The Ugly Duckling

Mummy Duck lived on a farm, and in her nest, she had five little eggs and one big egg. One day, the five little eggs began to crack with gentle taps. Out came five adorable, yellow baby ducklings.

Then, the big egg started to crack with loud bangs. An enormous, unattractive duckling emerged. "That's strange," thought Mummy Duck. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to play with him. "Go away," his brothers and sisters said. "You're ugly!"

The ugly duckling felt sad and decided to search for new friends. However, each animal he approached told him to go away. The pig, the sheep, the cow, and the horse all rejected him. Feeling cold, the ugly duckling found shelter in an empty barn, where he lived alone and lonely.

Eventually, spring arrived, and the ugly duckling left the barn to return to the pond. Thirsty, he dipped his beak into the water and saw a beautiful, white bird. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "Who's that?"

"It's you," replied another beautiful, white bird.

"Me? But I'm an ugly duckling."

"Not anymore," said the other bird. "You're a beautiful swan, just like me. Would you like to be my friend?"

"Yes," he smiled.

All the other animals watched as the two swans flew away, destined to be friends forever.

Focus on self-improvement instead of criticizing others or letting their criticism affect you.

Have Close Friends And Family

In December of 2003, Joyce Vincent died of an asthma attack in her North London flat. The television was left on.

The mail continued to be delivered. Her rent was set up to be automatically deducted from her bank account.

The days rolled by and no one noticed she was gone. Those days turned into weeks and the weeks into months.

There were large trash dumpsters on the side of the building next to her unit, so the neighbors never thought much of the smell emanating from her flat.The floor was full of noisy kids and teenagers and no one questioned the constant thrum of television noise in the background.

Eventually, Joyce’s bank account dried up.

Her landlord sent her letters of collection. These letters, like the others, simply fell into the stacks scattered about her floor. They went unanswered.

Finally, with more than six months of overdue rent, the landlord got a court order to forcibly remove her from the premises.

The bailiffs broke down the door, and it was only then her body was discovered. By then, it was January, 2006, more than two years after she passed away.

In that time, nobody ever came looking for Joyce Vincent. No family or friends. No co-workers. No neighbor knocked on the door to see if things were all right.

Morals:

Set close friends and family on speed dial and have those who have kept on you on the same. Be checking on your friends and family now and then.

 

Canute and The Sea

 

Canute was a great king. He was also a great soldier. He feared God. He loved his people. One day he went to the sea-shore. He sat on a chair close to the water. His friends stood behind him.

One of the friends said, “My Lord! You are the master of the world. Even the waves of the sea will obey your orders."

The king said nothing in reply. He turned to the waves and said, “This is my order to you. Don’t come near me. Go back! I am your master. Obey me!"

But the waves came nearer. They flowed over the king’s feet.

The king then said to his friend, “I am not great! God alone is great! He rules the world. The Sun, The Moon, The Stars and The Sea obey only His Orders."

Canute put aside his crown. He did not wear it from that day.

The Wolf in Sheep Skin

 

A wolf was walking in the countryside. He found a sheep-skin spread on the ground. He thought, "If I wear this skin and get mixed up in the flock, the shepherd will not suspect me. At night, I will kill a stout sheep and then take him away with me".

The wolf covered himself with the sheep-skin and got mixed up with a flock of sheep. As he had expected, the shepherd took him as a sheep and shut him also in the pen. The wolf was waiting for the night.

The shepherd had a feast that night. He sent a servant to fetch a fat sheep. The servant saw the sheep-skin covered wolf by chance. That night, the guests had the wolf for supper.

MORAL : Evil thoughts have evil ends.

The False Human Beliefs

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time can break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

MORAL: Failure is a part of learning. We should never give up the struggle in life. You Fail not because you are destined to fail, but because there are lessons which you need to learn as you move on with your life.

Bad Temper

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry. The wound is still there."

 

MORAL

A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

Best Mother On Earth - Think Positive

 

One day a mentally troubled child came home and gave a letter to his mother. He told her,

“My teacher gave this letter to me and told me to only give it to my mother.”

Reading through the letter, the mother could not believe her eyes. Gradually her eyes filled with tears.

"Mum is there a problem?

Did I do something wrong in school" the boy asked.

With a shaky voice, the mother slowly began to read the contents of the letter to her son.

“Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself.”

The boy was dumbfounded.

The next morning, Nancy Edison pulled her son out of the school and from that day, began to teach him diligently at home.

Many years later, Thomas Edison had grown into the most prolific inventor of his time.

He had invented the electric light bulb, the first electric generator, the first record player (called the phonograph then), submarine radar, a cinema, and about one thousand other inventions that helped to usher in the modern age.

He was celebrated worldwide as the father of inventions.

Meanwhile, his mother had passed away quietly.

One day he was going through her closet and found the letter which was given to him by his teacher for his mother.

He remembered it was the same letter that made his mother pull him out of school and undertake many years of homeschooling.

So he opened it.

The message written in the letter was,

“Your son is mentally ill. We can not let him attend our school anymore. He is expelled.”

Thomas Edison then realized what his mother did, which probably saved his life and future.

For several hours he sat motionless with tears streaming down his face.

Finally, he gathered enough strength and wrote in his diary,

“Thomas Alva Edison was a mentally ill child whose mother turned him into the genius of the century.”

LESSON - A single word can make or destroy a child's future.

As parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandma and grandpa etc.) and teachers, we all have a role to play in building and activating the glorious destiny of children...

Be Inspired

Tell them positive things.