Rattletrap'83CR480
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- Oct 22, 2000
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The following stories and words of wisdom were collected while I was visiting StrangeCosmos.com. Please enjoy them as I did.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone at DRN and to all of America.
RatTrap
Inspirational Words - Stories and Quotes
Inspirational Words
Look, life isn't all laughs. Sometimes you find yourself in need of some inspiration, and perhaps a reminder about what's important in life. The items on this page serve that purpose for me.
The Farmer and His Corn
James Bender, in his book How to Talk Well (McGraw-Hill, 1994), relates the story of a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn." He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is in other dimensions. Those who choose to be at peace must help their neighbors to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.
The Harm is Taken Away
Take away your opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, "I have been harmed." Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," and the harm is taken away. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)
Thoughts to Ponder
"The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree I planted." (George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron)
"To escape criticism--do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." (Elbert Hubbard)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." (Eric Hoffer)
"Endurance is frequently a form of indecision." (Princess Elizabeth Bibesco)
"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities." (Sophocles)
"You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within." (Bob Nelson)
"To think is to say no." (Emile Auguste Chartier)
"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." (Sir Francis Bacon)
"A wise man knows everything; a shrewd man, everyone." (Anonymous)
"All our final resolutions are made in a state of mind which is not going to last." (Marcel Proust)
"The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything." (Johann Wolfgang van Goethe)
"The mind's direction is more important than its progress." (Joseph Joubert)
What Goes Around
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill. The question you have to ask is what if the farmer would have taken money instead?
Thoughts on Generosity
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." (John Wesley)
"No person has ever been honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." (Calvin Coolidge)
"We get to make a living; we give to make a life." (Winston Churchill)
"To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it." (Mother Teresa)
"We should give as we would receive; cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation, for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers." (Seneca)
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." (Loretta Scott)
"Sharing what you have is more important than what you have." (Albert M. Wells, Jr.)
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." (Buddha)
"We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest." (Orison Swett Marden)
"He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much." (Lao-Tzu)
"One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want." (The Bible, Proverbs)
"He who bestows his goods upon the poor shall have as much again, and 10 times more." (John Bunyan)
"Giving opens the way for receiving." (Florence Scovel Shinn)
Want to renew your connection with your own boundless generosity? Consider "adopting" a child. Check out this great opportunity to make a profound difference in the world. Click here.
Generosity of Time
With a timid voice and idolizing eyes, the little boy greeted his father as he returned from work, "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" Greatly surprised, but giving his boy a glaring look, the father said: "Look, son, not even your mother knows that. Don't bother me now, I'm tired." "But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour, " the boy insisted. The father, finally giving up, replied: "Twenty dollars per hour." "Okay, Daddy? Could you loan me ten dollars?" the boy asked. Showing his restlessness and positively disturbed, the father yelled: "So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Go to sleep and don't bother me anymore!" It was already dark and the father was meditating on what he said and was feeling guilty? Maybe he thought, his son wanted to buy something. Finally, trying to ease his mind, the father went to his son's room. "Are you asleep, son?" asked the father. "No, Daddy. Why?" replied the boy, partially asleep. "Here's the money you asked for earlier," the father said. "Thanks, Daddy!" rejoiced the son, while putting his hand under his pillow and removing some money. "Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!" the boy said to his father, who was gazing at his son, confused at what his son had just said. "Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?" Time is too precious to spend it all on work. Appreciate your love ones and don't take them for granted.
Attitude
I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress, it alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream to extreme, no challenge too great.
But What Then?
An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while, senor." The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor." The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat, with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise." The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "Fifteeen to twenty years." "But what then, senor?" The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." "Millions, senor? Then what?" The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
Promise Yourself
Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of things and make your dreams come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best. To be just as happy about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater things of the future. To wear a cheerful smile at all times. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
The House We Build
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well. So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently. Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone at DRN and to all of America.
RatTrap
Inspirational Words - Stories and Quotes
Inspirational Words
Look, life isn't all laughs. Sometimes you find yourself in need of some inspiration, and perhaps a reminder about what's important in life. The items on this page serve that purpose for me.
The Farmer and His Corn
James Bender, in his book How to Talk Well (McGraw-Hill, 1994), relates the story of a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors. "How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked. "Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn." He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves. So it is in other dimensions. Those who choose to be at peace must help their neighbors to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn.
The Harm is Taken Away
Take away your opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, "I have been harmed." Take away the complaint, "I have been harmed," and the harm is taken away. (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)
Thoughts to Ponder
"The thorns which I have reaped are of the tree I planted." (George Noel Gordon, Lord Byron)
"To escape criticism--do nothing, say nothing, be nothing." (Elbert Hubbard)
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." (Eric Hoffer)
"Endurance is frequently a form of indecision." (Princess Elizabeth Bibesco)
"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities." (Sophocles)
"You get the best effort from others not by lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within." (Bob Nelson)
"To think is to say no." (Emile Auguste Chartier)
"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." (Sir Francis Bacon)
"A wise man knows everything; a shrewd man, everyone." (Anonymous)
"All our final resolutions are made in a state of mind which is not going to last." (Marcel Proust)
"The intelligent man finds almost everything ridiculous, the sensible man hardly anything." (Johann Wolfgang van Goethe)
"The mind's direction is more important than its progress." (Joseph Joubert)
What Goes Around
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly. "I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of." And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill. The question you have to ask is what if the farmer would have taken money instead?
Thoughts on Generosity
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." (John Wesley)
"No person has ever been honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave." (Calvin Coolidge)
"We get to make a living; we give to make a life." (Winston Churchill)
"To keep a lamp burning we have to keep putting oil in it." (Mother Teresa)
"We should give as we would receive; cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation, for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers." (Seneca)
"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." (Loretta Scott)
"Sharing what you have is more important than what you have." (Albert M. Wells, Jr.)
"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." (Buddha)
"We must give more in order to get more. It is the generous giving of ourselves that produces the generous harvest." (Orison Swett Marden)
"He who obtains has little. He who scatters has much." (Lao-Tzu)
"One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want." (The Bible, Proverbs)
"He who bestows his goods upon the poor shall have as much again, and 10 times more." (John Bunyan)
"Giving opens the way for receiving." (Florence Scovel Shinn)
Want to renew your connection with your own boundless generosity? Consider "adopting" a child. Check out this great opportunity to make a profound difference in the world. Click here.
Generosity of Time
With a timid voice and idolizing eyes, the little boy greeted his father as he returned from work, "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?" Greatly surprised, but giving his boy a glaring look, the father said: "Look, son, not even your mother knows that. Don't bother me now, I'm tired." "But Daddy, just tell me please! How much do you make an hour, " the boy insisted. The father, finally giving up, replied: "Twenty dollars per hour." "Okay, Daddy? Could you loan me ten dollars?" the boy asked. Showing his restlessness and positively disturbed, the father yelled: "So that was the reason you asked how much I earn, right? Go to sleep and don't bother me anymore!" It was already dark and the father was meditating on what he said and was feeling guilty? Maybe he thought, his son wanted to buy something. Finally, trying to ease his mind, the father went to his son's room. "Are you asleep, son?" asked the father. "No, Daddy. Why?" replied the boy, partially asleep. "Here's the money you asked for earlier," the father said. "Thanks, Daddy!" rejoiced the son, while putting his hand under his pillow and removing some money. "Now I have enough! Now I have twenty dollars!" the boy said to his father, who was gazing at his son, confused at what his son had just said. "Daddy, could you sell me one hour of your time?" Time is too precious to spend it all on work. Appreciate your love ones and don't take them for granted.
Attitude
I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress, it alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream to extreme, no challenge too great.
But What Then?
An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "Only a little while, senor." The American then asked, "Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more fish?" The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?" The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor." The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat, with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise." The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "Fifteeen to twenty years." "But what then, senor?" The American laughed and said, "That's the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions." "Millions, senor? Then what?" The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."
Promise Yourself
Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet. To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. To look at the sunny side of things and make your dreams come true. To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and expect only the best. To be just as happy about the success of others as you are about your own. To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater things of the future. To wear a cheerful smile at all times. To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
The House We Build
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well. So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently. Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.