Category Archives: The moral of the story

The Mountain of Burdens

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The wind howled against the cliffs as a man climbed a steep, jagged mountain. Ropes and heavy packs were tied across his shoulders and arms, each one pulling against him. The ropes strained and tightened with every step, rubbing against his skin as he leaned forward, straining upward toward the fading light. The sky glowed red behind him—a reminder that daylight was running out.

“Why is he so slow?” voices echoed from below. “Can’t he pull harder? We’re falling behind!” He heard them, but didn’t answer. His footing was unsteady, and every move sent pain through his arms. Each pack he carried held more than supplies—they carried the hopes, fears, and mistakes of those tied to him. He wanted to move faster, to lift them higher, but the mountain gave no mercy. The stones shifted beneath him, and the weight only grew heavier.

From below, they saw only his strength, the steady climber who never faltered. But inside, his muscles trembled and his lungs burned with every breath. The ropes pressed heavily against his shoulders, pulling tighter with each step, and the red sun turned the sweat on his back into a sheen of fire. Still, he climbed, not for praise but for love. To those who relied on him, his silence looked like indifference. Yet in truth, it was all he could give while fighting to stay balanced himself.

When he finally reached a narrow ledge, he paused to catch his breath. The ropes still tugged, reminding him that leadership, love, and responsibility often come with unseen weight. He realized that climbing wasn’t about being the strongest—it was about holding on, even when every muscle screamed to let go.

We all carry ropes that bind us to those we love. Some weights are seen, others remain hidden. True strength isn’t climbing alone, it’s carrying others with compassion, even when the mountain rises higher than our own strength.

The Weight We Can’t See

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At the edge of a steep cliff, a man strains to pull a woman to safety. His arms shake beneath the weight of a hidden boulder pressing down on his back. Below him, the woman clings to his hands, her feet slipping against the rough stone. She doesn’t see the rock crushing him, and he doesn’t see the snake coiled in the shadows beside her.

“Why isn’t he trying harder to pull me up?” she cries silently, panic rising in her chest.
“Why can’t she climb faster?” he wonders through clenched teeth, the pain burning through his shoulders.

The man doesn’t know the danger below her. The woman doesn’t know the agony above him. Each is fighting their own battle, unaware of the other’s struggle.

The truth is, we can’t always see the pressure others are under, and they can’t see our pain. Life is about understanding each other. What looks like weakness may be pain. What feels like indifference may be exhaustion.

We rarely see the full weight others carry or the fears that hold them back. If we could, we might offer more patience, more compassion, and more grace. True understanding begins when we stop assuming and start caring.

A Tale of Two Cars

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Screen shot 2014-10-04 at 5.25.06 PMSeveral years ago my dad was a teacher at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of my dad’s former students, Mike, owned a car dealership that sold many high end cars. One day my dad decided to drop in, and say hello to a former student. While visiting he asked, “Mike, tell me one of your most interesting stories here at your car dealership.” Mike replied,” A few months ago a man in torn ragged clothes came into the show room looking at all the cars on display. It was not uncommon for homeless men and women to wander in off the streets to warm up from the cold. When this man came in, he was spending most of his time looking at the Rolls Royce automobiles.

Mike noticed he had two salesmen that could have helped this man, but chose not to. Feeling a little embarrassed that his salesmen were in no hurry to help this man, he went up to this man and asked if he could help him. He began to tell Mike that he had always wanted to own a Rolls Royce, and it was his wife’s birthday. He wanted to surprise her with a white Rolls Royce, and he wanted to get a black one for himself. The commission that the salesmen passed up would have given them an equivalent of four months of pay on those two cars. Mike called the bank, and the cars were ordered while the salesmen were left squirming with their mouths wide open. They judged this man unfairly because of the clothes he was wearing.

The moral of the story: Don’t judge anyone, even people dressed in rags could end up helping you more than you realize.

 

A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words.

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A woman was flying from Seattle to San Francisco. Unexpectedly, the plane was diverted to Sacramento.

The flight attendant explained that there would be a delay, and if passengers wanted to get off the plane they would re-board in 45 minutes.

Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind.

A man had noticed her as he walked by and could tell the lady was blind because her guide dod lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her throughout the entire flight. He could also tell she had flown this very flight  before because the pilot approached her, and calling her by name, said, “Kathy, we are in Sacramento for almost an hour, would you like to get off and stretch your legs?”

The blind lady said, “No thanks, but maybe Buddy would like to stretch his legs.”

All the people in the gate area came to a complete stand still when they looked up and saw a pilot walk off the plane with a guide dog for the blind! Even worse, the pilot was wearing sunglasses!

People scattered. They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!

The moral of the story: Even though a picture is worth a thousand words, never assume you know the whole story. 

Flower Seeds

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·An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water.

At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water..

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

‘I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house.’

The old woman smiled, ‘Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?’

‘That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them.’

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table.

Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house.’

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.

SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path! God Bless You all!!!

  UKNOWN

   Rumi

Programming For Success

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One day, as a small child, Thomas Edison came home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He said to her, “Mom, my teacher gave this paper to me and told me only you are to read it. What does it say?” Her eyes welled with tears as she read the letter out loud to her child… “your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have good enough teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself.”

Many years after Edison’s mother had died, he became one of the greatest inventors of the century. One day he was going through a closet and he found the letter that his old teacher wrote his mother that day. He opened it… The message written on the letter was, “your son is mentally deficient.We won’t let him come to school any more.” Edison became emotional upon reading it and then wrote in this diary… “Thomas A. Edison was a mentally deficient child whose mother turned him into the genius of the century.”

A positive word of encouragement can help change anyone’s destiny.

A Tale of Two Cars

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Screen shot 2014-10-04 at 5.25.06 PMSeveral years ago my dad was a math teacher at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. One of my dad’s former students, Mike, owned a car dealership that sold many high end cars. One day my dad decided to drop in, and say hello to a former student. While visiting he asked, “Mike, tell me one of your most interesting stories here at your car dealership.” Mike replied,” A few months ago a man in torn ragged clothes came into the show room looking at all the cars on display. It was not uncommon for homeless men and women to wander in off the streets to warm up from the cold. When this man came in, he was spending most of his time looking at the Rolls Royce automobiles.

Mike noticed he had two salesmen that could have helped this man, but chose not to. Feeling a little embarrassed that his salesmen were in no hurry to help this man, he went up to this guy and asked if he could help him. He began to tell Mike that he had always wanted to own a Rolls Royce, and it was his wife’s birthday. He wanted to surprise her with a white Rolls Royce, and he wanted to get a black one for himself. The commission that the salesmen passed up would have given them an equivalent of four months of pay on those two cars. Mike called the bank, and the cars were ordered while the salesmen were left squirming with their mouths wide open. They judged this man unfairly because of the clothes he was wearing.

The moral of the story: Don’t judge anyone, even people dressed in rags could end up helping you more than you realize.

Chinese Farmer Zen Story

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Chinese Farmer.jpgChinese Farmer Zen Story

Here is a lovely Zen story, popularly known as the Chinese farmer Zen story or the  “Good luck bad luck” Zen story.

An elderly, hard-working Chinese farmer and his son, had a single horse. They used the horse to plow the field, to sow the seeds, grow the crop, and transport it to the market. The horse was essential for the farmer to earn his livelihood.

One morning, the horse broke the fence and ran away into the woods. When the neighbors found out that the only horse the farmer had, had run away, they came to solace him. They said – “Your only horse has run away just before the planting season. How will you till the land? How will you sow the seeds? This is unfortunate. This is bad luck.”

The farmer replied – “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”

A few days later the farmer’s horse returned from the woods along with two other wild horses. When the neighbors found out the news, they said – ” Now you have three horses! You can till the land much faster with three horses. Maybe you can buy more land and sow more crop and make more money. Or you can sell the other two horses. Either way, you will be a rich man! This is good luck! “

The wise farmer replied – “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”

Next morning, the farmer’s son started training the wild horses so that they would help till the land. While attempting to mount one of the wild horses, he fell down and broke his leg. Just before the sowing season, the son would not be able to help the farmer with his broken leg. The neighbors came once again and commented – ” This is really unfortunate. This is bad luck.“

The wise farmer repeated – “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”

A few days later, the king’s men started to visit each village in the kingdom. A war had started between their kingdom and a neighboring enemy state. The king’s men were enlisting the eldest son from each family to join the army so that they could defeat the enemy state. When they came to the farmer’s house they saw the son with the broken leg. He would not be of much use in the army and hence they didn’t take him. He was the only eldest son in the entire village who was not forcibly taken by the king’s men to fight the war. The neighbors, some of them with teary eyes, came once again to the farmer and commented – “Your son breaking his leg was really fortunate. He is the only one who was not taken. What a stroke of good luck.“

The farmer calmly replied – “Good luck, bad luck. Who knows?”

Every single time the neighbors thought that what had happened to the farmer was bad luck, it turned out to be good luck! And just when the neighbor’s thought that the incidents had brought the farmer good luck, it turned out to be bad luck! Have you had similar experiences in your own life? What you thought was a setback turned out to be a blessing? And what you thought was unfortunate turned out to be beneficial? However, in the interim, we go through an emotional roller-coaster of happiness and sadness!

The moral of the story?

As human beings, we have a tendency to interpret any and all events as either good or bad. Often we do it unconsciously. When we interpret events as good luck, we are usually happy and vice-versa. However, most events, like in the story, that are beyond our control are just events! There is nothing we can do about these events that are beyond our control, except accepting them and moving on. Adding our interpretation and the emotional drama into the mix is usually counterproductive and stops us from moving forward.

In fact, the moral of the story is nicely summarized in the “serenity prayer”

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

As told by Tushar Vakil

You Can Have Whatever You Want 

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Crocodile in the water.pngA very wealthy man was having a party with friends. There was a large swimming pool in the yard. Turning to the guests he said, “This pool is full of crocodiles and alligators. If anyone of you is able to swim across the pool, I will give you whatever you request.

Suddenly there was a splash and a man was in the pool frantically swimming, dodging from side to side just barely avoiding the crocodiles and alligators that were fiercely grabbing for him. He did make it to the other side and was met by a big applause of the witnessing crowd.

Amazing said the rich man. “I didn’t think anyone could do it, so what is your request?”

“All I want is the name of the one who pushed me in the pool.”

The moral of the story is when desire, true grit and determination come together you can accomplish anything.

Church Gossip

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Gossiping Women
Irene the church gossip, and self appointed monitor of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose into other people’s business.  Several members did not approve of her extra curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused George, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old blue pickup parked in front of the town’s only bar one afternoon.  She emphatically told George, and several others, that everyone seeing it there would know exactly what he was doing.

George, a man of few words, stared at her for a few moments and just turned and walked away.  He didn’t explain, defend or deny!  He said nothing!  Later that evening, George quietly parked his  blue pickup in front of Irene’s house …. walked home …. and left it there….all night!Blue Pick-up

The moral of this story is don’t judge others. Even the most obvious situations are not what they appear to be.