A frail old man lived with his son, his daughter-in-law, and his four-year-old grandson. His eyes were blurry, his hands trembled, and his step faltered.

The family would eat together every night at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon, drooping to the floor. When he grasped his glass of milk, it often spilled clumsily at the tablecloth.

With this happening almost every night, the son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.

"We must do something about father," said the son.

"I've had enough of his milk spilling, noisy eating and food on the floor," the daughter-in-law agreed.

So the couple set a small table at the corner.

There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinner at the dinner table. Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in wooden bowls. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather's direction, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening, before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. 

He asked the child sweetly: "What are you making?" 

Just as sweetly, the boy replied, "Oh, I'm making a little bowl for you and mama to eat your food from when I grow up." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

These words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears streamed down their cheeks. Though no words were spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening, the husband took father's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days, grandfather ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk was spilled or the table cloth was soiled.

Parents are the most precious gift of God for humans. They play an important role in our mental, physical, social, financial and career development. We took our first steps by holding their fingers.  All parents keep their children’s happiness and needs above their own. We may feel that our parents need us, but the reality is, we need them and we will not be able to make it without them. They are the pillars of support in the mansion of our lives. Let us remind ourselves that only if we love & respect our parents, our kids will reciprocate the same feeling to us.

Leave your Heartprints

Author Unknown (If you know the author, pl let me know)

Whatever our hands touch -
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There's no escape.

As we touch we leave our identity.

Wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.

May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.

Send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
'I felt your touch,'
May they also sense the love
that is deep within my heart.

Pushers & Pullers

Educator Booker T. Washington observed, "There are two ways of exerting one's strength; one is pushing down, the other is pulling up." 

Pushers and pullers are the two types of people that we need to deal with on a daily basis in this world. 

Formers are the types who push you down, suck the energy from you and demotivate you. The negative type. 

Latters are those who pull you up, inspire you and motivate you to achieve your goals and dreams. The positive type.

Undeniably, we all love pullers and need more of them in our lives. They are like a cup of cool water for a dry and parched throat. Dealing with this type is the easiest. We can relate to them effortlessly. They ooze out positivity which is infectious.

We avoid and detest those who push us down. It’s this variety, the negative ones, that cause the concern. It can be really tough to get back up once someone has knocked us down. Self-confidence gets heavily beaten up. Self-doubt and insecurities get triggered and are hard to put aside. 

Let’s face it. In reality, life doesn't consist only of pullers. It is a concoction of both types. It takes all sorts to make the world go around. We are compelled to deal with both.

How to deal with these pushers?

 

One way of dealing is “ignore” or “accept”.

"Ignore" when we understand that the pushing down is caused by plain jealousy. Admit that it’s the way these pushers are made. It’s not our task to change them. Our focus should only be on changing ourselves and our insights for the better. Best is to keep a distance from these pushers. Leave them behind and move on. They are not worth walking along with.

"Accept" when we find that the criticism is true, based on fact and not biased. After all, let’s give the benefit of doubt to the offender. Let’s work on the conjecture that not always do people have an agenda in their minds. We might’ve committed a blunder inadvertently and hence we have to deal with it. Hence let’s ‘accept’ the pushing down.

And last comes the most elevated way. Send them your love! I know it’s THE MOST difficult task on earth. If all of us had achieved the echelon of this elevation, we wouldn't be discussing this topic here. Right? And why should we send them, the offenders our love? Because it’s what we expect from them. Since they are lacking in it, let’s provide them with some quotient of it.

But the silver lining in the cloud is this. Life is not so cruel. It makes sure that when someone pushes us down, there is someone else who would pull us up. Life gives us an opportunity to become a much better person stronger in heart and mind. If we stop to think about it, we’ll end up thanking both.

We do not become poor by giving

The Universe is in an eternal state of cycles. Day & night, cycle of seasons, water cycle, seed to tree to seed….. Nature's attempt to convey to us that giving and receiving are two different forms of the same energy.

We keep the copiousness of this energy circulating in our lives in our readiness to follow this principle. When we try to cut or stop this flow of energy, we find ourselves blocked to receive the abundance that the Universe has to offer us. The act of fulfilling our desires is directly proportionate to the act of our willingness to make others happy.

When we understand that what we give comes flowing back to us in multitudes, we open the door to this flood of energy and would never make any attempt close it again. Because we begin to appreciate what Anne Frank says, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

What are the ways in which we can give? Here's what Rhonda Byrne of Secret Scroll has to say:

From The Daily Teachings of the Secret Scroll

Giving opens up the door to receiving. You have so many opportunities to give every day.

Give kind words.
Give a smile.
Give appreciation and love.
Give compliments.
You can give courtesy to other motorists while you are driving.
You can give a smile to the car parking attendant.
You can give a warm greeting to the newspaper stand person or the person who makes your coffee.
You can give by allowing a stranger to go ahead of you into an elevator, and you can give by asking which floor they are going to and pressing the button for them.
If someone drops something you can give a helping hand and pick it up for them.
You can give warm embraces to those you love.
And you can give appreciation and encouragement to everyone.

There are so many opportunities for you to give and thereby open the door to receiving.

May the joy be with you,
Rhonda Byrne

YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Dedicated to all teachers on this Teachers day in India, 5th Sept, 2014


Just when she was about to give up teaching profession because she thought her teaching wasn't even changing or helping even one child, her mind was completely changed one day.

When she went to school the next day, one of her first grader's parent came to her and just fell into her arms and cried out, "THANK YOU."

The mother explained that her child had ADHD (the teacher had already discovered that) and no one had the patience to teach or just love her for who she was. She told the teacher that she made a difference in her daughter's life, just by showing that she cared and for having patience with her. The child showed interest in studies when she was with her, but her other teachers constantly condemned her because they couldn't control her.

What a compliment!

Needless to say she is still continuing on with her teaching profession.

Dear teachers, sometimes it may seem like people have forgotten how important you really are.

For every child that says, “I’m not smart enough”, “I don’t get it”, “I can’t”…… there’s a teacher who says, “You can!”

For every child who needs basic skills, knowledge, someone to believe in him……….. there’s a teacher who will do whatever it takes to encourage, to motivate, to challenge, to engage, to inspire and instill a love for learning.

So for every teacher who works with the children building a better future for us, even when it feels like no one is watching or that people have forgotten just how special you teachers really are, I SALUTE YOU!

AND I THANK YOU for teaching each child to become the next great author, artist, scientist, architect, musician, doctor, engineer or teacher.

Never give up, if you teach from the heart, you may not realize it at that precise moment..........
BUT YOU ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN SOMEONE.

Author Unknown

He was a busy executive. In the rush of his busy life, he had even no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future, and nothing could stop him.

One such busy day, he received a call from his mother, "Ramu Kaka died last night. The funeral is tomorrow."

He remained silent. Memories flashed through his mind as he sat quietly remembering his childhood days. After his father’s death, Ramu Kaka stepped in to make sure he had a man's influence in his life. "He's the one who taught me the basic things in life," he thought. "I wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for him. He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important.” He remembered that he loved that old house that kaka lived in.

But honestly he thought that Ramu kaka died years ago.

"Ramesh, did you hear me?"

"Oh sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him. I'm sorry," he said.

"Well, he didn't forget you. Every time I saw him he'd ask how you were doing. He'd recollect about the old days you spent over 'his side of the fence' as he put it," Mom told him.

“Mom, I'll be there for the funeral," he said.

As busy as he was, he kept his word. He caught the next flight to his hometown. Ramu kaka’s funeral was small and uneventful. He had no children of his own, and most of his relatives had passed away.

The night before he had to return home, he stopped by the old house next door one more time. The house was exactly as he remembered. He stopped suddenly.

"There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was the thing he valued the most. The box is gone," he thought.

He figured someone from Kaka’s family had taken it.

"Now I'll never know what was so valuable to him," he told himself.

Returning home one day he received a parcel by post.

He ripped open the parcel. There inside was the gold box that he was searching for in Ramu kaka’s house and an envelope.

The letter in the envelope was addressed to him. “It's the thing I valued most in my life." A small key was taped to the letter. His heart racing, as tears filling his eyes, he carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful GOLD POCKET WATCH.

Running his fingers slowly over the finely etched casing, he unlatched the cover. Inside he found these words engraved:

"Ramesh, Thanks for your time! –Ramu Kaka."

"The thing he valued most...was...my time," he realized with shock.

He held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days. "Why?" his assistant Suzy asked.

"I need some time to spend with my wife and son," he said. "Oh, by the way Suzy... thanks for your time!"

Cleverness and Kindness

A man with his donkey carrying two sacks of wheat was on his way to the market. After a little while he was tired and they rested under a tree.

When he woke up from his nap he could not see the donkey and started searching for the donkey everywhere. On the way he met a boy. He asked the boy, “Have you seen my donkey?”

The boy asked, “Is the donkey’s left eye blind, his right foot lame and is he carrying a load of wheat?”

The man was happy and said, “Yes, exactly! Where have you seen it?”

The boy answered, “I haven’t seen it.”

This made the man very angry. He concluded that the boy is lying and he took him to the village chief for punishment.

The judge asked, “Dear boy, if you had not seen at the donkey, how could you describe it?”

The boy answered, “I saw the tracks of a donkey and the right and left tracks were different from this I understood that the donkey that passed there was limping.
And the grass on the right side of the road was eaten but the grass on the left was not. From that I understood that his left eye was blind.
There were wheat seeds scattered on the ground and I understood that he must have been carrying a load of wheat.”

The judge understood the boy’s cleverness and told the man to forgive the boy.

Look for your own path

Sufi Story

When Saadi of Shiraz was a child, he used to pray with his father, his uncles and his cousins. Every night they would gather together to listen to a passage from the Koran.

On one such night, while his uncle was reading a passage out loud, he noticed that most of the people were asleep.

He said to his father: "Not one of these dozy people is listening to the words of the Prophet. They'll never reach God."

And his father replied: "My dear son, look for your own path with faith and let others take care of themselves. Who knows, perhaps they are talking to God in their dreams. Believe me, I would much prefer you to be sleeping alongside them than to hear your harsh words of judgement and condemnation."'

What goes around comes around.

Author: Unknown

One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road with her Mercedes. He could see she needed help. His humble Pontiac was still sputtering when he got out of his car and approached her.

It was obvious that the lady was frightened on seeing him. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry.

He could see that she was frightened. He knew how she felt. He said, “I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.”

All she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.

As he was tightening up the lug nuts, the lady couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid. Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her.

Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.

He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, “and think of me.”

He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.

A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan Anderson.

After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.

There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: “You don’t owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do, do not let this chain of love end with you.” Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.

Well……..the story doesn’t end here……

There were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. She was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard…

That night when she got home from work she saw how worried her husband was, and whispered soft and low to him, “Everything’s going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.”

Always see yourself in others

'When you look at your companions, try to see yourself,' said the Guru.

'But isn't that an awfully selfish attitude?' asked a disciple. 'If we are always concerned about ourselves, we will never see the good things that others have to offer.'

'That’ll be true only if we always see the good things in others,' replied Guru, and continued,
'But the truth is that when we look at another person, we are only looking for defects.
We try to discover their wicked side because we want them to be worse than us.
We never forgive them when they hurt us because we do not believe that we would ever be forgiven.
We manage to hurt them with harsh words, declaring that we are telling the truth, when all we are doing is trying to hide it from ourselves.
We pretend that we are important so that no one else will see how fragile we are.

That is why whenever you judge your companion, be aware that you are the one who is on trial.'

Short stories with moral

Curtsy: http://TheInspirationalStories.com

The rooster makes its last mistake

Two burglars were prowling around a barn one night. They could hear something moving inside, and ever so carefully they climbed in to see what it was. It was a rooster. "Ah-ha," they cried. "This will do for our supper tomorrow."

They grabbed it and were about to kill it when the rooster squawked in alarm: "Please don't kill me. I can be useful to you. I can wake you at dawn every day, ready to start work on time."

"That's just what we don't want," growled the burglars. "If you wake people up they'll catch us robbing their houses."

So that was the end of the rooster.

Moral: “Boasting begins where wisdom stops,” a Japanese proverb

_____________________________________________________

The jealous goat

A goat and a donkey lived on the same farm. The goat had to find his own

food, but because he made the donkey work hard, the farmer fed him. The

goat became jealous, forgetting the entire donkey's hard work. He thought if

the donkey stopped working, he would get his food. So he pushed him into a

large hole, and he was badly hurt.

The farmer sent for the vet, who examined the donkey. "The quickest way to make him better," he said, "is to feed him with goat soup."

So instead of getting the donkey's food for himself, the goat ended up as food for the donkey!

Moral: “Envy is the ulcer of the Soul,” Socrates

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Look before you eat

You know what dogs are like. If you drop a bit of food from the table they shallow it before they know what it is. But sometimes they wish they hadn't.

Fanny the farm dog wasn't allowed in while her master Josh was eating with the family. But one day she crept in and hid under the table when no-one was looking.

She kept very quiet until suddenly a big dollop of food fell next to her. She gobbled it up without thinking. Then she let out a big howl and rushed outside, holding her tummy with one paw.

The family was eating a very hot curry for supper!

Moral: “Love is blind and greed is insatiable.” A Chinese proverb

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One good turn deserves another

Fred was a farm-worker who found a young eagle caught in a trap. He couldn't bear to see such a beautiful bird in pain, so he released it.

A few days later, he was sitting in the shade of an old wall, having bread and cheese for his lunch.

Suddenly, with a flapping of wings, the eagle swooped and stole the cap from his head. It flew away just above the ground with Fred rushing after it, shouting, until it dropped his cap.

Fred put it back on his head and trudged back to finish his lunch. But what do you think?

Exactly where he had been sitting the old wall had collapsed! Each of them had saved the other.

Moral: “If you do good, good will be done to you,” a Danish proverb

Life is game, play it

A young man said to the abbot of a monastery: ‘I would really like to become a monk, but I have learned nothing of importance in my life. My father only taught me how to play chess, and that does not lead to enlightenment. And besides, I was told that all games are sinful.'

'They can be sinful, but they can also be a diversion, and perhaps this monastery needs a little of both,' came the reply.

The abbot called for a chessboard and summoned a monk to play with the young man.

However, before the game began, he added: ‘We may need diversion, but we cannot have everyone playing chess all the time. We will have only the best players here. If our monk loses, he will leave the monastery, thus creating an opening for you.'

The abbot was deadly serious. The young man played an aggressive game, but then he noticed the saintly look in the monk's eyes, and from then on, he began to play deliberately badly.

He decided that he would rather lose because he felt that the monk could prove far more useful to the world than him.

Suddenly, the abbot overturned the chessboard onto the floor.
'You learned far more than you were taught,' he said.
'You have the powers of concentration necessary to win and you are capable of fighting for what you want, but you also have compassion and the ability to sacrifice yourself for a noble cause. You have shown yourself capable of balancing discipline and mercy; welcome to our monastery!'

Live a life full of Love

'Why is it that some people can resolve the most complicated problems really easily, whilst others struggle over every tiny crisis and end up drowning in a glass of water?' the student asked the Master.

Master replied by telling the following story:

'Once upon a time, there was a man who had been the soul of kindness all his life. When he died, everyone assumed that he would go straight to Heaven, for the only possible place for a good man like him was Paradise. The man wasn't particularly bothered about going to Heaven, but that was where he went.

But the angel who received him there, gave only a cursory glance through the index cards before her and when she couldn't find the man's name, she sent him straight to Hell.

And in the hell no one checked, for anyone who turned up is invited in. The man entered and stayed…

Some days later, Lucifer stormed up to the gates of Heaven to demand an explanation from St Peter. "What you're doing is pure terrorism!" he said.

St Peter asked why Lucifer was so angry, and an enraged Lucifer replied: "You sent that man down into Hell, and he's completely demoralizing me! Right from the start, there he was listening to people, looking them in the eye, talking to them. And now everyone's sharing their feelings and hugging and kissing. That's not what I want in Hell! Please, take him into Heaven!'

When the Master had finished telling the story, he looked at the student fondly and said: 'Live your life with so much love in your heart that if, by mistake, you were sent to Hell, the Devil himself would deliver you up to Paradise.'

Evil begets Evil

There was once a king who was so cruel and unjust that his subjects yearned for his death or dethronement.

However, one day he surprised them all by announcing that he had decided to turn over a new leaf.

“No more cruelty, no more injustice,” he promised, and he was as good as his word. He became known as the ‘Gentle Monarch’. Months after his transformation one of his ministers plucked up enough courage to ask him what had brought about his change of heart.

And the king answered, “As I was galloping through my forests I caught sight of a fox being chased by a hound. The fox escaped into his hole but not before the hound had bitten into its leg and lamed it for life.

Later I rode into a village and saw the same hound there. It was barking at a man. Even as I watched, the man picked up a huge stone and flung it at the hound, breaking its leg.

The man had not gone far when he was kicked by a horse. His knee was shattered and he fell to the ground, disabled for life. 

The horse began to run but it fell into a hole and broke its leg. 

Reflecting on all that had happened, I thought: ‘Evil begets evil. If I continue in my evil ways, I will surely be overtaken by evil’. So I decided to change”.

The minister went away convinced that the time was ripe to overthrow the king and seize the throne. Immersed in thought, he did not see the steps in front of him and fell, breaking his neck

"As you sow so shall you reap", says the Bible. Cycle of Deeds always gives us back what we give to others. If we do good to others, good will happen to us. If we do bad to others, our turn will also come.

Acts of kindness turn around lives

In one of the training programs for managers, the coordinator asked the participants, “What has caused you to stay long enough to become a manager?"

One participant, with her voice almost breaking, said, "It was a Rs 200 baseball glove."

Mary told the group that she originally took a clerk job as an interim position while she looked for something better.

On her second or third day behind the counter, she received a phone call from her nine-year old son, Bobby. He needed a baseball glove for Little League. She explained that as a single mother, money was very tight, and her first check would have to go for paying bills. Perhaps she could buy his baseball glove with her second or third check.

When Mary arrived for work the next morning, the store manager, asked her to come to the small room in back of the store that served as an office. Mary wondered if she had done something wrong or left some part of her job incomplete from the day before.

She was concerned and confused.

The manager handed her a box. "I overheard you talking to your son yesterday," she said, "and I know that it is hard to explain things to kids. This is a baseball glove for Bobby because he may not understand how important he is, even though you have to pay bills before you can buy gloves. You know we can't pay good people like you as much as we would like to; but we do care, and I want you to know you are important to us."

The thoughtfulness, empathy and love of this store manager is what has caused her to change her mind to look for something better and stay long enough to become a manager.

This demonstrates vividly that people remember more how much an employer cares than how much he pays.

An important lesson for the price of a Little League baseball glove.

My thoughts:

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Acts of kindness does not only benefit receivers of the kind act, but also the giver, as a result of feeling a sense of contentment and relaxation when such acts are committed.