Do Good....

At times we find that people around us are cheating us, fooling us or back stabbing us. And most of the times we are tempted to return the favor as and when we get a chance.

 

Lets try a different path next time though, Be on guard from such people, don’t let them succeed in their motives and harm you but don’t cheat, fool or back stab them. Help them if you can. There’s a verse in Hindi:

“ Jo tako kaanta boye,

        tahe boye tu fool,

           Tako fool k fool hain,

                   Wako hai trisul.”

 

Meaning, if someone sows thorns on your path let him do that. You still sow flowers on his path, you will get flowers as you sowed and  he’ll get a Trishul  a weapon with three sharp ends on one side.

 

So you keep your karma good. Remember, As you sow, so shall you reap. Don’t try to harm anyone and God will protect you from any harm. “ Neki kar dariya mein dal”, means do good and forget it or throw it in the sea or river, don’t expect someone to return the favor but still you be good to everyone. Some people might think you are being foolish but let them think what they want. You don’t need a certificate of wisdom from anyone.

 

Seeing you some people around you will change, seeing them few others might change over a  period of time. Thus, the chain would continue. It’ll eventually make world a better place to win.

Expectations Hurt

One of the main reasons for people being unhappy, sad or dissatisfied is that they expected something very strongly and it doesn’t happen. Degree of dissatisfaction depends on how significant and huge that expectation was.

Expectations might be from a friend or a family member, fiancée, or even something like a promotion, better job, salary hike, students expecting results etc.. And when you don’t get what you have been dreaming of with your eyes open, it really hurts. All the dependent plans fail and an avalanche of shattered dreams is all that is left in the heart.

One can escape a lot of tension, unhappiness, dissatisfaction by ceasing to expect. Expect nothing. Don’t expect your friend to be by your side when you are in trouble, don’t expect a promotion, a better job, a pay hike etc. when you wont expect you wont be hurt if your friend doesn’t come to see you when you are sick. You wont be depressed when you don’t get a promotion or a pay hike or a better job. Thus you will escape a lot of  mental stress, unhappiness, dissatisfaction. It’ll keep you and people around you happier. At the same time you give the world your best, be a good friend, a good husband, a good father, a good employee but don’t expect any favors in return. I’ll write on this soon… 

Till then remember, don’t expect, expectations hurt. When you don’t expect anything everything comes as a surprise and surprises will usually make you happy. 

Make Your City a Better Place

It was evening time and roads were crowded with vehicles. Honking horns and loud vehicle noises irritated one and all. I was traveling in a shared auto rickshaw. My friend, myself and a lady with her around three years old daughter on her lap were the three occupants of the auto.

As the frustrated auto driver drove through the heavy evening traffic, he sweared at the rash drivers. His frustration was clearly visible to us. A little later the lady got down. She paid the driver. As she held the hand of her little daughter to start walking we heard a sweet voice, “thank you uncle”. The little girl thanked the driver. He smiled back at her and ran his fingers on her cheeks.

It seemed as if the “thank you” cooled him down. He didn’t swear again till we reached our lane. I told my friend to notice the effect of the small “thank you”.

In a days work if you appreciate someone’s work or thank him/her, you might just improve his mood, make him happy and relieve his frustration or tension to some extent. This would in turn prevent him from taking his frustration out on others which would eventually prevent many other bad tempers in your city or to be more precise around you.

Just think about this, if you can succeed in improving the moods of ten people, these ten people will in turn be nice to others they meet and the chain so formed will spread the happiness in your city. Your words of thankfulness and appreciation can actually make a difference to your city. You loose nothing by trying it out. So try it out…

SHAY all the Way...

Lovely story.. Before we start my question to all of you is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fund-raising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question "When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?" The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that child." Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much! The boy looked around for guidance and a few boys nodded approval, why not? So he took matters into his own hands and said, "We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning." Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted. of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.

All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay" Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet were screaming, Shay, run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team. That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into this world." Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people on your address list that aren't the appropriate ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who wrote this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that opportunity, leaving it and making the world a little colder in the process?

A wise man once said "every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them".

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