Wise words we could all live by...
Two friends were traveling together through the desert,
and at one moment in their journey,
they quarreled over a foolish issue.
One turned around and slapped his partner on his face.
The other, quite offended,
without uttering a word sat down and wrote on the sand:
"Today my best friend slapped me on the face!"
They kept their travels and finally arrived at an oasis
where they decided to take a rest.
The one that had been slapped and offended
quickly jumped in the water.
The water was deeper than he thought and,
not knowing how to swim,
he began to drown.
His friend, without a minute of hesitation, ran to the shore,
jumped in and swam to his rescue.
Pulling him out of the water,
he checked his breathing and took a towel
and covered his friend's shoulders with it.
Once recovered from his near death experience,
the friend that had previously been slapped,
one more time sat on the sand near a large flat rock where he chiseled:
"Today my best friend saved my life!"
His friend quite surprised asked him,
"Why did you first write in the sand that I slapped you
but now you chiseled in the rock that I saved your life?
With a big smile his friend replied,
"When a good friend offends me,
I let the changing sands of time erase the incident;
but when a good friend risks his life or
does something from his heart for me,
I make sure that time does not erase it nor forget it."
Author
Unknown
THE HEALING POISON
A long time ago, a girl named Li-Li got married
and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law.
In a very short time,
Li-Li found that she couldn't get along
with her mother-in-law at all.
Their personalities were very different,
and Li-Li was angered by many
of her mother-in-law's habits.
In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly.
Days passed days, and weeks passed weeks.
Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting.
But what made the situation even worse was that,
according to ancient Chinese tradition,
Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law
and obey her every wish.
All the anger and unhappiness in the house
was causing the poor husband great distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper
and dictatorship any longer,
and she decided to do something about it.
Li-Li went to see her father's good friend,
Mr. Huang, who sold herbs.
She told him the situation and asked if he would give
her some poison so that she
could solve the problem once and for all.
Mr. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said,
Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem,
but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.
Li-Li said, "Yes, Mr. Huang,
I will do whatever you tell me to do.
" Mr. Huang went into the back room,
and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs.
He told Li-Li, "You can't use a quick-acting poison
to get rid of your mother-in-law,
because that would cause people to become suspicious.
Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs
that will slowly build up poison in her body.
Every other day prepare some pork or chicken
and put a little of these herbs in her serving.
Now, in order to make sure that nobody
suspects you when she dies,
you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her.
Don't argue with her,
obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen."
Li-Li was so happy.
She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home
to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.
Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day,
Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law.
She remembered what Mr. Huang
had said about avoiding suspicion,
so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law,
and treated her like her own mother.
After six months had passed,
the whole household had changed.
Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper
so much that she found that she
almost never got mad or upset.
She hadn't had an argument in six months
with her mother-in-law,
who now seemed much kinder
and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed,
and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter.
She kept telling friends and relatives
that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find.
Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating
each other like a real mother and daughter.
Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang
and asked for his help again.
She said, "Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to
keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law!
She's changed into such a nice woman,
and I love her like my own mother.
I do not want her to die because
of the poison I gave her."
Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head.
"Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about.
I never gave you any poison.
All of the herbs I gave you were
simply to improve her health.
The only poison was in your mind and
your attitude toward her,
but that has been all washed
away by the love which you gave to her."
MORAL:
Friends, have you ever realized that how you treat others
is exactly how they will treat you?
In China it is said:
The person who loves others will also be loved.
THE GOLDEN RULE
Author
Unknown
