Stories for Introspection: True Friends

Horror gripped the heart of the World War II soldier as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the ‘no man’s land’ between the trenches to bring his fallen friend back. “You can go,” said the lieutenant, “but I don’t think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your life away.” The lieutenant’s advice did not matter, and the soldier went anyway. Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoist him onto his shoulder and bring him back to their company’s trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, and then looked kindly at his friend.

‘I told you it would not be worth it,” he said. “Your friend is dead and you are mortally wounded.” “It was worth it, though, sir,” said the soldier. “What do you mean; worth it?” responded the Lieutenant. “Your friend is dead”. “Yes, Sir,” the private answered. “But it was work it because when I got him, he was still alive and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, “Jim, I knew you would come.”

Many times in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not, really depend how you look at it. Take up all your courage and do something your heart tells you to do so, that you may not regret not doing it later on.

Courtesy: Yuva Bharati, February 2008

Anecdotes-3:

This is a thousand-year-old story from India.

It is about a farmer who has only one horse to pull his plow, and the horse runs away. His neighbours say, “That is terrible!”

The farmer says, “Maybe.”

The next day, he comes back with two horses. His neighbours says, “That is wonderful!”

“Maybe,” the farmer says.

His son tries to break the horses and ends up breaking his own leg. “Oh, that is horrible!”, the neighbours say.

“Maybe,” he says.

The next day, the army shows up to take all the men to war, but they can’t take his injured son. Now the neighbours say, “Oh, you are so lucky!”

What do you think his response is? Right: “Maybe.”

And the story goes on and on, as does life. If you believe in something, and it has not worked yet, maybe you are judging too soon. When you think you are in trouble, maybe you are not. Maybe it is only temporary.

Courtesy: “Notes from a Friend : A Quick and Simple Guide to Taking Charge of Your Life” by Anthony Robbins (By the way this is a wonderful book, everybody who wants to make his life fruitful should read it without fail!)

An African Old Saying

Every morning in Africa,

a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must outrun

the fastest lion

Or it will be killed.

Every morning in Africa,

a lion wakes up.

It knows it must run

faster than the slowest gazelle

Or it will starve.

It does not matter whether

You are a lion or a gazelle.

When the sun comes up,

you would better be running.

Anecdotes-2:

Frenchman Paul Hubert had served 21 years of his life sentence before it was discovered (in 1884) that he had been convicted of murdering himself!

Courtesy: Young India, Supplement to The Hindu (Date not available)

Anecdotes-1: Lost Soul

In his autobiography, Bishop Fulton Sheen tells of the time he got lost in Philadelphia while on his way to the Town Hall.

He stopped to ask some boys for directions and they told him how to get there. Then they wanted to know why he was going to the Town Hall.

“I am giving a lecture on heaven and how to get there,” said Sheen.

“You must be kidding,” said one small boy. “You don’t even know the way to the Town Hall!”

Young India, Supplement to The Hindu (Date not available)

An anecdote from Isaac Asimov’s Life

Isaac Asimov, one of the great science story writers, once wrote, “In 1939, at the age of 19, I wrote my first robot story. I had changed the world and I did not know it. In 1950, someone took my first nine robot stories and put them together in a book. A gentleman named, Joseph Engel Berger, read and was inspired with a life long desire to build robots. He has since become world’s leading manufacturer, installer and maintainer of these machines and he makes millions – He gives me all the credit but keeps the money.

Courtesy : Science Express