Thursday, October 12, 2006
Things to remember
By Henrylito D. Tacio
Regarding Henry
A FAMILY of turtles -- Father Turtle, Mother Turtle, and Junior Turtle -- went on a picnic. They did not move very fast, so it took them three years to get to the picnic grounds. They got all the food unpacked from the picnic basket and suddenly realized that they had left the ketchup at home.
Mother Turtle asked Junior Turtle if he would run home and get the ketchup. Junior Turtle did not want to do it; he was afraid that his dad and mom would start eating without him. His parents promised that they would not begin their picnic until Junior returned from home with the ketchup.
Father Turtle and Mother Turtle waited for Junior Turtle. They waited for years. Five years passed and no sign of Junior Turtle. They waited some more. Nine years passed, and they could wait no longer. They had to eat something. Each one took a bite.
As soon as Father Turtle and Mother Turtle took their first bite, Junior Turtle appeared from behind a bush and screamed: "I knew it, I knew it. You would start eating without me -- I'm not going!"
The above illustration tells us something about one of the ten things we need to remember in life: the value of time. Paul J. Meyer once said: "Most time is wasted, not in hours, but in minutes. A bucket with a small hole in the bottom gets just as empty as a bucket that is deliberately kicked over."
When nothing seems to help you, go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack showing it. Yet at the 101st blow, it will split in two, and you know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
After that, there's the pleasure of working. Walter Hoving suggests, "Find a job that's suited to your talents and then do a lot more work than you're paid for. In time, you'll be paid much more for what you do. Workers who get what they can, as fast as they can, as easily as they can, are bound to be disillusioned. Such people fail to make progress simply because they aren't profitable to the people who hire them."
Remember that a life built on the sands of celebrity can be wrecked by the rains of reverses. A life built on the sands of materialism can be destroyed by the floods of adversity. A life built on the sands of pleasure can be blown down by the winds of disillusionment. Only the life that is built on the rock of character can withstand the tempests of time.
Another is the power of kindness. "Constant kindness can accomplish much," said Albert Schweitzer. "As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate."
C. Neil Strait claims: "Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts another person." Now, if someone were to pay you 10 pesos for every kind word you ever spoke and collect 5 pesos for every unkind word, would you be rich or poor?
Still another: the obligation of duty. Ohio's millionaire Eddie Rickenbacker admitted: "My first job was as important as any I ever had. It was my initiation into a man's world. Being a newsboy taught me the meaning of duty, and without a sense of duty a man is nothing."
Don't forget: the wisdom of economy. Someone once said: "The secret of economy is to live as cheaply the first few days after payday as you lived the last few days before."
Bear in mind: the virtue of patience. A lady had to do her laundry by hand. She did a big washing and hung it on the line to dry. The line broke and the clean clothes fell in the mud. She washed the clothes again, and a second time the line broke. This time, however, a dog came along and walked over the clothes.
When she saw them she didn't cry. All she said was: "Ain't it funny, that dog didn't miss a single one." That was true patience. Finally: the improvement of talent. "Talent is what you have," Llyod D. Mattson explained. "Person is what you are. It is the person who uses the talents; and if the person is inadequate, the talent won't account for much. Most of us look at an unusually talented person and assume that all it takes to win is talent. Don't be fooled. Talent is only the beginning... A great person takes a small talent and develops it as a tool for serving others. A small person with great talent soon fizzles, and wonders why."
As I have told you, there are indeed ten things to remember in life: the value of time, the success of perseverance, the pleasure of working, the worth of character, the power of kindness, the obligation of duty, the influence of example, the wisdom of economy, the virtue of patience, and the improvement of talent. Anything more?
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (October 12, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
