To the 2011 Graduates

By: May Reah Pasayloon-Carel
Written on 3/30/2011 at 10:15 A.M. to 11:30 A.M.

Time indeed flies so fast
that today you’ll graduate at last.

For four years of your high school life…
You did tasks with patience & sometimes with strife.
You’ve learned how to love, hate and forgive
classmates who are hard-headed,
schoolmates who seem not supportive,
teachers who have different initiative.

Between us are bitter-sweet memories…
English time might have been paradoxical
due to head-cracking activities
which are not all comical.

All those were for you
To be better and to grow,
To be somebody new:
Somebody who has gone out of the shell,
Somebody whose name may ring a bell,
Somebody whose future I can’t foretell.

You are like a germinating seed,
Lessons are your food and drink.
Just as gold needs refinery,
You too have to undergo the process efficaciously.

I wish that you will have…
happiness in your life’s journey,
wisdom in making a decision,
and courage coupled with energy
in facing travails you might not have known.

Yesterday may gradually bid adieu
But the lessons learned, hope wouldn’t be forgotten by you.

"The Christ Commission" by Og Mandino

I've scanned this book before but did not really take much interest in reading it until this week... What struck me is the question WAS THE RESURRECTION A HOAX? I really found myself engrossed in reading it. I wish I should not just have scanned it before :-)

Anyway here are the quotes I find valuable in this book:
"Truth can never hurt anyone, for it is the foundation of all knowledge and the cement of all societies." (Joseph) page 15

"Impossible is a word found only in the dictionary of fools." (Joseph) page 17

"So many of us must first fall into to darkest wells of despair before we learn to appreciate the sight of a single star." (Joseph) page 231

Love...

Love and Time

Eagles in a Storm

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?

The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.

The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to lift us above them.

God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.

Reference: http://www.indianchild.com/eagles_in_a_storm.htm

Love and Time

Once upon a time, in an island there lived all the feelings and emotions : Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to them that the island would sink! So all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a boat. Love said,
"Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "Sorry Love, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat and so there is no place here for you."

Love next asked Vanity who was also sailing by. Vanity was also ready with the same answer.
"I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, take me along with you."
"Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!", sadness said in a sullen voice.

Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so preoccupied with her happiness that she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. An overjoyed Love jumped up into the boat and in the process forgot to ask where they were going. When they arrived at a dry land, the elder went her own way.

Realizing how much was owed to the elder, Love asked Knowledge another elder, "Who Helped me?"
"It was Time," Knowledge answered.
"Time?" thought Love. Then, as if reading the face of Love, Knowledge smiled and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

Reference: http://www.kidsgen.com/short_stories/time_love.htm

GENEROSITY

Mahatma Gandhi went from city to city, village to village collecting funds for the Charkha Sangh. During one of his tours he addressed a meeting in Orissa. After his speech a poor old woman got up. She was bent with age, her hair was grey and her clothes were in tatters. The volunteers tried to stop her, but she fought her way to the place where Gandhiji was sitting. "I must see him," she insisted and going up to Gandhiji touched his feet. Then from the folds of her sari she brought out a copper coin and placed it at his feet. Gandhiji picked up the copper coin and put it away carefully. The Charkha Sangh funds were under the charge of Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked Gandhiji for the coin but Gandhiji refused. "I keep cheques worth thousands of rupees for the Charkha Sangh," Jamnalal Bajaj said laughingly "yet you won't trust me with a copper coin." "This copper coin is worth much more than those thousands," Gandhiji said. "If a man has several lakes and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn't mean much. But this coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed. She gave me all she had. That was very generous of her. What a great sacrifice she made. That is why I value this copper coin more than a core of rupees."