Ignacy and Hoover – What goes around comes around

Sea is common for all… Some take pearls,

Some take fishes, while others come out with just wet legs! :-)

World is common to all; what we get, is what we try for!

This is a true story that had happened in 1892 at Stanford 

University.  It's moral is still relevant today.

A young, 18 year old student was struggling to pay his fees. He was  an orphan, and not knowing where to turn for money, he came up with  a bright idea. A friend and he decided to host a musical concert on  campus to raise money for their education.

They reached out to the great pianist Ignacy J. Paderewski. His manager demanded a guaranteed fee of $2,000 for the piano recital. A deal was struck. And the boys began to work to make the concert a success.

The big day arrived. Paderewski performed at Stanford. But 

unfortunately, they had not managed to sell enough tickets. The total collection was only $1,600. Disappointed, they went to Paderewski and explained their plight. They gave him the entire $1,600, plus a cheque for the balance of $400. They promised to  honour the cheque soonest possible.

"No" said Paderewski. "This is not acceptable" He tore up the cheque, returned the $1,600 and told the boys "Here's the $1,600.  Please deduct whatever expenses you have incurred. Keep the money you need for your fees. And just give me whatever is left" The boys  were surprised, and thanked him profusely.

It was a small act of kindness. But it clearly marked out Paderewski as a great human being. Why should he help two people he did not even know? 

We all come across situations like these in our lives. 

And most of us only think "If I help them, what would happen to me?"

The truly great people think, "If I don't help them, what will 

happen to them?" They don't do it expecting something in return. 

They do it because they feel it's the right thing to do.

Paderewski later went on to become the Prime Minister of Poland. He was a great leader, but unfortunately when the World War began, Poland was ravaged. There were over 1.5 million people starving in his country, and no money to feed them.

Paderewski did not know where to turn for help. He reached out to the US Food and Relief Administration for help.

The head was a man called Herbert Hoover - who later went on to become the US President. Hoover agreed to help and quickly shipped tons of food grains to fee the starving Polish people. A calamity was averted.

Paderewski was relieved. He decided to go across to meet Hoover and personally thank him. When Paderewski began to thank Hoover for his noble gesture, Hoover quickly interjected and said, "You shouldn't be thanking me, Mr. Prime Minister. You may not remember this, but several years ago, you helped two young students go through college in the US. I was one of them."

The world is a wonderful place. What goes around usually comes around.

Lessons from the Ant!

I happened to read this story shared by a friend of mine. It's about yet another of God's creation, the ant, with whatever it has - gives a story to reflect and ponder.

One morning I watched nearly for an hour a tiny ant carry a huge feather. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour. At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm 
wide!

                                                                       

After brief contemplation the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked up the feather on the other side then continued on its way. I was fascinated by the ingenuity of this ant - it served to reinforce the miracle of creation. Here was a minute insect, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome. But these ants, like the two-legged co-residents of this planet, also share human failings.

After some time the ant finally reached its destination – a flower bed at the end of the terrace and a small hole that was the entrance to its underground home. And it was here that the ant finally met its match. How could that large feather possibly fit down small hole Of course it couldn't. so the ant, after all this trouble and exercising great ingenuity, overcoming problems all along the way, just abandoned the feather and went home. The ant had not thought the problem through before it began its epic journey and in the end the feather was nothing more than a burden.

Isn't life like that?!

As young adults, we are in the prime phase of our lives. Sometimes, we are troubled about our family, certain decisions taken, we worry about money or the lack of it, we worry about marriage; work, about all sorts of things. These are all burdens - the things we pick up along life's path and lug them around the obstacles and over the crevasses that life will bring, only to find that at the destination they are useless and we can't take them with us!

Yes, we children of God, need not carry the baggage around. We know we can rely on our redeemer and he will take care of our future.

Let’s enjoy the journey by placing God first in our lives.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

– Matt 6:25

IF - By Rudyard Kipling - A poem which never fails to inspire me

I recited this poem in front of the entire school when I was in my 5th Std. The school: C.S.I Jessie Moses MHSS, Annanagar. My mother was called as a surprise special audience. It scared her, to see her 10 year old son recite a lengthy poem. I think it was a proud moment for her. She would have at least made me practice this for over a 100 times.

Though I read it often, the last few words are etched on my memory forever,  from the entire poem : "you'll be a Man my son!"

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two imposters just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!