It will take just 37 seconds to read this and change your thinking..
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.
One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
His bed was next to the room’s only window.
The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end.
They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation..
Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake.
Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite details, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine this picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by.
Although the other man could not hear the band - he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.
Days, weeks and months passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.
She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside.
He strained to slowly turn to look out the window besides the bed.
It faced a blank wall.
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.
The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.
She said, ‘Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you.’
Epilogue:
There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations.
Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled.
If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can’t buy.
The Two Brothers
Two brothers worked together on the family farm. One was married and had a large family. The other was single. At the day’s end, the brothers shared everything equally, produce and profit.
Then one day the single brother said to himself, “It’s not right that we should share equally the produce and the profit. I’m alone and my needs are simple.” So each night he took a sack of grain from his bin and crept across the field between their houses, dumping it into his brother’s bin.
Meanwhile, the married brother said to himself, “It’s not right that we should share the produce and the profit equally. After all, I’m married and I have my wife and my children to look after me in years to come. My brother has no one, and no one to take care of his future.” So each night, he took a sack of grain and dumped it into his single brother’s bin.
Both men were puzzled for years because their supply of grain never dwindled. Then one dark night the two brothers bumped into each other. Slowly it dawned on them what was happening. They dropped their sacks and embraced one another.
Thanks SLN for the content
Express and Inspire.
Today, as I was going through my dashboard, a picture of a beautiful girl caught my attention. She looked like my friend’s girlfriend so I studied the pic. I found her name. And below is the date of her birth and a date of her death. It shocked me.
Her name is Junethea Crystal Centeno. I never heard of her and never been in her blog before. It was just because of the picture that I saw her and found out about her name. I searched google for what happened to her. Then her tumblr url came out. A lot of other links to other blogs sharing their deepest condolences to the girl showed on screen.
I read back on her blog and saw that she’s just an ordinary girl who blogs about her life. As I went through her posts, I felt that little pain inside. Though we didn’t know each other, I grieve for the lost of a beautiful girl like her.
One thing I realized as I stare at her picture, we don’t know when and how we will die. It might be tomorrow, the next day, next week, next month, next year or maybe the next second. We cannot choose how we will die. It might be a car accident like what happened to her or worst, but hopefully not, murder.
We will never know. We can never tell. But will you just leave it there? Wait until you pass away? I mean, Junethea was a simple girl who smiled a lot, enjoyed her life and blogged about it. She’s no superstar but because of what she showed here in tumblr, what she wrote about, what she shared truly touched and will continue to inspire others.
Let’s make use of the technology to express ourselves to other people across the world and inspire them to be someone better. Just like what I said above, we will never know, we can never tell who might be visiting our blog every day, reading and relating to every post we make, or who we might have touched in the simplest means.
To Junethea’s family, friends and loved ones, I reach out my deepest condolences to each and everyone of you. She’s an angel, brought down to inspire people, whom God wanted to have back. Junethea… may your soul rest in peace in heaven. You will surely be missed.
The Elephant Rope
As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”
The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?
Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.
Thanks to InspirationalStories for the content.
A letter to a young poet: go into yourself.
“Nothing touches a work of art so little as words of criticism: they always result in more or less fortunate misunderstandings. Things aren’t all so tangible and sayable as people would usually have us believe; most experiences are unsayable, they happen in a space that no word has ever entered, and more unsayable than all other things are works of art, those mysterious existences, whose life endures beside our own small, transitory life.
(…) You are looking outside and that is what you should most avoid right now. No one can advise or help you – no one. There is only one thing you should do. Go into yourself. Find out the reason that commands you to write; see whether it has spread its roots into the very depths of your heart; confess to yourself whether you would have to die if you were forbidden to write. This most of all: ask yourself in the most silent hour of your night: must I write? Dig into yourself for a deep answer. And if this answer rings out in assent, if you meet this solemn question with a strong, simple “I must”, then build your life in accordance with this necessity; your whole life, even into its humblest and most indifferent hour, must become a sign and witness to this impulse. Then come close to Nature. Then, as if no one had ever tried before, try to say what you see and feel and love and lose.
(…) A work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity. That is the only way one can judge it. So, dear Sir, I can’t give you any advice but this: to go into yourself and see how deep the place is from which your life flows; at its source you will find the answer to, the question of whether you must create. Accept that answer, just as it is given to you, without trying to interpret it. Perhaps you will discover that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself, and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what reward might come from outside. For the creator must be a world for himself and must find everything in himself and in Nature, to whom his whole life is devoted.”
Via Rilke’s “Letters To A Young Poet”
An Inspiring Story.
I was texting a friend today, and he told me he was going to KFC. Here I am thinking he’s going there to eat and have a random adventure with a friend like usual, but it turns out he was picking up food for his family. Throughout the day he had been handing out Reese’s hearts and wishing people a ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’. His initial plan was to wait for his family’s food and get back home, but he saw a girl sitting by herself, looking quite unhappy. He ordered something small separately, made his way to her table, gave her a Reese’s heart and wished her a ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’. He ended up having dinner with a complete stranger, but I’m actually very sure he made her day. His only hope was that she goes to sleep with a smile today.
It’s really the little things like this that make me think that the world isn’t always as bad as people say; these little things that make me sure there are “good guys” that will go to deserving girls and vise versa. The next time you have an opportunity, I urge you to take a little time out of your day in an attempt to brighten someone’s day, much like this story— I know that I will.
