A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a
The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country
hicks had no business at Harvard University and probably didn't even deserve to be in Cambridge University.
"We want to see the president," the man said softly.
"He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped.
"We'll wait," the lady replied.
For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would
finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't and the secretary grew
frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a
chore she always regretted.
"Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they'll
leave," she said to him.
He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance
obviously didn't have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham
dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.
The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the
couple.
The lady told him, "We had a son who attended Harvard University for one year. He loved Harvard University and he was happy here. But
about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to
erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus."
The president wasn't touched.... He was shocked.
"Madam," he said, gruffly, "we can't put up a
statue for every person who attended Harvard
University and died. If
we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
"Oh, no," the lady explained quickly. "We don't
want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard University."
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and
homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly
idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars
in the physical buildings here at Harvard
University."
For a moment the lady was silent.
The president was pleased. Maybe he could get rid of them now.
The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all
it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?"
Her husband nodded.
The president's face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. Mr. and
Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California
where they established the University that bears their name, Stanford
University, a memorial to a son that Harvard University no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat
those who they think can do nothing.
Islamic
Words of Wisdom: Lessons on life Don't be Judgemental, Dont judge too quickly
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not
to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go
and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in
the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son
in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to
describe what they had seen. The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent,
and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of
promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that
smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had
ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and
drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right,
because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them
that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the
essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that
life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.
If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your
spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall. Don't let the pain
of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one
difficult season. Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are
sure to come some time or later.
Islamic
Words of Wisdom: Proud Red Rose Dont judge too quickly, Don't be Judgemental
One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. Many
kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the red rose looked around, a pine
tree nearby said, "What a beautiful flower. I wish I was that
lovely." Another tree said, "Dear pine, do not be sad, we can not
have everything."
The rose turned its head and remarked, "It seems that I am
the most beautiful plant in this forest." A sunflower raised its yellow
head and asked, "Why do you say that? In this forest there are many
beautiful plants. You are just one of them." The red rose replied, "I
see everyone looking at me and admiring me." Then the red rose looked at a
cactus and said, "Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!" The pine
tree said, "Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty
is? You have thorns too."
The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, "I
thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You can not
compare my thorns to that of the cactus."
"What a proud flower", thought the trees.
The red rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it
could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and
say insulting things, like: This plant is useless? How sorry I am to be his
neighbor.
The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose,
saying, "God did not create any form of life without a purpose."
Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became
difficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water and no rain
fell. The red rose began to wilt. One day the red rose saw sparrows stick their
beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed. This was puzzling, and the
red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained
that the birds got water from the cactus. "Does it not hurt when they make
holes?" asked the red rose.
"Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds
suffer," replied the pine.
The red rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, "The cactus
has water?"
"Yes you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water
to you if you ask the cactus for help."
The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to
ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help.
The cactus kindly agreed and the birds filled their beaks with water and
watered the rose's roots. Thus the red rose learned a lesson and never judged
anyone by their appearance again.
Islamic
Words of Wisdom: Lessons on life Don't be Judgemental, Dont judge too quickly
A young lady was waiting for her flight in the boarding room of a
big airport. As she would need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to
spend her time. She also bought a packet of cookies.
She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP room of the airport, to
rest and read in peace. Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a
man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading.
When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also. She
felt irritated but said nothing. She just thought: "What a nerve! If I was
in the mood I would punch him for daring!"
For each cookie she took, the man took one too. This was
infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene. When only one cookie
remained, she thought: "ah... What this abusive man do now?" Then,
the man, taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half.
Ah! That was too much! She was much too angry now! In a huff, she
took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place. When she sat down
in her seat, inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her
eyeglasses, and to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched,
unopened!
She felt so ashamed! She realized that she was wrong... She had
forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse. The man had divided his
cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter.
"While she had been very angry, thinking that she was
dividing her cookies with him. And now there was no chance to explain herself,
nor to apologize."
There are 4 things that you cannot recover:
The stone... after the throw!
The word... palaver...after it's said!
The occasion...after the loss!
The time...after it's gone!
Islamic
Words of Wisdom: Never listen with a predetermined notion
A teacher teaching Math's to seven-year-old Kazim asked him,
"If I give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will
you have?" Within a few seconds Kazim replied confidently, "Four!"
The dismayed teacher was expecting an effortless correct answer
(three). She was disappointed. "Maybe the child did not listen
properly," she thought. She repeated, "Kazim, listen carefully. If I
give you one apple and one apple and one apple, how many apples will you
have?"
Kazim had seen the disappointment on his teacher's face. He
calculated again on his fingers. But within him he was also searching for the
answer that will make the teacher happy. His search for the answer was not for
the correct one, but the one that will make his teacher happy. This time
hesitatingly he replied, "Four..."
The disappointment stayed on the teacher's face. She remembered
that Kazim liked strawberries. She thought maybe he doesn't like apples and
that is making him loose focus. This time with an exaggerated excitement and
twinkling in her eyes she asked, "If I give you one strawberry and one
strawberry and one strawberry, then how many you will have?"
Seeing the teacher happy, young Kazim calculated on his fingers again.
There was no pressure on him, but a little on the teacher. She wanted her new
approach to succeed. With a hesitating smile young Kazim enquired,
"Three?"
The teacher now had a victorious smile. Her approach had
succeeded. She wanted to congratulate herself. But one last thing remained.
Once again she asked him, "Now if I give you one apple and one apple and
one more apple how many will you have?"
Promptly Kazim answered, "Four!"
The teacher was aghast. "How Kazim, how?" she demanded
in a little stern and irritated voice.
In a voice that was low and hesitating young Kazim replied,
"Because I already have one apple in my bag."
Moral of the Story: "When someone gives you an answer that is
different from what you expect don't think they are wrong. There maybe an angle
that you have not understood at all. You will have to listen and understand,
but never listen with a predetermined notion."
Islamic
Words of Wisdom: True Wealth (Different Perspectives)
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip
to the country with the purpose of showing his son how the poor people live so
he could be thankful for his wealth.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would
be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son,
"How was the trip?" "It was great, Dad." "Did you see
how poor people can be?" the father asked. "Oh yeah" said the
son. "So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.
The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had
four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a
creek that has no end." "We have imported lanterns in our garden and
they have the stars at night." "Our patio reaches to the front yard
and they have the whole horizon." "We have a small piece of land to
live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight." "We have
servants who serve us, but they serve others." "We buy our food, but
they grow theirs." "We have walls around our property to protect us,
they have friends to protect them."
With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added,
"Thanks dad for showing me how poor we are."
No comments:
Post a Comment