41

What a whetstone is for knife,
so are books for the mind.

- George R.R. Martin -
in A Game of Thrones

The importance of books in our life is highlighted here. Just like a knife being kept sharp by the whetstone, books play a big role in keeping our mind sharp.

Books carry extraordinary ideas, thoughts, knowledge and messages in them. These messages are assimilated by the mind and it refreshes the mind.

Books can energise the mind and keep it sharp. It sets the mind on the path of thinking. And a thinking mind, will come up with a lot of ideas that can help itself and also others. So, books play a big role in realising the potential of the mind.

42

If you have one true friend,
you have more than your share.

- Thomas Fuller -

True friends are very precious and rare in this world.

One of the most difficult things in this world is to actually find good friends.

We may have a lot of friends in our life, but not all of them will be true friends. Most friendships will be based on some benefit that people derive from it.

And the moment the benefits stop, the friendship also ceases to exist. We usually figure out our real friends in our moments of difficulties. True friends stand by us and false friends leave us. And that is the only occasion we can figure out, who is our real friend.

And we are blessed if we have even one true friend in our life. Since true friends are so rare and difficult to find. The following story from internet highlights the beauty of true friends:

True Friends
Horror gripped the heart of the World War I 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 commander if he might go out into the “no man’s land” between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back.

“You can go,” said the commander, “but i don’t think it will be worth it.

Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your life away.” The commander’s advice didn’t 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 commander checked the wounded soldier, and then looked kindly at his friend.

“I told you it wouldn’t 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 commander.
“Your friend is dead.”

“Yes, Sir” he answered. “But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive and he said, “ Jim, I knew you’d come.”

Many times in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not, really depends on 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 in your life!

43

The harder the conflict,
the more glorious the triumph.

- Thomas Paine -

Thomas Paine captures the glory of difficult achievements in this quote.

We all pursue different goals in our lives and some of them are easy and some of them are difficult.

The difficult goals require a great deal of effort and sacrifice. And more difficult the goal is, greater is the satisfaction we get, when we reach the goal. And the benefits we get are also equally greater.

So, do not get disheartened when pursuing difficult goals. Keep your focus and work hard and one day you are sure to reach the goal, and the taste of victory will be far sweeter than anything else.

44

Sometimes, things may appear
to be falling apart,
but in reality, they are falling in place.

- Source: Internet -

We should understand that the difficult times that we go through in our lives will change our life for the better.

Some difficulties arise to teach us valuable lessons in life. And some difficulties arise to make us strong. And there are times when the difficult situation may look like it is breaking our life apart. But in reality, they are rearranging things in a way that it will make your life far better.

We probably won’t realise it when the events are happening, but we can understand them better when we look back at them later.

So, not all difficult situations are actually tearing our life apart. In fact they are actually building it in a better way.

45

If not us, then who,
if not now, then when.

- John E Lewis -

John Lewis highlights the importance of change, which the world needs badly.

As citizens of this world, it is our responsibility to ensure that justice, equality and goodness prevail in this world.

Every human being should be able to live a life of dignity and honour. And everybody should be given opportunities to live a decent life. Poverty and hunger have to eradicated. The gap between the rich and poor have to be bridged. Diseases have to be cured. Nature has to be preserved and protected.

And it is our duty to make a world that is just and equal to all its citizens.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “there is enough on earth for everyone’s need, but there is not enough for everyone’s greed”.

So, we need to change the world, so that equality and justice prevail and everyone gets a chance at living a decent life. And the time to do that is right now and the people who should do that are us. This is a social responsibility of every citizen of this world and we have to fulfil that.

46

The ultimate measure of a man
is not where he stands in moments of
comfort and convenience,

but where he stands at times of
challenge and controversy.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. -

This is a classic quote that tells us how we can judge the character of a man.

Most of the times, we support people or causes, as long as it does not affect our life.

But the moment our support or stand begins to affect our life or create problems and hardships for us, we will immediately back out.

We are not willing to do the right thing, if doing the right thing is going to get us into trouble or create problems for us.

So, our support for any cause is extended only when it does not affect our life. But people with real character will not back out even if their support to a just cause brings hardships in their life.

They do the right thing, no matter what consequences they have to face on account of that.

It is easy to take a convenient stand. But taking an inconvenient stand is the real test for a man. And that is the true measure of a man. It is the true indicator of their character and courage.

47

The happiest people always evaluate
and keep improving themselves.

The unhappy people are always
evaluating and judging others.

- Source: Internet -

Attitude and approach play a big role in determining the happiness in our life.

The happiest people are those who are constantly trying to improve themselves and become better. They do not spend time on judging others or finding fault with other's behaviour.

They do not complain about the problems in life and are instead trying to find a solution to the problems.

The unhappy ones are always evaluating and judging others. They find faults with others and are totally oblivious of their own faults. They are constantly in complaint mode and do not realise that they have room for improvement and should be working towards that.

The attitude makes all the difference in people. The ones who are constantly improving are always happy and the ones who are complaining are always unhappy.

So, always try to make efforts to become better at what you do and to become a better person. That will surely bring happiness in our lives.

48

Live with Gratitude

- Source: Internet -

This simple quote highlights the most profound concept in our life.

We all worry a lot about our problems and we tend to forget the things that we already have in our life. We do not appreciate the good things that are already there in our lives and take them for granted.

In our mad rush for more material comforts, we forget the blessings we are already enjoying in our life.

If we reflect for a moment, we will realise how things could have been far worse and how we should be thanking God for all the problems we do not have.

Always, remember to be grateful for the good things that are already there in our life.

The following story from internet highlights this message:

The Old Fisherman
Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic.

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. “Why, he’s hardly taller than my eight year-old,” I thought as I stared at the stooped, shrivelled body.

But the appalling thing was his face – lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, “Good evening, I’ve come to see if you’ve a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there’s no bus ’til morning.”

He told me he’d been hunting for a room since noon but with no success, no one seemed to have a room.

“I guess it’s my face…I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments…”

For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me: “I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.” I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper.

When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us.

“No thank you. I have plenty.” And he held up a brown paper bag.

When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn’t take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body.

He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.

He didn’t tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was prefaced with a thanks to God for a blessing.

He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.

At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the spare room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, “Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment?"

" I won’t put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair.” He paused a moment and then added, “Your children made me feel at home. Grown-ups are bothered by my face, but children don’t seem to mind.”

I told him he was welcome to come again. And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they’d be nice and fresh.

I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us. In the years he came to stay overnight with us, there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.

Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed.

Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had, made the gifts doubly precious.

When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbour made after he left that first morning. “Did you keep that awful looking man last night?"

"I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!” Maybe, we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.

Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms.

But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, “If this were my plant, I’d put it in the loveliest container I had!” My friend changed my mind.

“I ran short of pots,” she explained, “and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn’t mind starting out in this old pail."

"It’s just for a little while, till I can put it out in the garden.” She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining just such a scene in heaven.

“Here’s an especially beautiful one,” God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman.

“He won’t mind starting in this small body.” All this happened long ago and now, in God’s garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

49

We make a living by what we get,
but we make a life by what we give.

- Winston Churchill -

Churchill tells us here, how we can make our life meaningful and fruitful. Whatever money we earn will help us to sustain our life. We can fulfil our needs and our family’s needs.

And that is a normal life that every one of us live. We focus on our needs and how to fulfil them.

But to live a meaningful life, we should also try to help the needy people and others who need support and care. We can help them monetarily or by devoting some time to provide support and care to people who need it. That will bring us a lot of satisfaction.

It also helps us to remove the attachment we have for money and comforts. It will make us a better human being. We will begin to realise the real worth of a lot of things in life. We will understand that there are things which are far more important than money.

And in a way, we are giving back to the society, what the society has given us. And every one of us should do this to make our life meaningful and fruitful.

50

No one who achieves success
does so without the help of others.

The wise and confident
acknowledge this help, with gratitude.

- Alfred North Whitehead -

Everyone receives help from others at some point or the other in our life.

We can say that it is almost impossible for anyone to be successful without receiving some form of help from others, at some point in time in our life.

No matter, how hard we might be working towards our goals, our efforts will never reach fruition without the help and support of others. It could be a small help, but it could have come at an important time in our life, and would have made a world of difference to our efforts.

So, we should remain grateful to those people and thank them for all the support they had provided in helping us reach our goal.

The following story from internet highlights this message:

The Praying Hands
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children.

Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighbourhood.

Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of Albrecht Durer, the Elder’s, children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.

After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact.

They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy.

Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by labouring in the mines.

They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation.

Albrecht’s etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works.

When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate Albrecht’s triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honoured position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfil his ambition.

His closing words were, “And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. "

"Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you.” All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face, shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over.

“No …no …no …no.”

Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, “No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg.

It is too late for me."

"Look … look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even hold glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush.

No, brother … for me it is too late.”

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer’s hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolours, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer’s works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother’s abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward.

He called his powerful drawing simply “Hands,” but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to is great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love “The Praying Hands.”

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one — no one – – ever makes it alone!

Remember to sincerely thank those who have helped you to get where you are!

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