Team Work

 

There was once a man who lived with his three sons. His sons were very hard working, but they constantly fought with each other. Even though the man continuously tried to help his sons make peace with each other, he was never successful. In fact, their fighting got to a point where their neighbors would make fun of them.

Eventually, the father became ill. He begged his sons to learn how to work together because of his impending death, but they didn’t listen. The father then decided to teach his sons a practical lesson to help his sons forget their differences and become a united team.

 

The father called his sons and said, “I’ll give you each an equal collection of sticks to break in half. Whoever breaks the sticks the fastest will be rewarded.”

After agreeing to the task, the father gave each of his sons 10 sticks and instructed them to break each stick in half. This task took the sons mere minutes to complete, but once they were finished, they started to fight about who finished first.

 

The father said, “Dear sons, the task isn’t finished. Now I’ll give each of you 10 more sticks, however, you must break the sticks in half as a bundle rather than snapping each one separately.”

 

His sons agreed and attempted to do what he had asked. They each tried their best, but none could break the bundle in half. They told their father that they had failed.

 

In response, their father said, “See, it was easy to break the sticks in half individually, but you couldn’t break all 10 of them at the same time. Similarly, if the three of you stay united as a team, nobody will be able to harm you. However, if you fight all the time, anyone will be able to defeat you. Please come together as a united team.”

 

This lesson helped the man’s sons understand the power of being a team and promised their father that, moving forward, they would work together as a team, no matter what the situation was.

 

MORALS: Strong teams are naturally aligned to work harder and support each other.

Crossing Mistakes and Moving On

During my time in primary school, when I first started using a pen, I would often strive to erase any mistakes I made before submitting my work to my teacher.

At times, I would attempt to clean my errors using chalk, only to find them reappearing later. So I resorted to using saliva, which did the trick but left unsightly holes in my books. Consequently, my teachers would scold me for being excessively messy. All I wanted to do was hide my mistakes.

Then, one day, a compassionate teacher who cared deeply for me took me aside and said, "Whenever you make a mistake, simply cross it out and move forward." He explained, "Trying to erase your mistakes will only damage your book beyond repair."

In protest, I told him that I didn't want others to see my errors. With a smile, my caring teacher responded, "Trying to erase your mistakes will only draw more attention to them, creating a lasting stigma."

Have you made mistakes in life? Cross them out and continue moving forward. Don't expose yourself by attempting to cover up your errors. There are brighter opportunities awaiting you in the future.

BAG OF COINS

Once in a village lived a very greedy man Paul. He always wanted to have lots of money and wish to own everything to himself. He used to calculate each and every small ways in which he can save and get more money.

 

He used to deceive others and many time told lies to protect his wealth. He was considered just opposite of Honesty. However one day he was taught good lesson because of his own act of greediness.

 

One day he missed a small bag of coins which contained 50 coins. He searched for it but couldn’t find it. He told his friends and neighbors and workers about his lost bag and requested them to inform him if they found it.

 

After couples of days, a little girl who used to live near Paul’s house found that bag. She told her father about it. Her father used to work in Paul’s land. He told his daughter that it was his master’s bag of coin and would return it to his master.

Despite being poor worker went to his master and returned the bag. Paul was happy to get that bag and because of his greediness decided to play a trick.

 

He shouted at his worker, “There were 75 gold coins in this bag but you gave me only 50 coins. Where are other coins? You have stolen them.!!”

 

Worker was shocked to hear that and pleaded to his master that he gave whatever her daughter found. But selfish and greedy Paul didn’t accept it and decided to take the matter to the court.

 

All went to court. Judge heard both sides and examined daughter and worker about number to coins they found and assured it was only 50.

 

Now judge cross examined Paul about coins to which he replied, “Yes lord, I had 75 coins in my bag but they gave me only 50. They have stolen my coins.”

 

Now, Judge made the judgement, “Since Paul lost a bag of 75 gold coins and bag found by girl had only 50 coins. So it doesn’t belong to Paul. So it was lost by someone else. In addition, if someone found any bag of 75 coins it would belong to Paul. There is no claims against lost of 50 coins. So i order girl and his father to accept 50 coins as token of appreciation for their honesty.”

 

MORAL

Honesty is Rewarded and Greediness is Punished. We should not be greedy and cheat others.

THE OPPRESSOR AND THE BLINDED OPPRESSED.

During the Soviet dictatorship of Joseph Stalin, he was a brutal dictator with mind of his own. On one fateful day, Stalin came to Politburo meeting with a live chicken. Standing in front of the audience, he started to pluck the feathers of the live chicken off one by one.

The chicken trembled in pain, blood tricking out of its pores. It gave out grievous cries, but Stalin being a cruel dictator continued without remorse plucking the feathers out until the chicken was completely naked. After which, he threw the chicken on the ground.

The naked chicken was staggering in pain. Stalin goes into his pocket and from his pocket, he took out some chicken food and started to throw it at the poor and hapless creature.

The poor chicken in pain started eating and Stalin started walking towards his seat. As he walked away, he kept dropping some feeds on the floor and the chicken followed him and sat feeding from his feet.

Joseph Stalin then turned to members of his political leadership. He said, "This chicken represents the people". He continued, "You must dis-empower them, brutalize them, beat them up, starve them and leave them".

"If you do this, go into your pocket and give them peanuts when they are in that helpless and desperate situation, they will blindly follow you for the rest of their life, worshiping you".

Finally he said, "They will think you are a hero forever. They will forget that you are responsible for their sorrowful situation in the first place".

MORAL: Be watchful of politicians.

 

UNNECESSARY DOUBTS.

A boy and a girl were playing together. The boy had a collection of beautiful marbles. The girl had some candies with her. The boy offered to give the girl all his marbles in exchange for all her candies. The girl agreed. The boy gave all the marbles to the girl, but secretly kept the biggest and the most beautiful marble for himself. The girl gave him all her candies as she had promised. That night, the girl slept peacefully. But the boy couldn’t sleep as he kept wondering if the girl had hidden some more tasty candies from him the way he had hidden his best marble.

MORAL: If you don’t give your hundred percent in a relationship, you’ll always keep doubting if the other person has given his/her hundred percent.

 

The fox and the grapes

One afternoon a fox was walking through the forest and spotted a bunch of grapes hanging from over a lofty branch.

“Just the thing to quench my thirst,” he thought.

Taking a few steps back, the fox jumped and just missed the hanging grapes. Again the fox took a few paces back and tried to reach them but still failed.

Finally, giving up, the fox turned up his nose and said, “They’re probably sour anyway,” and proceeded to walk away.

Moral of the story:

It’s easy to despise what you can’t have.

 

A Lesson in Forgiveness and Redemption: The Unforgettable Encounter

A young man saw his primary school teacher at a wedding ceremony.He went to greet him with all respect and admiration!! He said to him: "Can you still recognize me Sir?’ 'I don't think so!!', said the Teacher, 'could you please remind me how we met?'The student recounted:"I was your Student in the 3rd Grade, I stole a Wrist watch belonging to my then classmate because it was unique and fascinating.

My Classmate came to you crying that his Wrist Watch had been stolen and you ordered all Students in the class to stand on a straight line, facing the wall with our hands up and our eyes closed so you could check our pockets. At this point, I became jittery and terrified of the outcome of the search. The shame I will face after other Students discovered that I stole the Watch, the opinions my Teachers will form about me, the thought of being named a ' thief' till I leave the School and my Parents' reaction when they get to know about my action. All these thoughts flowing across my heart, when suddenly it was my turn to be checked. I felt your hand slipped into my pocket and you brought out the Watch. I was gripped with fear, expecting the worse to be announced. I was surprised I didn't hear anything, but Sir, you continued searching other Students' pockets till you got to the last person.

When the search was over, you asked us to open our eyes and sit on our Chairs. I was afraid to sit because I was thinking you will call me out soon after everyone was seated.

But to my amazement, you showed the watch to the class, gave it to the owner and you never mentioned the name of the one who stole the watch. You didn't say a word to me, and you never mentioned the story to anyone.

Throughout my stay in the school, no Teacher or Student knew what happened. This incident naturally taught me a great lesson and I resolved in my heart never to get myself involved in taking whatever is not mine. I thought to myself, you saved my dignity."

A young man saw his primary school teacher at a wedding ceremony.He went to greet him with all respect and admiration!! He said to him: "Can you still recognize me Sir?’ 'I don't think so!!', said the Teacher, 'could you please remind me how we met?'The student recounted:"I was your Student in the 3rd Grade, I stole a Wrist watch belonging to my then classmate because it was unique and fascinating.

My Classmate came to you crying that his Wrist Watch had been stolen and you ordered all Students in the class to stand on a straight line, facing the wall with our hands up and our eyes closed so you could check our pockets. At this point, I became jittery and terrified of the outcome of the search. The shame I will face after other Students discovered that I stole the Watch, the opinions my Teachers will form about me, the thought of being named a ' thief' till I leave the School and my Parents' reaction when they get to know about my action. All these thoughts flowing across my heart, when suddenly it was my turn to be checked. I felt your hand slipped into my pocket and you brought out the Watch. I was gripped with fear, expecting the worse to be announced. I was surprised I didn't hear anything, but Sir, you continued searching other Students' pockets till you got to the last person.

When the search was over, you asked us to open our eyes and sit on our Chairs. I was afraid to sit because I was thinking you will call me out soon after everyone was seated.

But to my amazement, you showed the watch to the class, gave it to the owner and you never mentioned the name of the one who stole the watch. You didn't say a word to me, and you never mentioned the story to anyone.

Throughout my stay in the school, no Teacher or Student knew what happened. This incident naturally taught me a great lesson and I resolved in my heart never to get myself involved in taking whatever is not mine. I thought to myself, you saved my dignity."

"Do you remember the story now Sir? You can't simply forget this story Sir!!"

The teacher replied, ' I vividly remember the story that I found the Watch in a pocket but I did not know in whose pocket the stolen Watch was found that day because I searched your pockets while I also had my eyes closed."

In life, we need wisdom for everything we do. As parents, teachers, Pastors, leaders etc... We should be able to close our eyes to some things. Not all misbehavior require punishment. Some will need encouragement, some mentoring and some monitoring.