Winning is not Everything

It was a sports stadium.

Eight Children were standing on the track to participate in the running event. * Ready! * Steady! * Bang!!!

With the sound of Toy pistol, all eight Kids started running. Hardly have they covered ten to fifteen steps, one of the smaller girls slipped and fell down, due to bruises and pain she started crying. When other kids heard this sound, stopped running, stood for a while and turned back, they all ran back to the place where the girl fell down. One among them bent, picked and kissed the girl gently and enquired 'Now pain must have reduced'. All kids lifted the fallen girl, pacified her, two of them held the girl firmly and they all seven joined hands together and walked together and reached the winning post. Officials were shocked. Clapping of thousands of spectators filled the stadium. Many eyes were filled with tears and perhaps it had reached the GOD even! YES.

This happened in Hyderabad [INDIA], recently! The sport was conducted by National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH]. All these special Kids had come to participate in this event and they are spastic children. Yes, they were mentally retarded.

What did they teach this world? Teamwork! Humanity!! Equality!!! and LOVE!!!!

Successful people help others who are slow in learning so that they are not left far behind.

Thoughts to Ponder: Winning is not everything. Everybody has a desire to be the top and be the best, and it comes to us naturally because we do not want to face failure, or be ranked as the bottom few. Winning not only brings mental satisfaction, but also boosts our confidence and proves our ability which encourages us to improve. Winning is the result of our efforts !

However, if the effort is not the full commitment from oneself but through an approach that is against moral values, the victory is of no value. The process is the most important learning to enable us to not only win once, but keep winning. Human values such as humanity, compassion, kindness should not be forgotten. Sometimes, failure is vital to prevent arrogance and allow us to reflect ourselves. At the same time, we learn to accept failure and pull oneself together. Therefore we should not see winning as everything !

The house with the golden windows

The little girl lived in a small, very simple, poor house on a hill and as she grew she would play in the small garden and as she grew she was able to see over the garden fence and across the valley to a wonderful house high on the hill - and this house had golden windows, so golden and shining that the little girl would dream of how magic it would be to grow up and live in a house with golden windows instead of an ordinary house like hers.

And although she loved her parents and her family, she yearned to live in such a golden house and dreamed all day about how wonderful and exciting it must feel to live there.

When she got to an age where she gained enough skill and sensibility to go outside her garden fence, she asked her mother is she could go for a bike ride outside the gate and down the lane. After pleading with her, her mother finally allowed her to go, insisting that she kept close to the house and didn't wander too far. The day was beautiful and the little girl knew exactly where she was heading! Down the lane and across the valley, she rode her bike until she got to the gate of the golden house across on the other hill.

As she dismounted her bike and lent it against the gate post, she focused on the path that lead to the house and then on the house itself...and was so disappointed as she realised all the windows were plain and rather dirty, reflecting nothing other than the sad neglect of the house that stood derelict.

So sad she didn't go any further and turned, heart broken as she remounted her bike ... As she glanced up she saw a sight to amaze her...there across the way on her side of the valley was a little house and its windows glistened golden ...as the sun shone on her little home.

She realised that she had been living in her golden house and all the love and care she found there was what made her home the 'golden house'. Everything she dreamed was right there in front of her nose!

Russell H. Conwell tells a similar story about a farmer in Africa who heard about people getting rich finding diamonds. So, he sold his farm and spent his life searching for diamonds. Meanwhile, the man who purchased his farm was one day out by the river and saw a stone sparkle in the sun. He picked it up and brought it home. Later a visitor commented on the beautiful stone and suggested that it might be a diamond. “Couldn’t be,” the man said, “my stream bottom is filled with such stones.” Well, you guessed it, the farmer’s land turned out to contain one of the largest, most productive diamond mines in history. This farmer searched everywhere looking for diamonds, when he already owned acres of diamonds. He just didn’t look in his own back yard.

Thought to Ponder:

            When things get difficult, we tend to look at other people and assume that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. When viewed from a distance, their opportunities often look richer, their problems seem fewer, and success looks easier. The temptation is to run here and there looking for better, easier opportunities. We sometimes wishfully look at other people and wish things were that easy for us. But, it is often an illusion.Prepare the ground, enrich the soil, nurture and water the grass until it thrives. Put your time, energy and effort into making your current opportunities blossom into success. When things get a little tough, resist the temptation to immediately look elsewhere for opportunities and the prospect of easier success. Focus your energy on thriving where you stand. Look for opportunities that you may already have, but might not have recognized. Rise to the top in whatever situation you find yourself. From there, you will be able to more clearly discern the true color of the grass.

The secret of happiness

A shopkeeper once sent his son to learn about the secret of happiness from the wisest man in the world. The young lad wandered through the desert for 40 days, and finally came upon a beautiful castle, atop a mountain. It was there that the wise man lived.

Rather than finding a saintly man, though, our hero, on entering the main room of the castle, saw a hive of activity: tradesmen came and went, people were conversing in the corners, a small orchestra was playing soft music, and there was a table covered with platters of the most delicious food in that part of the world. The wise man conversed with everyone, and the boy had to wait for two hours before it was his turn to be given the man's attention.

The wise man listened attentively to the boy's explanation of why he had come, but told him that he didn't have time just then to explain the secret of happiness. He suggested that the boy look around the palace and return in two hours. "Meanwhile, I want to ask you to do something", said the wise man, handing the boy a teaspoon that held two drops of oil. "As you wander around, carry this spoon with you without allowing the oil to spill".

The boy began climbing and descending the many stairways of the palace, keeping his eyes fixed on the spoon. After two hours, he returned to the room where the wise man was. "Well", asked the wise man, "Did you see the Persian tapestries that are hanging in my dining hall? Did you see the garden that it took the master gardener ten years to create? Did you notice the beautiful parchments in my library?" The boy was embarrassed, and confessed that he had observed nothing. His only concern had been not to spill the oil that the wise man had entrusted to him. "Then go back and observe the marvels of my world", said the wise man. "You cannot trust a man if you don't know his house". Relieved, the boy picked up the spoon and returned to his exploration of the palace, this time observing all of the works of art on the ceilings and the walls. He saw the gardens, the mountains all around him, the beauty of the flowers, and the taste with which everything had been selected. Upon returning to the wise man, he related in detail everything he had seen. "But where are the drops of oil I entrusted to you?" asked the wise man. Looking down at the spoon he held, the boy saw that the oil was gone.

"Well, there is only one piece of advice I can give you", said the wisest of wise men. "The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon".

Moral: Enjoy all the things in the world but never to forget your happiness which is in your hands. The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything. To live a glorious life you don’t have to have everything that a person may desire, you just have to be able to make the best out of each situation.

Beautiful Woman

It was pouring heavily on a Sunday evening, with lightning and thunderstorms. The streets wore a deserted look with the roads being flooded with rains, that lashed heavily across the city.

A feeble lady, carrying a child in her arms, was trying to scurry for shelter. The child in her arms was bleeding due to a head injury. With no help around, as the lady held the child in her arms trying to cover him from the piercing rains, her heart bled, her eyes were filled with tears, her lips were desperately praying to god to save her child. She wandered around all streets, carrying the child, trying to look for help, but in vain, as the hospitals were closed on Sundays. The child continued to bleed drenching the clothes of the lady, who tried to cover it with her hands. With her un-shakable belief in god, she continued looking around for someone, who could save her child’s life. The rains continued mercilessly adding to her woes.

Fortunately, there was a doctor, who stepped out after a day’s work, which caught the attention of the lady, who pleaded with the doctor to treat her injured child. The doctor immediately administered first aid and treated the child. The lady agonized with the unbearable pain, which the child underwent. She continuously offered solace to her kid who was looking at her with anguish in his eyes. Her joy grew no bounds, when the child was soon back to normal. She profusely thanked the doctor for saving her child’s life blessing him, and thanking the almighty for being by her. She hugged the child with immense happiness and kissed his forehead.

Women is the treasure of love and care and a unique and beautiful creation of God. All of us, no matter how big or how small, whether male or female -- we all owe our lives to a WOMAN!

"Happy Women's Day to all,youre one of the Gods Beautiful Creation"

This is a true incident.