Values... What Values???

Recently high-school values clarification class conducted by a teacher in Teaneck, New Jersey. A girl in the class had found a purse containing $1,000 and returned it to its owner. The teacher asked for the class's reaction. Every single one of her fellow students concluded the girl had been foolish. Most of the students contended that if someone was careless, they should be punished. When the teacher was asked what he said to the students, he responded, "Well, of course, I didn't say anything. If I come from the position of what is right and what is wrong, then I'm not their counsellor. I can't impose my views."

If we do not learn values from our parents and teachers, who do we learn them from? And when they don't teach us values, we pick them up by default from television and other such undesirable sources. No wonder society gets messed up. The teacher such as in the example above is not only irresponsible with distorted values but does not deserve to be teaching our kids.

Through generations, some values have crystallized as eternal and universal, which give us our clear “do’s and don’ts”.

... But today there is a concept of relative values and relative principles. Today’s concept of relative values says, “Everything is OK. What’s right for me, may not be right for you.”

If values are subjective and they keep changing from person to person and situation-to-situation, then they are not values at all. or are they???

Story of a little ocean wave

The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand time. He's enjoying the wind and fresh air - until he notices the other waves in front of him crashing against the shore.

My God this is terrible, the wave says Look what's going to happen to me!

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, Why do you look so sad?

The first wave says, You don't understand! We're all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn't it terrible?

The second wave says, "No, you don't understand. You're not a wave, you're part of the ocean."

Food for your Brain:

• Have you ever faced the inevitable reality of the shore?
• What was the first wave's initial response to change?
• What negative things can come out of watching the other waves crash in front?
• What positive things can come out of watching the other waves crash in front?
• How different will the first wave be AFTER crashing on the shore?
• Who is this second wave guy?
• Why is he important?
• What does it mean to be part of the ocean?
• Do we human beings on this planet realize that we are all tiny particles of water drops in this ocean called humanity and we are a part of this wave called human civilization..?

THINK!
Take care to preserve yourself & to preserve humanity.

Don't change the World - Just change yourself

Once upon a time, there was a king who ruled a prosperous country. One day, he went for a trip to some distant areas of his country.

When he was back to his palace, he complained that his feet were very painful, because it was the first time that he went for such a long trip, and the road that he went through was very rough and stony. He then ordered his people to cover every road of the entire country with leather. Definitely, this would need thousands of cows' skin, and would cost a huge amount of money.

Then one of his wise servant dared himself to tell the king, "Why do you have to spend that unnecessary amount of money ? Why don't you just cut a little piece of leather to cover your feet?"

The king was surprised, but he later agreed to his suggestion, to make a "shoe" for himself.

There is actually a valuable lesson of life in this story: to make this world a happy place to live, you better change yourself - your heart; and not the world.

You Can Change Your Life


By changing your thinking, you can change your beliefs.
When you change your belief, you change your expectations.
When you change your expectations, you change your attitude.
When you change your attitude, you change your behaviour.
When you change your behavior, you change your performance.
When you change your performance, you change your life!

Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct

A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to carry him on his back across a river. "Are you Scorpion mad?" exclaimed the turtle. "You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown."

"My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "if I were to sting you, you would drown and I would go down with you. Now where is the logic in that?"

"You're right!" cried the turtle. "Hop on!" The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river gave the turtle a mighty sting. As they both sank to the bottom, the turtle resignedly said:

"Do you mind if I ask you something? You said there'd be no logic in your stinging me. Why did you do it?"

"It has nothing to do with logic," the drowning scorpion sadly replied. "It's just my character."

Basic Instinct 2

This girl finds a snake that pleads with her to place it in her winter coat because otherwise the snake will freeze. The girl goes "No your bite me blah blah blah". Anyway the girl eventually puts the snake in her jacket to keep it warm and she continues on her walk. Then she feels a sharp pain in her side, the snake drops out and begins to slither away. The girl say something like "Why? I took care of you, blah blah blah". The snake simply replies "You knew what I was when you found me".

Wings of a Bird

There is a fable about the way birds first got their wings. The story goes that initially they were made without them. Then God made the wings, set them down before the wingless birds, and said to them, "Take up these burdens and carry them."

The birds had sweet voices for singing, and lovely feathers that glistened in the sunshine, but they could not soar in the air. When asked to pick up the burdens that lay at their feet, they hesitated at first. Yet soon they obeyed, picked up the wings with their beaks, and set them on their shoulders to carry them. For a short time the load seemed heavy and difficult to bear, but soon, as they continued to carry the burden and to fold the wings over their hearts, the wings grew attached to their little bodies. They quickly discovered how to use them and were lifted by the wings high into the air. The weights had become wings.

This is a parable for us. We are the wingless birds, and our duties and tasks are the wings God uses to lift us up and carry us heavenward. We look at our burdens and heavy loads, and try to run from them, but if we will carry them and tie them to our hearts, they will become wings. And on them we can then rise and soar toward God.

The heavy burdens when lifted cheerfully with love in our hearts will surely become a blessing to us. God intends for our tasks to be our helpers; to refuse to bend our shoulders to carry a load is to miss the new opportunity for growth. No matter how overwhelming, any burden God has lovingly placed with His own hands on our shoulders is a blessing.