Happy New Year

I was reading a anecdote written by Bob Perks and thought it appropriate to start with my posts in the New Year.

"Time, faith and the love of my family and friends," he said. How wonderful. Somehow, from the moment we met, I knew we would connect. His response was perfect. His answer was mine.
It is that time of the year when we reflect back on accomplishments and failures. It is a wrapping up and an unfolding all in one.

The sentimental fool that I am keeps me deep in thought filling my days with mood swings easily compared to riding a roller coaster. Oddly, I love those ups and yes, even the downs. The happy thoughts remind me that life is good. The sad thoughts remind me that life is fragile. In the end I hope for more happy than sad, but still come out on top when the ball officially drops on New Year’s Eve, if I can at least find balance.

You may think this strange, too, when I say some of my best years turned out to be the years when I struggled, lost, failed and retreated into the darkness of that final night of the old year.
Job loss, car repossession, debt, divorce, a failed business, cancer in my family, death of loved ones, depression, all made life nearly unbearable. Still, the light of the new day, the new year, always seemed to be brighter than any other.
It was in falling down that I learned how to climb.
It was in losing that I learned how to win.
It was in struggling that I found strength.
It was in darkness that I learned to see again.
So, why was this man's response to me so perfect? This man had just lost his business. This man was struggling with finances, self-image, and hope. He was standing on the edge of a dismal past and desperately trying to see the possibilities in his future. Instead of dismissing everything as failure, he chose to acknowledge the most important parts.
I asked him, "If you could take something with you into the new year, what would it be?"
"Time, faith, the love of my family and friends," he said. "If I have time I can begin again. I can build again. I can start over. If I have faith, I know I cannot fail. If I have the love of my family and friends, I have purpose."

The Seed

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business. Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you.

"The young executives were shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO." One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Weeks went by, nothing grew. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure. Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues. He just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection. Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she asked him to be honest about what happened. Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room. When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful -- in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, and a few felt sorry for him!

When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives. Jim just tried to hide behind. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!" All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified. He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!" When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed - Jim told him the story.

The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "Behold your next Chief Executive Officer! His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.

"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said. Then the CEO replied, "One year ago this day, I gave everyone in this room a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow. All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who needs to be commended!"

* If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
* If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
* If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
* If you plant perseverance, you will reap contentment.
* If you plant consideration, you will reap perspective.
* If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
* If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
* If you plant faith in God , you will reap a harvest.

So, be careful what you plant now; it will determine what you will reap later. "Whatever You Give To Life, Life Gives You Back"

Unseen Hand

My brother was traveling with his family in a car from Delhi to Suraj Khand situated in the northern part of India. It was around 8 pm as they entered a forest path surrounded by a deep valley. There were no street lights and he was blinded by the headlights of the oncoming vehicles. He swerved at a certain bend to avoid collision and his car came to a screeching halt but precariously positioned overlooking the valley.

All of them inside the car were petrified and were wondering whether to get out or not, since any slight movement would tilt the balance. My brother decided to get out , aware of the risk, since something had to be done. He managed to come out and looked around for help to shift the car. From no where a huge burly man came and pushed the car to safety and disappeared. My brother wanted to thank him and called out … but of no avail. He was gone.

Another incident ….. It was a rainy day in Mumbai and the streets were completely flooded. My young daughter was wading through the water with her school bag on her head and to her dismay found that the water level had literally reached her neck. She was in tears and was imagining the worst. She suddenly noticed that an uncle came from behind, lifted her and left her in the foot path to safety. She turned back to thank the uncle. There was no uncle. She looked everywhere but there was no trace of the good Samaritan.

What else can these be attributed to, except the unseen hand of the DIVINE.

Hut is burning

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God 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 himself 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 and everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me?" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was wakened 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.

It's easy to get discouraged sometimes when things appear to be going badly. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God. For all the negative things we have to say to ourselves, God has positive answer for it. Pass this on, you never know whose life may be in need of this
today. Believe me, there are some weeks that we all feel our huts are burning.

In laws or Out laws

Recently, I had been to a clinic for my wife’s cataract surgery. Wife was a little tensed considering this was the first time in her life, she was being exposed to the surgeon’s knife. Oh! that’s rhyming – wife and knife, and both are sharp and cutting. I am taking the liberty since she can’t read at present what is being scribbled.

Now for the high drama at the clinic. An old lady was being escorted home after the surgery. We were in the reception and we saw the lady fall (plonk) down. Phew! She was accompanied by her husband, equally old, and her two daughter in laws (DIL’s). Efforts to pick her up were in vain since it was just not possible for the husband to do so alone. The DIL’s were mere spectators, and I was confident - it was intentional. The nurses and the doctors were summoned by the husband for the rescue act, and one of the DIL’s was busy chatting with a friend of hers. My mom in law (MIL) and I looked more concerned and lent a helping hand but were shooed away by the Durga Mata (Hindu Goddess who killed the demon) stares of the DIL’s.

The doctors rebuked the family for not following instructions .The old lady required rest, post anesthesia. Tring, tring …. the mobile rang and, once again, the DIL was at it explaining endlessly her helplessness to attend a kitty party that afternoon. More amusement followed. The mobile of the other DIL rang, and Gosh!, she was a super brat. Very much in her own world, she was talking about a recent hit song “Munni badnaam hui, darling tere liye”, and nearby in the sofa was the old lady with her head spinning. Looking at the happenings, I was too sure that one won’t require anesthesia with such DIL’s around.

My MIL was smiling, probably proud of her priced possession, her well behaved son in law. One good act deserves another. So I made a mental note that I should at least lift my MIL when she falls down.

Now I have to be careful about two people not reading this – my wife and my mother in law.

When insults had class - II

Some more for one's reading pleasure.

·'I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.' - Mark Twain
·'He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends.' - Oscar Wilde
·'I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a friend.... if you have one.' - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill'. Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second... if there is one.' - Winston Churchill, in response.
·'I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here.' - Stephen Bishop
·'He is a self-made man and worships his creator.' - John Bright
·'I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial.' - Irvin S. Cobb
.'He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others.' - Samuel Johnson
·'He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up.' - Paul Keating
.'There's nothing wrong with you that reincarnation won't cure.' Jack E. Leonard
·'He has the attention span of a lightning bolt.' - Robert Redford
·'They never open their mouths without subtracting from the sum of human knowledge.' - Thomas Brackett Reed
·'In order to avoid being called a flirt, she always yielded easily.' - Charles, Count Talleyrand.
·'He loves nature in spite of what it did to him.' - Forrest Tucker
·'Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?' - Mark Twain
·'His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork.' - Mae West ·'
.'Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.' - Oscar Wilde
·'He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts.. . for support rather than illumination. ' - Andrew Lang (1844-1912)
·'He has Van Gogh's ear for music.' - Billy Wilder
·'I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.' - Groucho Marx
.'Difference between " an accident " and " a calamity" - 'If my friend William Gladstone falls into river Thames, it's "an accident"; If he is rescued and survives, that'll be "a Calamity" for England' ! by Benjamin Disraeli

WHEN INSULTS HAD CLASS - I

When Insults had class. These glorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued....unlike now, where the art of the put-down and the come-back has been reduced to primarily questioning parentage and responding with descriptors of common bodily functions!
Have fun.

The exchange between Churchill &Lady Astor: She said, 'If you were my husband I'd give you poison,' and he said, 'If you were my wife, I'd gladly drink it.'
A member of Parliament to Disraeli: 'Sir, you will either die on the gallows or of some unspeakable disease.' 'That depends, Sir,' said Disraeli, 'whether I embrace your policies or your mistress.'
'He had delusions of adequacy.' - Walter Kerr
'He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire.' - Winston Churchill
'A modest little person, with much to be modest about.' - Winston Churchill
'I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure.' Clarence Darrow
'He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.' - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).
'Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?' - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)
'Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading it.' - Moses Hadas
'He can compress the most words into the smallest idea of any man I know.' - Abraham Lincoln