I decide, I abide

My 8 year old wanted to join an art class that is being conducted in our residential premises. I am always weary of such classes...simply because I feel it's always the teachers work more than the child's work that is produced in the book. ( belief, belief !! ). But my daughter was adamant....I want to go anyhow. When nothing else worked...I tried to make her realise how this class would just add to her already 'busy' weekdays. But her answer surprised me. In just 3-4 sentences she chalked out her entire list of 'to do's ' ....along with this class. She even cut her own T.V time in doing so!! Now I had no excuse...and more importantly I wanted her to join now, just to see if she can abide by what she deciedes.Well, at least this week she has done so.... The best part for me is that most of the things that I had to constantly nag her for doing...changing clothes, wash up etc. she was doing without me even telling her a second time. Which just made me wonder how simple my life would be, if only I could help my kids to figure out why they should be doing the myriad things that they know they have to do anyways!! Reminds me of a quote I read a long time back " Dear God, help me to like to do the things I know I have to do anyways".

The rose within

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, “ How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?” Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died. ... So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The good qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential. Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them. This is one of the characteristic of love... to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life... all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the “rose” within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.

A washerman, a dog and a donkey

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog. One night when the he was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn’t bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly. Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason. Moral of the story “One must not engage in duties other than his own“ Now take a new look at the same story…. The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management institute. He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night. He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it. Looking at the donkey’s extra initiative and going beyond the call of duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite pet. The dog’s life didn’t change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dog’s duty as well in the annual appraisal the dog managed “ME” (Met Expectations). Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around. The donkey was rated as ‘Star Performer’. The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards. Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a new job. Disclaimer: All characters in the story are not at all imaginary. Any resemblance to person living or dying of work is purely intentional and is corporate related.