An African Story

 

 

 

An anthropologist studying the habits and customs of an African tribe found himself surrounded by children most days. So he decided to play a little game with them. He managed to get candy from the nearest town, and put it all in a decorated basket at the foot of a tree.

Then he called the children and suggested they play a game. When the anthropologist said "Now!", the children had to run to th...e tree, and the first one to get there could have ALL the candy to himself/herself.

So the children all lined up waiting for the signal. When the anthropologist said "now", all of the children took each other by the hand ran together towards the tree. They all arrived at the same time, divided up the candy, sat down, and began to happily munch away.

The anthropologist went over to them and asked why they had all run together, when any one of them could have had the candy all to himself/herself.

The children responded: “Ubuntu”! How could any one of us be happy if all the others were sad?"

Ubuntu is a philosophy of African tribes that can be summed up as "I am what I am because of who we all are."



So many of you made a difference in my life

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a figure in the distance. As he got closer, he realized the figure was that of a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked "What are you doing ?". The boy replied "throwing a starfish into the ocean. The sun is up and the tide is going down. If i don't throw them back, they'll die".

"S...on" the man said "don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish ? You can't possibly make a difference?"

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, "I made a difference for that one".

So many of you made a difference in my life.

Jessica Rodriguez CTRTC - Yahoo



Cherokee Wisdom

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy. "It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too." The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?" The old Cherokee replied simply, "The one you feed." - Cherokee Wisdom

SOME PEOPLE ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE NEGATIVE

by Yasmine Buraik on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 10:25pm

 There was a hunter who bought a bird dog, the only one of its kind in the world. That

could walk on water . He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this miracle. At the

same time, he was very pleased that he could show off his new acquisition to his friends.

He invited a friend to go duck hunting. After some time, they shot a few ducks and the

man ordered his dog to run and fetch the birds. All day-long, the dog ran on water and

kept fetching the birds. The owner was expecting a comment or a compliment about his

amazing dog, but never got one. As they were returning home, he asked his friend if he

had noticed anything unusual about his dog. The friend replied, "Yes, in fact, I did notice 

something unusual. Your dog can't swim."

Some people always look at the negative side.

Who is pessimist? Pessimists

¨ are unhappy when they have no troubles to speak

¨ feel bad when they feel good, for fear they will feel worse when they feel

1. Look at the sunny side of everything.
2. Think only of the best, work only for the best, and expect only the best.
3. Be as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
4. Forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
5. Give everyone a smile.
6. Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others.

it is not the color of the balloon

by Yasmine Buraik on Wednesday, December 29, 2010 at 10:29pm

There was a man who made a living selling balloons at a fair. He had all colors of
balloons, including red, yellow, blue, and green. Whenever business was slow, he would
release a helium-filled balloon into the air and when the children saw it go up, they all
wanted to buy one. They would come up to him, buy a balloon, and his sales would go up
again. He continued this process all day. One day, he felt someone tugging at his jacket.
He turned around and saw a little boy who asked, "If you release a black balloon, would
that also fly?" Moved by the boy's concern, the man replied with empathy, "Son, it is not
the color of the balloon, it is what is inside that makes it go up."

The same thing applies to our lives. It is what is inside that counts. The thing inside of us
that makes us go up is our attitude.

We are All Gifted with Some Strengths

by Yasmine Buraik on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 8:27pm

Some animals in a forest decided to start a school. The students included a bird, a
squirrel, a fish, a dog , a rabbit & a mentally retarded eel. A board was formed and it was
decided that flying, tree climbing, swimming, and burrowing would be part of the
curriculum in order to give a broad-based education. All animals were required to take all
subjects.

The bird was excellent at flying and was getting A's but when it came to burrowing, it kept
breaking its beak and wings and started failing. Pretty soon, it started making C's in flying
and of course in tree climbing and swimming it was getting F's. The squirrel was great at
tree climbing and was getting A's, but was failing in swimming. The fish was the best
swimmer but couldn't get out of the water and got F's in everything else. The dog didn't
join the school, stopped paying taxes and kept fighting with the administration to include
barking as part of the curriculum. The rabbit got A's in burrowing but tree climbing was a
real problem. It kept falling and landing on its head, suffered brain damage, and soon
couldn't even burrow properly and got C's in that too.

The mentally retarded eel, who did everything half as well became the valedictorian of
the class. The board was happy because everybody was getting a broad-based
education.

What a broad-based education really means is that the student is prepared for life,
without losing their areas of specialization or competence.

We are All Gifted with Some Strengths