Father and Son - An Inspirational Story

The following story captured our heart. It happened several years ago in the Paris opera house. A famous singer had been contracted to sing, and ticket sales were booming. In fact, the night of the concert found the house packed and every ticket sold.
 
The feeling of anticipation and excitement was in the air as the house manager took the stage and said, Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your enthusiastic support. I am afraid that due to illness, the man whom you've all come to hear will not be performing tonight. However, we have found a suitable substitute we hope will provide you with comparable entertainment. 

The crowd groaned in disappointment and failed to hear the announcer mention the stand-in's name. The environment turned from excitement to frustration.

The stand-in performer gave the performance everything he had. When he had finished, there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence. No one applauded. Suddenly, from the balcony, a little boy stood up and shouted, Daddy, I think you are wonderful! The crowd broke into thunderous applause.
 
We all need people in our Lives who are willing to stand up once in a while and say, I think you are wonderful.
 
And at times others are expecting this from you.

Are you telling them how wonderful you are?

Say it now and make someone's day or may be someone’s life more pleasant.
 

Good Friends - Two Horses

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it. From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing.

Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him. This alone is amazing. If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell. Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field. Attached to the horse's halter is a small bell. It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow.

As you stand and watch these two friends, you'll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, trusting that he will not be led astray.

When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that the blind friend isn't too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges. He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God places in our lives. Other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way.

Good friends are like that. You may not always see them, but you know they are always there. Be kinder than necessary - everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle. Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly...

Leave the rest to God.

- Anonymous

IDEAL TODAY, IDEAL TOMORROW, MY VISION

An ideal world will only exist when no one goes hungry to bed.

The word ideal as defined in the dictionary means something which can exist only in one's imagination, or is perfect but not likely to become a reality.

Inspite of having made developments in the field of science, technology and medicine, our world cannot be defined as ideal. It's a complicated place to live in and is plagued by various issues such as those related to that of the environment, Social issues like poverty and unemployment, political issues between nations which has resulted in hundreds of people being displaced from their homes and several others being killed every day, increasing crime rates, discrimination based on gender, ethnicity, and many more. 

An ideal world would exist only if these problems were to be eradicated. It would be where we can all exist in mutual harmony with each other, respect each other despite of any differences that may exist, and wise use our knowledge for the betterment of the world not just for us, but for the future generations to come. 

- Raj Jain

You Are Special In This World

In a classroom of 50, the speaker asked, “Who would like this hundred rupees note?” Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this to one of you but first, let me do this.” He proceeded to crumple the note.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?” Still the hands were up in the air. ‘Well’, he replied, “What if I do this?” And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. “Now who still wants it?” Still the hands went into the air.

“My friends you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money. You still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth a full hundred. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make, and the circumstances that come our way.”

“Do you know you are unique? Taking into consideration the past hundred years and in the future century, no one had or will have your fingerprints, your lip prints, your ear or toe prints. Your DNA is unique. Doctors have shown that the composition of your blood is peculiar to you. You are, in fact, a special individual with a capacity to achieve great things.”

“Do you remember at school, for example, thinking: ‘how can I do that’ whenever you were instructed to use new skill? Yet each time, after pushing yourself, you ‘discovered’ you had the ability – you even enjoyed it. Once accomplished you never forgot how to ride a bicycle, you had the ability. But you had to really draw on yourself as a child to overcome the inevitable falls. The secret is that this potential must be called upon. Those who give up, fail in their lives. This is known as ‘mind limitation’.”

“We feel we are worthless. But no matter what has happened, or what will happen you will never lose your value. You are special. Don’t ever forget it!”

Now, let’s go to another scene which must be familiar to most of the students:

1.       Why can’t you be good for a change?

2.       Why are you so selfish?

3.       Why do you have to fight with everybody?

4.       Why can’t you be like other children?

5.       Why must you interrupt everybody?

6.       Why can’t you keep your mouth shut once in a while?

7.       Why are you so slow?

8.       Why do you always rush?

9.       Why must you be such a pest?

10.   Why are you so disorganised?

11.   Why are you such a busy body?

12.   Why do you forget everything I tell you?

13.   Why are you so stupid?

It is said 12,000 such negative suggestions and rebukes are confronted by child in a span of 15 years. This greatly affects the self-esteem, learning and other skills, thus hampering academic performance, in most of the cases.

Just remember, as the currency does not diminish in value despite being crumpled, stamped and thrown about, the human value never changes adversely despite several such shabby treatments.

Students should learn to overcome this problems, to become a winner!

Blame and guilt are cry baby words; let us get them out of our talk about education. Let us use the word ‘responsible’ and ‘commitment’.

CBSE to Introduce Open-Book Testing in Board Exams

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) introducing an open-book exam within its class X and XII board assessments is a welcome move. It reflects a fresh, innovative spirit trying to reshape education in India - and creating measures to give students a break.

A quick look at the open-book methodo-logy illustrates why. In this mode, students are informed of possible topics for testing some months before their exam. They thus have time to read up thoroughly on these areas and prepare to answer analytical questions rather than mechanical queries. Such questions, designed to teach students how to mine material thoroughly, encourage analytical thought, original perspectives and creative linking of different sorts of information in examinees' minds. What these cancel out is rote learning or getting through coursework using guide books that break subjects into technical question-answer sets, not open fields of knowledge students learn to navigate with skills and practice.

 

Open-book testing is decidedly a step in the right direction - one which the CBSE should follow the whole way. For critics who prefer the traditional chants of rote learning, get real. Current data shows rote is doing very little for India's learning. Despite our chest-thumping over producing doctors and engineers by the barrel, a recent Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study shows how Indian educational standards have slipped so low, we now rank second-last from the world's weakest - one step above Kyrgyzstan. This, when some of our best students took the PISA test conducted over 73 countries.

Power Of Positive Talk..

A man was lost while driving through the countryside. As he tried to reach for the map, he accidentally drove off the road into a ditch. Though he wasn’t injured, his car was stuck deep in the mud. So the man walked to a nearby farm to ask for help.

“Warwick can get you out of that ditch,” said the farmer, pointing to an old mule standing in a field. The man looked at the decrepit old mule and looked at the farmer who just stood there repeating, “Yep, old Warwick can do the job.” The man figured he had nothing to lose. The two men and the mule made their way back to the ditch. The farmer hitched the mule to the car. With a snap of the reins, he shouted, “Pull, Fred! Pull, Jack! Pull, Ted! Pull, Warwick!”

And the mule pulled that car right out of the ditch.
The man was amazed. He thanked the farmer, patted the mule, and asked, “Why did you call out all of those names before you called Warwick?”
The farmer grinned and said, “Old Warwick is just about blind. As long as he believes he’s part of a team, he doesn’t mind pulling.”

Sharpen ur Skills

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job with a timber merchant, and he got it. His salary was really good and so were the working conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.
 
 
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to fell the trees. The first day, the woodcutter brought down 15 trees.
"Congratulations," the boss said. "Carry on with your work!"
Highly motivated by the words of his boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring 10 trees down. The third day he tried even harder, but he was only able to bring down 7 trees. Day after day he was bringing lesser number of trees down.
 
 
"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked.
"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees..."
 
 
That's right. Most of us NEVER update our skills. We think that whatever we have learned is very much enough. But good is not good when better is expected.
Sharpening our skills from time to time is the key to success.