FOR OR AGAINST

FOR OR AGAINST

It was during the Mexican war. Thoreau, the philosopher and writer, vehemently opposed to the war, because he believed it to be an attempt to expand slaveholding territories. He refused to pay taxes, because the money was going to the work effort. He ended up in jail, rather than pay taxes.

Emerson, another philosopher and writer, a friend of his, and someone who was also strongly opposed to the war and to slavery visited him in prison. Emerson asked Thoreau, “Henry, why are you in prison?” Thoreau looked straight in the eye, and quickly asked him, “Waldo, why are you not here?”

v     Happy are they who dream dreams, and are prepared to pay the price to make their dreams come true.

v     The acid test of our conviction about anything is our willingness to be faithful to it, no matter what the consequences.

GETTING OUR OWN BACK

GETTING OUR OWN BACK

A foolish man heard that Buddha taught that you should never return evil for evil. One day the man met Buddha, and decided to test him to see if he practiced what he taught others to do. The man began to heap all kinds of verbal abuse upon the great teacher, shouting at him, and calling him all kinds of names.

All the while Buddha listened quietly. When the man had run out of things to say, Buddha said to him “My son, if a man declines to accept a gift from another, to whom does the gift go?” “Any fool knows that,” sneered the man, “the gift goes back to the giver.” “My son,” said Buddha, “you have just given me much verbal abuse. I decided to accept your gift.” The man made no reply.

Buddha continued, “My son, a man who slanders a virtuous person is like a man who spits at the sky. The spit doesn’t soil the sky, it returns to soil the face of the one who spat.”

v     The “law of the echo” said the teacher, whether you shout, curse, sing or laugh into an echo chamber – that’s what will come to you!

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIEND

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIEND

Mt Ranier is a 14, 000 – foot mountain in Washington state. Some years ago, nine physically handicapped people succeeded in climbing to summit.

One had an artificial leg, five were blind, two were deaf, and one was an epileptic. In spite of all this, they climbed the mountain, and came down together, without a mishap. When asked how they achieved such an extraordinary feat, one of the blind men said, “We got a lot of help form each other.”

v     That must surely rank as one of the understatement of the century.

v     A good example of the body of Christ in action, where the blind could see with someone else’s eyes, the deaf could hear with someone else’s ears etc.

A TRUE STORY

A TRUE STORY
 
 
Spend some time to read this! Really touching!

I was walking around in a Big Bazar store making shopping, 
when I saw a Cashier talking to a boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.
 The Cashier said, 'I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll. 
Then the little boy turned to me and asked: ''Aunty, are you sure 
I don't have enough money?''
I counted his cash and replied: ''You know that you don't have enough money to buy 
 
the dolll, my dear.'' The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, 
I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to. 
'It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much . 
Iwanted to Gift her for her BIRTHDAY. I have to give the doll to my mommy so 
that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.' 
His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. 
Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so 
I thought that she could take the doll with her to give it to my sister.
'' My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and 
aid: 'I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait until 
I come back from the mall.' 
Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. 
He then told me 'I want mommy to take my picture with her so my sister 
won't forget me.' 'I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, 
but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister.
' Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly.
I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. 'Suppose we check again, 
just in case you do have enough money for the doll?'' 'OK' he said, 
I hope I do have enough.' I added some of my money to his with out him seeing and 
we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. 
The little boy said: 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!
' Then he looked at me and added, 'I asked last night before 
I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, 
so that mommy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have 
enough money to buy a white rose for my mommy, but I didn't dare to ask 
God for too much. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose. 
My mommy loves white roses.'
I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. 
I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind.. Then I remembered a local news 
paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who 
hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, 
and the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether 
to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because the young woman would 
not be able to recover from the coma. Was this the family of the little boy?
Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that 
the young woman had passed away.. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch 
of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young 
woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her burial. 
She was there, in her coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the 
photo of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. 
I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. 
The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, 
to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, 
a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

PLEASE DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.

THE VALUE OF A MAN OR WOMAN RESIDES IN WHAT HE OR SHE GIVES, NOT IN WHAT HE OR SHE IS CAPABLE OF RECEIVING.  

THE LOST PAGE

THE LOST PAGE

A teacher asked her class to rewrite the parable of the Lost Sheep in a way what would make more sense to the members of the class. One student wrote: Suppose you had just finished typing a 100 page term paper. You had worked long hours in drafting it and typing it. You were exhausted but deeply relieved that the job was finished. You were collecting the page to staple them and bind them when you discovered that there was one missing. Imagine the horror, the panic, the sick feeling in the pit of the stomach. You drop the other 99 pages, and begin the anxious search. Everything in you is longing and aching for a sight of that missing page. Without that page the whole project falls limp.

Suddenly, there, away in a corner is the page. You excitedly push a chair aside, sending the 99 page on it flying in all direction and you are on your knees, reaching into the corner to touch and to grasp that page.

-   That one page in the hand is a source of much greater joy and delight than the 99 pages scattered around the floor.

YOU DID IT TO ME

YOU DID IT TO ME

There is a story told, apocryphal, of course, about a black man in the South. It was pre-integration days and he was standing outside a church that was attended by whites only. As it happened it was quite close to where he lived, and he was seriously considering attempting to go there on a Sunday morning, rather than traveling several miles to all black church. He was standing outside; trying to get enough courage to face what would surely prove an impossible task anyway. When he looked up, and there was Jesus standing beside him.

Jesus asked him what he was doing there and he said he was trying to figure out a way to get into that church. Jesus smiled and said, “I know well how you feel. Actually I myself have been trying for years to get into that church.”

-   Religion, divorced form spirituality can be very destructive.

-      Christianity is about a Person, Jesus Christ, over and above any concept of doing good – praying etc.

DEATH THE LEVELER

DEATH THE LEVELER

This is the story about Alexander the Great told by the Greek writer Plutarch.

One day Alexander came upon Diogenes the ancient philosopher and he was examining some bones. He had two sets of human bones in two different boxes.

When Alexander asked him what he was doing he said he was reflecting on some of the more important lessons of life. “For example,” said Diogenes, “the two sets of bones here are those of your father and one of his slaves. I have examined them now for some time and I honestly must confess that I cannot find any difference between them!”

-     I am a spiritual being who lives in a body for a while. When I die, I go on ahead, I am finished with the body (the remains) and if I have a donor card, other can benefit from parts of my body when I’m finished with it.

-  The rich man and Lazarus in the Gospel (Lk 16:19-31) is another way of liking at the teaching contained in the story above.