Interesting Anecdotes

[raagadevan]

WOW!!! That was a good one... I don't know why, but it reminds me of the classic O. Henry short story "The Gift of the Magi"! For anyone interested, here it is...

http://www.online-literature.com/o_henry/1014/

[NOV]

THE SHOEBOX
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents.
'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.'

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two Precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two Times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with Happiness.

'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?'

'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.'

[NOV]

One day, a rich dad took his son on a trip. Wanted to show him how poor someone can be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family. On the way home, dad asked, "Did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?".

Son said, "We have one dog, they have four, we have a pool, they have rivers, we have lanterns at night, they have stars, we buy foods, they grow theirs, we have walls to protect us, they have friends."
"Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are."

MORAL LESSON: It's not about money that make us rich, it's about simplicity of having God in our lives.

[NOV]

A poor man asked the Buddha,

“Why am I so poor?”

The Buddha said, “you do not learn to give.”

So the poor man said, “If I’m not having anything?”

Buddha said: “You have a few things,

The Face, which can give a smile;

Mouth: you can praise or comfort others;

The Heart: it can open up to others;

Eyes: who can look the other with the eyes of goodness;

Body: which can be used to help others.”

So, actually we are not poor at all, poverty of spirit is the real poverty.

[Chappani]

Good one Nov.

But very sad to see that a section of people following Buddha are not willing to share things with their fellow citizens instead snatching things from other (u know where I am referring to )

[NOV]

They are Godless people.

[NOV]

[NOV]

[NOV]

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
I am writing about you,... actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.’

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpner. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.’

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.’

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. in just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action’

[NOV]

The Business Man and His Lesson...
A business man was deep in debt and just couldn't see a way out. His creditors were closing in on him, the phone wouldn't stop ringing with demands for payment and he couldn't pay. One day, he went to the park and sat on a bench, wondering if life was worth living, if he should just give up and declare bankruptcy.
That was when an old man with a kind face walked over to him.
“Oh my, something is troubling you isn't it?" he said.
The business man, deep in his despair, told the kind old man his troubles.
“I believe I can help you.” Said the old man, and he reached into his pocket and dug out a checkbook.
old manHe asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and put it in his hand.
“Take this money and meet me here in exactly one year from today, that is when you can pay it back to me.”
He turned and vanished as quickly as he had appeared
The business man saw in his hand a check for $1,000,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, who was, back then, one of the richest men in the world!
“My problems are over," cried the businessman in relief, "I can pay my debts!"
He kept telling himself he will use the check, but instead, he put it in a safe and decided to try and handle his financial problems on his own. Just knowing that he can always use the check gave him the determination toork out a way to save his business.
With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check.
At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.
“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried.
“I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller.”
And she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.
Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.