King Alexander’s last wishes

Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms, was returning home. On the way, he fell ill and it took him to his death bed. With death staring him in his face, Alexander realized how his conquests, his great army, his sharp sword and all his wealth were of no consequence. He now longed to reach home to see his mother's face and bid her his last adieu. But, he had to accept the fact that his sinking health would not permit Him to reach his distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to breathe his last. He called his generals and said, "I will depart from this world soon, I have three wishes, please carry them out without fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks, the generals agreed to abide by their king's last wishes.

"My first desire is that,” said Alexander, "My physicians alone must carry my coffin." After a pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury." The king felt exhausted after saying this. He took a minute's rest and continued. "My third and last wish is that both my hands be kept dangling out of my coffin." The people who had gathered there wondered at the king's strange wishes. But no one dare bring the question to their lips. Alexander's favorite general kissed his hand and pressed them to his heart. "O king, we assure you that your wishes will all be fulfilled. But tell us why do you make such strange wishes?"

At this Alexander took a deep breath and said: "I would like the world to know of the three lessons I have just learnt. I want my physicians to carry my coffin because people should realize that no doctor can really cure anybody. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So let not people take life for granted.

The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell People that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time to chase wealth.

And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people to know that I came empty handed into this world and empty handed I go out of this world." With these words, the king closed his eyes. Soon he let death conquer him and breathed his last.

Love without Regret

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: 'I am blind, please help.' There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, 'Were u the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?'

The man said, 'I only wrote the truth. I said what u said but in a different way.'

What he had written was: 'Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it.'

Do you think the first sign & the second sign were saying the same thing? Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

 

Moral of the Story:

Be thankful for what you have. Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively.

Invite the people towards good with wisdom.Live life with no excuse and love with no regrets..

When Life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile. Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. Keep the faith and drop the fear.

Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Life is wonderful if you know how to live.

Enjoy Life.......and Make A Difference.. ...

Management Lesson

A new vacuum cleaner salesman knocked on the door on the first house of the street. A tall lady answered the door.

Before she could speak, the enthusiastic salesman barged into the living room and opened a big black plastic bag and poured all the cow droppings onto the carpet.

"Madam, if I cannot clean this up with the use of this new powerful Vacuum cleaner, I will EAT all this dung!" exclaimed the eager salesman.

"Do you need chilly sauce or ketchup with that" asked the lady.

The bewildered salesman asked, "Why, madam?"

"There's no electricity in the house..." said the lady.

  

MORAL: Gather all requirements and resources before working on any project and committing to the client...!!

The Chicken

Once upon a time, there was a large mountainside, where an eagle's nest rested. The eagle's nest contained four large eagle eggs. One day an earthquake rocked the mountain causing one of the eggs to roll down the mountain, to a chicken farm, located in the valley bellow. The chickens knew that they must protect and care for the eagle's egg, so an old hen volunteered to nature and raise the large egg. One day, the egg hatched and a beautiful eagle was born.

Sadly, however, the eagle was raised to be a chicken. Soon, the eagle believed he was nothing more than a chicken. The eagle loved his home and family, but his spirit cried out for more. While playing a game, on the farm one day, the eagle looked to the skies above and noticed a group of mighty eagles soaring in the skies. "Oh", the eagle cried, "I wish I could soar like those birds". The chickens roared with laughter, "You can not soar with those birds! You are a chicken and chickens do not soar". The eagle continued staring, at his real family up above, dreaming that he could be with them. Each time, the eagle would let his dreams be known, he was told it couldn't be done and that is what the eagle learned to believe. The eagle, after time, stopped dreaming and continued to live his life like a chicken. Finally, after a long life as a chicken, the eagle passed away.

You become what you believe you are, so if you ever dream to become an eagle follow your dreams not the words of a chicken.

Struggle

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

 

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

 

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

 

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. It never was able to fly.

 

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

 

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly...

Special Olympics

The incident took place a few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics. The Special Olympics is a competition, which is open to mentally retarded and mentally disabled children. In this competition, youngsters, each with some form of disability, compete against each other. Everyone was tense. The race was getting ready to start. Nine children, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash.

 

As the starter fired the shot that started the race, all the children in the race started to run. Well, not exactly in a dash like other children might have started to run. They all started with a relish and determination to run the race to the finish and win. They wanted so much to be like other children. Their proud parents sat in the stands.

 

All the youngsters started out in that race except one little fellow who was so determined to win that he accidentally slipped and stumbled on the asphalt. Because he had built up such a tremendous thrust, he tumbled over and over and rolled uncontrollably on the ground. When he finally came to a halt, he began to cry.

 

The other eight children in the competition, who were well ahead of the one who fell, heard the boy cry. They looked back, and when they saw what had happened, they not only slowed down, they began to walk back to the child who had fallen.

 

One little girl with Down's syndrome, who was slightly older than the others, ran over to the youngster who had fallen and she held his bruised knee. She bent over and kissed the knee, adding, "This will make it all better." The others helped him up. Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line.

 

Everyone in the stadium stood up! The cheering went on for several minutes as tears filled the eyes of those who saw the incident.

 

People who were in the stands are still telling the story. Why?

Because deep down every one of us knows that what really matters in this life is more than simply winning for ourselves...

What matters is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

Small Things That Make a Big Difference

There was a man taking a morning walk at the beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He went to the next and did the same and so no. One after the other he kept throwing them back into the water.

Right behind him there was another person who couldn’t understand what this man was doing. He caught up with him and asked, “What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish. How many can you help? What difference does it make?” This man did not reply, took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said, “It makes a difference to this one.”

What difference are we making? Big or small, it does not matter. If everyone made a small difference, we’d end up with a big difference, wouldn’t we?