The Story of the Pencil
A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked : ' Are you writing a story about what we've done ? Is it a story about me? '
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson : ' I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I'm using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.'
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn't seem very special.
'But it's just like any other pencil I've ever seen!'
'That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.
'First quality : you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.
'Second quality : now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he's much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
'Third quality : the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.
'Fourth quality : what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.
'Finally, the pencil's fifth quality : it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.
- As written by Paulo Coelho in his book
"Like the flowing river" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Applause Please!!* for this beautiful piece. Paulo Coelho, my all time favourite author, once again leaves me jaw-opened with this piece. I term his writing as "serene" and "pure". He is the writer, who taught me how to read signs, how to trust in life, and "maktub" - It's written - a belief in destiny and a greater belief in God. My thinking took on a new dimension and ever since I read this, I've been pestering every bookish person I met to read this piece. The extent of truth portrayed with such an aura of simplicity still baffles me... I took some time in typing this from the book, verbatim..I just thought I had to spread this message. Hence this post... :-) :-) A great excuse for contemplation... Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did.
My favorites of Paulo's :
Maktub,it's written - "The Alchemist"
Love Simply Is - "The Witch of Porto Bello"
Good and Evil - " The Devil and Miss Prym"
unique=Mad? ! - "Veronica decides to Die"
Perennial Thoughts - "Like a flowing river "
In search of true Love - "The Zahir"
My Dad told me this, when we were into a politically non-conflicting religious discussion. I don't know who quoted this...
"For those who believe in God, no explanation is necessary... For those who do not believe in God, no explanation is possible...! " [I again go :O :O :O Whoa!! :P ;-) ]
P.S : There was no "This story is from Paulo's Book" and people who have read it already can skip it if you like, at the top, because, I knew quite well that people who have already read it, won't mind reading it fully, a second(nth?) time. . . ;-) :-) :-) Bliss ? ? Of course it is... !~!
- s()MS!e
Friday, November 7, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Coffee? No please..!! :)
Every time I think of something interesting to blog about, something or the other keeps coming up,to an extent of making me forget what had initially set off my writing sensitivities. . . This morning, one such incident happened. But this time, not letting the other things come in between, I decided to blog under an ASAP Code.Here I go....
The title suggests that this post has something to do with the following things :
1.Coffee
2."NO"
3.The person saying a "NO"
4.The person saying a "NO" with a "Please" tailing behind
5.And the reason behind the "NO", with or without the tail.
Before I drive a few of my readers "crazy" and a few"crazier", let me start off with what's bothering me this time, that I'm here to give a new post in this entirely new blogosphere :) :). The Idea of "Polite" Refusal is what is bothering me...This might give an impression to a few that I'm fast approaching the insanity threshold.Maybe you're right, but no one's stopping me from saying what I got to say.. ;-)
Ever since I was a kid,the first lie I was made to utter was "say no,when your heart and mind correlate for once,prompting you to say an YES..! For instance, an aunt in a flowery Saree came up to me and asked me if I would like some juice. It was something like a silent prayer answered, when my heart prompted me to say "yes please", but the dagger throws from mom made me refuse with the "tail" attached. Its not about whether I wanted the juice very badly or not. It's just that for a person who doesn't really want the juice, the NO would be meaningless, as the many aunties in the flowery ^(power) infinity sarees would naturally assume that the person was just being formal.Think about it! The next minute you end up hearing a cackling laugh coming up from the kitchen, followed by a shrill voice commanding you to take it, and stop being so formal . So whether or not, a person really wants what is being offered, he/she has to struggle a bit before making them understand the "real NO". Wouldn't it have been easier if there was no such concept as "Polite refusal", that people were allowed to speak their mind and say yes or no as and when they felt it coming and not out of a forceful , most probably reversible outcome? And most importantly, not being mistaken for "the first time YES", which happens to be the underlying thought behind this post. I don't think anyone "normal" has ever given it a thought. So..what's going on ? ? ? Why does this refuse to leave my head? ???
Note :
Any theories are welcome in the comment section , as long as they don't end up confusing me even more. Sorry if my first post in this blog itself left you all scratchin' your heads away... :)
*Apologies!*
The title suggests that this post has something to do with the following things :
1.Coffee
2."NO"
3.The person saying a "NO"
4.The person saying a "NO" with a "Please" tailing behind
5.And the reason behind the "NO", with or without the tail.
Before I drive a few of my readers "crazy" and a few"crazier", let me start off with what's bothering me this time, that I'm here to give a new post in this entirely new blogosphere :) :). The Idea of "Polite" Refusal is what is bothering me...This might give an impression to a few that I'm fast approaching the insanity threshold.Maybe you're right, but no one's stopping me from saying what I got to say.. ;-)
Ever since I was a kid,the first lie I was made to utter was "say no,when your heart and mind correlate for once,prompting you to say an YES..! For instance, an aunt in a flowery Saree came up to me and asked me if I would like some juice. It was something like a silent prayer answered, when my heart prompted me to say "yes please", but the dagger throws from mom made me refuse with the "tail" attached. Its not about whether I wanted the juice very badly or not. It's just that for a person who doesn't really want the juice, the NO would be meaningless, as the many aunties in the flowery ^(power) infinity sarees would naturally assume that the person was just being formal.Think about it! The next minute you end up hearing a cackling laugh coming up from the kitchen, followed by a shrill voice commanding you to take it, and stop being so formal . So whether or not, a person really wants what is being offered, he/she has to struggle a bit before making them understand the "real NO". Wouldn't it have been easier if there was no such concept as "Polite refusal", that people were allowed to speak their mind and say yes or no as and when they felt it coming and not out of a forceful , most probably reversible outcome? And most importantly, not being mistaken for "the first time YES", which happens to be the underlying thought behind this post. I don't think anyone "normal" has ever given it a thought. So..what's going on ? ? ? Why does this refuse to leave my head? ???
Note :
Any theories are welcome in the comment section , as long as they don't end up confusing me even more. Sorry if my first post in this blog itself left you all scratchin' your heads away... :)
*Apologies!*
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)