Self appraisal

A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it
over to the telephone. He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the
buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits (phone numbers).

The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:
Boy: "Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?
Woman: (at the other end of the phone line): "I already have someone to cut
my lawn." 
Boy: "Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts
your lawn now."
Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.
Boy: (with more perseverance) : "Lady, I'll even sweep your curb and your
sidewalk, so on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach
,Florida."
Woman: No, thank you.

With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The
store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.
Store Owner: "Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and
would like to offer you a job."
Boy: "No thanks,

Store Owner: But you were really pleading for one.
Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I
am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!"

*This is what we call "Self Appraisal"*

The Talking Parrots

A lady approaches a priest and tells him, "Father, I have a problem. I have these two talking female parrots, but they only know how to say one thing. They keep saying "Hi, we're hot. Do you want a date?"


"That's terrible!" the priest exclaimed. "But I do have a solution to your problem. Bring your two parrots over to my house and I will put them with my two male talking parrots to whom I have taught to pray and read the bible.  

My parrots will then teach your parrots to stop saying that terrible phrase, and your female parrots will learn to pray and worship."


So the next day, the lady brings her female parrots to the priest's house. The priest's two male parrots are holding rosary beads and praying in their cage. The lady puts her female talking parrots in with the male talking Parrots, and the female parrots say, "Hi, we're hot. Do you want a date?"


One male parrot looks over at the other male parrot and screams, "Put your Bible away Idiot, our prayers have been answered!!!!!!!”

 

Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections .
The train has started moving. It is packed with people of all ages, mostly with the working men and women and young college guys and gals. Near the window, seated a old man with his 30 year old son. As the train moves by, the son is overwhelmed with joy as he was thrilled with the scenery outside.."See dad, the scenery of green trees moving away is very beautiful"This behavior from a thirty year old son made the other people feel strange about him. Every one started murmuring something or other about this son."This guy seems to be a krack.." newly married Anup whispered to his wife.Suddenly it started raining... Rain drops fell on the travelers through the opened window. The Thirty year old son , filled with joy " see dad, how beautiful the rain is .."Anup"s wife got irritated with the rain drops spoiling her new suit.Anup ," cant you see its raining, you old man, if ur son is not feeling well get him soon to a mental asylum..and dont disturb public henceforth" The old man hesitated first and then in a low tone replied " we are on the way back from hospital, my son was a blind by birth, he got his vision just before a week, these rain and nature are new to his eyes.. So, please forgive us for the inconvenience caused..." The things we see may be right from our perspective until we know the truth. But when we know the truth our reaction to that will hurt even us. So try to understand the problem better before taking a harsh action.

Classic Story of our Whole Life Situation

There's a Zen story in which a man is enjoying himself on a river at dusk. He sees another boat coming down the river toward him. At first it seems so nice to him that someone else is also enjoying the river on a nice summer evening. Then he realizes that the boat is coming right towards him, faster and faster. He begins to get upset and starts to yell, "Hey, hey watch out! For Pete's sake, turn aside!" But the boat just comes faster and faster, right toward him. By this time he's standing up in his boat, screaming and shaking his fist, and then the boat smashes right into him. He sees that it's an empty boat.
This is the classic story of our whole life situation.

Too Busy for a Friend...

One day Maths teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name.
Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down.
It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.
That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.
On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.
Several years later, one of the students was killed in
“Kargil” war and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never attended Funeral of a serviceman before. He looked so handsome, so mature.
The place was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk. The teacher was the last one to bless.
As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Sanjay's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Sanjay talked about you a lot."
After the funeral, most of Sanjay's former classmates were there. Sanjay's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.

"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket "They found this on Sanjay when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Sanjay's classmates had said about him.

"Thank you so much for doing that," Sanjay's mother said. "As you can see, Sanjay treasured it."

All of Sanjay's former classmates started to gather around. Arjun smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."

Prithwiraj's wife said, " Prithwiraj asked me to put his in our wedding album."
"I have mine too," Rashmi said. "It's in my diary"

Then Deepali, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Deepali said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists"
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Sanjay and for all his friends who would never see him again.
The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.
So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late.
And One Way To Accomplish This Is: Forward this message on. If you do not send it, you will have, once again passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful. But its upto U to fwd this one.
If you've received this, it is because someone cares for you and it means there is probably at least someone for whom you care.
If you're "too busy" to take those few minutes right now to forward this message on, would this be the VERY first time you didn't do that little thing that would make a difference in your relationships?
The more people that you send this to, the better you'll be at reaching out to those you care about.
Remember, you reap what you sow. What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.
May Your Day Be Blessed As Special As You

Perfection is not any one's Own

An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hungon the ends of a pole which she carried across herneck.One of the pots had a crack in it while the other potwas perfect and always delivered a full portion ofwater. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there areflowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while wewalk back, you water them." "For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so  very interesting and rewarding. You just have to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. SO, to all of my friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

The Wood Cutter

One day a woodcutter took his grandson into the forest for his first experience in selecting and cutting oak trees. These they would later sell to the boat builders.

As they walked along, the woodcutter explained that the purpose of each tree is contained in its natural shape: some are straight for planks, some have the proper curves for the ribs of a boat, and some are tall for masts.

The woodcutter told his grandson that by paying attention to the details of each tree, and with experience in recognizing these characteristics, someday he too might become the woodcutter of the forest.


A little way into the forest, the grandson saw an old oak tree that had never been cut. The boy asked his grandfather if he could cut it down because it was useless for boat building - there were no straight limbs, the trunk was, short and gnarled, and the curves were going the wrong way. "We could cut it down for firewood," the grandson said. "At least then it will be of some use to us." The woodcutter replied that for now they should be about their work cutting the proper trees for the boat builders; maybe later they could return to the old oak tree.



After a few hours of cutting the huge trees, the grandson grew tired and asked if they could stop for a rest in some cool shade. The woodcutter took his grandson over to the old oak tree, where they rested against its trunk in the cool shade beneath its twisted limbs. 



After they had rested a while, the woodcutter explained to his grandson the necessity of attentive awareness and recognition of everything in the forest and in the world. Some things are readily apparent, like the tall, straight trees; other things are less apparent, requiring closer attention, like recognition of the proper curves in the limbs. And some things might initially appear to have no purpose at all, like the gnarled old oak tree.

The woodcutter stated, "You must learn to pay careful attention every day so you can recognize and discover the purpose God has for everything in creation. For it is this old oak tree, which you so quickly deemed useless except for firewood, that now allows us to rest against its trunk amidst the coolness of its shade.

 

The Three Pigs

Once upon a time there were three little pigs.

One morning, the mother pig said, "You must go into the world and make your own way."

So the three little pigs set out into the world.

The first little pig met a man carrying a bundle of straw and said, "Please may I have some of your straw to build a house with?"

The man gave him some straw and the little pig built himself a fine straw house to live in.

Soon, a hungry wolf came along. He knocked at the door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"No, no, by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I won't let you in."

"Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."

So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house in and ate up the first little pig.

The second little pig met a man with a bundle of sticks.

"Please may I have some of your sticks to build a house with?"

The man gave him some sticks and the little pig built himself a fine stick house to live in.

Soon, a hungry wolf came along. He knocked at the door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"No, no, by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I won't let you in."

"Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."

So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house in and ate up the second little pig.

The third little pig met a man with a bundle of bricks.

"Please may I have some of your bricks to build a house with?"

The man gave him some bricks and the little pig built himself a fine brick house to live in.

Soon, a hungry wolf came along. He knocked at the door and said, "Little pig, little pig, let me come in."

"No, no, by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I won't let you in."

"Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house in."

"You may huff and you may puff, but you can not blow my house in," said the little pig.

So he huffed and he puffed and he huffed and he puffed, but he could not blow the house in.

Then the angry wolf said, "Little pig, you cannot hide. I will climb on the roof and come down the chimney."

So the little pig made a big fire in the fireplace and he hung a pot of water over it. As soon as he heard the wolf coming down he snatched the lid off and the wolf fell right into the boiling water.

And that little pig had a very good supper.