Story time

A story about an old dog half-asleep on the porch of the general store, moaning and groaning in the sun. "Why is your dog acting that way?" a customer asked the store owner. "Oh," answered the man, "he's lying on a nail." "Well, why doesn't he move?" "Because it's not hurting him bad enough."

Source: Slice of Life

Blfygal's comments: Suppressing the pain will accumulate the hurt, till you reach your limit to force yourself to take drastic measures. That's the typical human being behaviour. Sigh.

*****

One night a group of nomads were preparing to retire for the evening when suddenly they were surrounded by a great light. They knew they were in the presence of a celestial being. With great anticipation, they awaited a heavenly message of great importance that they knew must be especially for them.

Finally, the voice spoke, "Gather as many pebbles as you can. Put them in your saddle bags. Travel a day's journey and tomorrow night will find you glad and it will find you sad."

After having departed, the nomads shared their disappointment and anger with each other. They had expected the revelation of a great universal truth that would enable them to create wealth, health and purpose for the world. But instead they were given a menial task that made no sense to them at all. However, the memory of the brilliance of their visitor caused each one to pick up a few pebbles and deposit them in their saddle bags while voicing their displeasure.

They traveled a day's journey and that night while making camp, they reached into their saddle bags and discovered every pebble they had gathered had become a diamond. They were glad they had diamonds. They were sad they had not gathered more pebbles.

Source: An article written by John Wayne Schlatter, from the book "A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul".

Bflygal's comments: It seems that only human understand the concept of "not having". That is why they will go out and fight for what they do not have making them forever hungry in life. It is also the reason why they will never be satisfied with their lot and end up both glad and sad with their bag of diamonds.

*****

My primary four English teacher Mrs Yeo taught me this golden rule of always drawing a one-centimetre margin on the left-hand side of my exercise book. For the longest time, I wondered about this need to waste space, as I could have written more words, saved more paper and made my exercise book last longer if not for those margins. I really believed it was a silly rule but I reluctantly drew them anyway.

Fast forward 30 years. One day as I was tidying up my house, I found my primary school exercise book. As I flipped those pages of yore, I could not help but smile. There was something special about this book that made me treasure it. It was the margins. At every margin, Mrs Yeo would pen some encouraging words like, “I am happy that your ambition is to become a teacher”, “Interesting narration of a pencil-box life? love your ideas of giving birth to little baby pencils”, “You are the only boy whose best friend is a girl – keep it up”. Sometimes she would draw a star, a sad face, a smiley or just a simple tick to show her reaction to my statement.

I noticed a few pages on which I did not draw margins; there were no remarks. How I wish I had drawn them.

.....

I thought drawing those silly margins was a waste of space and was worried that my exercise book would not last the whole year. The fact was, the margins turned out to be the highlight of my book and by the end of the year the book was only three-quarters filled. Yes, I had worried for nothing. The worth of the exercise book is not measured by its length; it is measured by its content. Likewise, time is not measured by seconds; it is measured by the moments. I shall continue to create such moments by drawing those silly margins in my life!

Source: YAP TAT MING
Extracted from A Slice of Life

Bflygal's comments: Make allowances in your busy schedule to give you time to reflect. That is what I felt when a friend was telling me his weekly schedule yesterday. I felt there was no breather to self-reflect. But I also find that I self-reflect too much haha. Alright I will be busy soon...

*****

Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.

Source: Dark Knight

>> Bflygal's comments: I finally watched Dark Knight just to see that Edison 2 seconds fame haha. But I found out Lau is a Singaporean actor (Chin Han). Kudos! And Dark Knight is handsome.. sadly all these people can only be the angel in the background. Such is life.