... Chicken Soup for the Soul ...

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There once was a farmer who owned a horse. And one day the horse ran away. All the people in the town came to console him because of the loss. "Oh, I don't know," said the farmer, "maybe it's a bad thing and maybe it's not."

A few days later, the horse returned to the farm accompanied by 20 other horses. (Apparently he had found some wild horses and made friends!) All the townspeople came to congratulate him ... "Now you have a stable full of horses" ... "Oh, I don't know," said the farmer, "maybe it's a good thing and maybe it's not."

A few days later, the farmer's son was out riding one of the new horses. The horse got wild and threw him off, breaking the son's leg. Naturally all the people in town came to console the farmer because of the accident. "Oh, I don't know," said the farmer, "maybe it's a bad thing and maybe it's not."

A few days later, the government declared war and instituted a draft of all able bodied young men. They came to the town and carted off hundreds of young men, except for the farmer's son who had a broken leg. "Now I know," said the farmer, "that it was a good thing my horse ran away."

The point of this story is obvious. Life is a series of events, and until we've reached the end of the series, it's hard to know exactly why things are happening ... That's one reason we should give respect to every elderly person - it is because through the course of life's experiences, they have seen the jigsaw puzzle pieces fall into place.

A bird watched his friends fly south for the winter. But the day was autumn warm and he couldn’t see the point of flying south when the weather was so lovely where he was. After a few weeks, the weather turned bitterly chilly and he knew he had to try to catch up to his friends. He started flying south but the higher he flew the colder it got and he began to freeze. He fell to the ground, and landed in a field. A cow came along took a dump on him and the dung actually started thawing him out. As he lay there all warm and happy he sang for joy. A passing cat, hearing the singing, promptly ate the bird. Moral:
1) Not everyone who drops sh*t on you is your enemy.
2) Not everyone who gets you out of sh*t is your friend.
3) And, when you're in deep sh*t, keep your mouth shut.

According to the theory of aerodynamics and as may be readily demonstrated through wind tunnel experiments, the bumblebee is unable to fly ... This is because the size, weight and shape of his body in relation to the total wingspread making flying impossible ... But the bumblebee, being ignorant of these scientific truths, goes ahead and flies anyway ... scratching my head ... it sure makes one wonder.

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for G-d to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.

But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.

The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "G-d, how could you do this to me ... how could You have forsaken me." he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him.

"How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers.

"We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

Remember next time your little hut is burning to the ground ... it just may be a smoke signal summoning the grace of G-d.

There once was a boy who had a temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. But over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive nails into the fence. Finally, the day came when he didn't lose his temper.

He told this to his father and his father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his anger ... The days passed and the boy told his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took the boy by the hand and led him to the fence ... He said look at the holes in the fence ... The fence will never be the same, when you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like the ones on the fence.

You can put a knife in a man, G-d forbid, and draw it out ... it won't matter how many times you say I am sorry, the wound is still there ... A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

There is a story of identical twins. One was a hope-filled optimist. "Everything is coming up roses!" he would say. The other twin was a sad and hopeless pessimist. He thought that Murphy, as in Murphy's Law, was an optimist. The worried parents of the boys brought them to the local psychologist.

He suggested to the parents a plan to balance the twins' personalities. "On their next birthday, put them in separate rooms to open their gifts. Give the pessimist the best toys you can afford, and give the optimist a box of manure." The parents followed these instructions and carefully observed the results.

When they peeked in on the pessimist, they heard him audibly complaining, "I don't like the color of this computer . . I'll bet this calculator will break . . . I don't like the game . . . I know someone who's got a bigger toy car than this . . ."

Tiptoeing across the corridor, the parents peeked in and saw their little optimist gleefully throwing the manure up in the air. He was giggling. "You can't fool me, where there's this much manure, there's gotta be a pony."

An ancient fable tells of G-d who was trying to decide where to hide the power of the universe so that man would not find it and use it destructively.

One angel said, "let us hide it on top of the highest mountain" ... But they decided that man would eventually scale the highest mountain and find this power.

Another angel said, "let us hide this power at the bottom of the sea." ... Again it was decided that man would eventually explore the depths of the sea.

Still a third angel suggested, "let us hide the great power of the universe in middle of the earth." ... But they realized that man would someday conquer that region, too.

Finally G-d said, "I know what to do. Let us hide the great power of the universe within man. He will never think to look for it there." According to the fable, they did hide the power of the universe within man, and it is still there.

Moral: Few people have ever realized that the great power of the universe lies within themselves .. that's right ... YOUR SUCCESS LIES WITHIN YOURSELF.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill ... In this room of 200, he asked ... "Who would like this $20 bill?" ... Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." ... He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up ... He then asked ... "Who still wants it?" ... Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied ... "what if I do this?" ... And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe ... He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty ... "Now who still wants it?" ... Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson ... No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, and that's because it did not decrease in value ... It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

Often we make right decisions, sometimes wrong decisions ... then we might feel as though we are worthless ... But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

What is it like to be raising a child with a disability? ... I've watched parents with such children, walking with them, caring for them ... and the question often came to mind ... I've heard the experience explained like this:

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy (or any other favorite vacations spots) ... You buy a bunch of guidebooks, and make wonderful plans ... You dream of seeing the Coliseum, the gondolas in Venice ... You learn some handy phrases in Italian ... It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives ... You pack your bags and off you go ... Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?" you exclaim ... "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for a trip for Italy ... I'm supposed to be in Italy. I have been dreaming about this for months."

"There has been a change in the flight plans," the stewardess says ... "They've landed in Holland, and there you must stay ... The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible place ... It's just a different place..."

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks ... And you must learn a whole new language ... And you will meet a whole group of people you would never have met ... It's a different plan ... It's slower paced than Italy ... less flashy ... But after you've been there for awhile and catch your breath, you look around, and begin to notice that Holland has windmills ... Holland has tulips.

The pain will remain, because the loss of a dream is a very significant loss ... But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you did not get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

Surely He could do everything himself. The Talmud relates a story of a Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa who saw a huge stone that he wanted to bring to the Temple. The stone was too big for him to move by himself and he could not afford to hire laborers to help him to move it. He saw a vision in which G-d told him: Push it with your little finger. Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa pushed the stone and he saw angels who helped him to move it to the Temple.

What is this story teaching us?

We frequently find ourselves facing overwhelming challenges. It is worthwhile to remember that all G-d is asking from us is that we push with our little finger. We have the ability to tap into the infinite, we just have to 'open the door' and do our best. When we do, we will find ourselves succeeding beyond our wildest dreams. With the help from Above, we are able to accomplish far more than we ever could by ourselves.

However, we have to make that first move, even if it is only a little push, to tap into the infinite, to bring down the Divine blessings into our everyday lives. Every one of us is a sanctuary, as the verse states, "And they shall build for me a Sanctuary and I will dwell in their midst" - in the midst of each and every one of them. By doing our part, we ensure that the spiritual and Divine find a dwelling place in the world below and in doing so, we uplift our own mundane actions and everyday lives.

A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule ... The mule fell into the farmer's well ... The farmer heard the mule 'braying' - or - whatever mules do when they fall into wells ... After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth the trouble of saving.

Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened ... and enlisted them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Now initially, the old mule was hysterical ... But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back ... a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back ...

"Shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up...shake it off and step up" he repeated to encourage himself ... No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on ...

And guess what ... it wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, STEPPED TRIUMPHANTLY OVER THE WALL OF THAT WELL ... What seemed like it would bury him, actually blessed him ... all because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

THAT'S LIFE ... If we face our problems and respond to them positively, and refuse to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity ... The adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and bless us.

A king was walking through the forest and he noticed that many of the trees were painted with bull's eyes. Unfailingly, within each bull's eye, there was an arrow. And some of the targets were painted in extremely challenging positions.

The king was so impressed by this display of archery, that he sent a search party out to find the archer. Up ahead, they discovered a 10-year old boy. The king asked incredulously, "Are you responsible for these bull's eyes?" "Yes," he replied..

The king then requested that the boy train all of his soldiers to shoot with the same accuracy. "It's really no big deal," the boy said. "Anyone can do it. I'll demonstrate for you now."

The boy took out an arrow, fired it into a tree, and then picked up a paintbrush and painted a target around the arrow.

Remember, the world is really a beautiful place, and every moment, it is to be treasured ... It is full of beauty, melody, and joy, and every human being is potentially beautiful, good, and capable of great joy. And how could it be otherwise, since the Creator put His divine signature on every person.

And so from this principle we learn that lamenting and despairing is something that should be alien to the human personality ... instead the ringing principle should be a joyful spirit, a cheerful demeanor, and a heart brimming over with hope, no matter how deep our afflictions.

Yield to an oncoming force in such a way that it is unable to harm you and at the same time, change its direction by pushing it from behind instead of attempting to resist it from the front. Never never go against your opponents strength, instead, redirect the strength away from you. You might even be able to use that force for some good ... APPLY SAME PRINCIPLE TO PROBLEMS THAT ARISE IN LIFE.

Well, what do we learn from all this? ... We learn from the two traveling angels that we never can see the entire picture ... contrary to what I said after "The Two Pockets," the world is not really ours ... we did not create it ... we do what we can.

And from The Big Picture, we realize that the old person sitting in the park is not to be taken for granted ... He or she has travelled many roads where you have not been ... has seen things that you have not seen ... and heard many things that you have not heard ... We can learn from everyone.

In all these stories, we learn that life is important ... that time counts ... that we have only so much of it. We also learn that we should accomplish, we are meant to accomplish ... and that life is good ... and that you should invest in your soul ... who knows, just think ... "It might be a diamond in the rough." ... something to treasure.

Or as Victor Hugo said, "There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul."
So take care of it ... it might have to answer some serious questions in time.

It might be asked, just for an example ... Where have you been? ... What have you been up to? ... What have you been doing? ... C'mon, you had all this time ... Have you accomplished anything in the time alloted to you? ... Just hanging out? ... Playing on the computer? ... Chatting? ... Ohhh, this is payback time ... No freebies here ... Your mission was accomplishment ... An accounting has to be made, and payment exacted.

By the way, regarding that "accomplishment" above ... there's a story that goes with that. Did you know that when Eve ... the first mother ... when she had her first child, Cain, the first word out of her mouth was ... "konici" (means, "I have acquired") ... of course that's a transliteration.

Cain ("Kayin" in Hebrew, from the root "Kanah") means to "gain" or "acquire." So her first word means ... "I have aquired" (meaning a child) ... something that never happened before ... That's where the name, Cain, comes from ... it could also mean "accomplish" ... So in Hebrew, the name, Cain, means ... "I have acquired", or "I have accomplished" ... Let's give that some thought ... it's worth a moment of your time.

Maybe we learn that our purpose in this world is, "to acquire or to accomplish" ... But to acquire or accomplish what? ... well, that's something else ... I won't bother you with that now ... But it sure is an interesting question, and worth thinking about.

The "Genie In You" (mentioned above), alludes to what is called, "the wellsprings of wisdom" ... the concept comes from an interesting story in the Jewish Talmud: It is told that while we are still in our mother's womb, the Almighty sends an angel to sit beside us and teach us all the wisdom we'll ever need to know about living. Then, just before we are born, the angel taps us under the nose ... which formed that indentation that everyone has. And we forget everything the angel taught us.

What lesson can such a story forever imbue in the psyche of a young child? That we can look inside ourselves to learn about life. Embedded deep in our consciousness is the knowledge about the purpose of creation, how to live, how to love, how to reach our potential. It's all there. We just need to make the effort to remember.

And speaking of "individual" and "uniqueness" Boogie Jack (forgive the name) has something to say about that. I'll quote from his site. While explaining the ins and outs of html coding (that's what his site is about and html coding is what goes on behind your webpage that makes a webpage look like a webpage), I've noticed that he also displays a certain sense of humor that I appreciate. No need to run now to visit his page unless you are interested in building a website. So he says:

"Know this about yourself that from the beginning of time to all eternity, there is and will always be only one you. Celebrate who you are, for no one can be you better than you can, and you can be no one else better than you can be yourself. That makes you very special indeed. You are far more rare than one-in-a-million. You ARE a singularly unique and wonderful person in a cosmic ocean of eternity. Think about that.

"I mean really think about that, and when you really understand you are that special you never have to play follow-the-leader. The "leader" you follow may not know where he or she is going, or may not be happy on their chosen path. Even if they are, their path is not your path. Being a first-rate you is always better than being a second-rate copy of someone else. You're a beautiful person. Be that person rather than trying to be like someone else. You can never succeed at being someone else; you can only succeed at being yourself."

I'll add a caveat here and say yes, be yourself, provided your self is set on doing what is absolutely good. So there I am, copying what he said on his site, and still committed to being a "first rate me" (if that is possible without some help from a higher source).

Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture and in every land as a means of entertainment, education, preservation of culture and in order to instill moral values. Crucial elements of stories and storytelling include plot and characters, as well as the narrative point of view.

The earliest forms of storytelling are thought to have been primarily oral combined with gestures and expressions. Rudimentary drawings scratched onto the walls of caves may be forms of early storytelling for many of the ancient cultures. The Australian Aborginal people painted symbols from the stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance. Ephemeral media such as sand, leaves, and the carved trunks of living trees have also been used to record stories in pictures or with writing.

The evolution of technology has changed the tools available to storytellers. With the advent of writing, the use of actual digit symbols to represent language, and the use of stable, portable media stories were recorded, transcribed and shared over wide regions of the world. Stories have been carved, scratched, painted, printed, or inked onto wood or bamboo, ivory and other bones, pottery, clay tablets, stone, palm-leaf books, skins (parchment), bark cloth, paper, silk, canvas and other textiles, recorded on film and stored electronically in digital form. Complex forms of tattooing may also represent stories, with information about genealogy, affiliation and social status.

Traditionally, oral stories were committed to memory and then passed from generation to generation. However, in the most recent past, written and televised media has largely surpassed this method communicating local, family and cultural histories.

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