Happy Birthday Mr. Fish

Better Living, Inspirational, , , , , ,

Today is my birthday. It is fun to see the nice things people can do for you. Modern technology has made it very easy to reach out to people. My wife will usually send me a very nice Facebook message with a picture of me. I think it very sweet of her. Many people will reach out to me with kind words.

One year one of the lunch ladies at my school saw a birthday post my wife sent me, then replied with her own message that read, “Happy Birthday and beware today! When I left to go to work I was surprised with two pieces of cake from my wife on the front seat of my car to take to work with another sweet note. She is so thoughtful. By the time I got to work I went from having a great day to a spectacular one.

When it was time for lunch to start the lunch lady made me a poster that said “Happy Birthday Mr. Fish with balloons. When each grade level was lined up waiting to get their food she said “make sure you say happy birthday to Mr. Fish today.” So out of 730 students at the school I think I heard Happy Birthday 900 times. When the fourth grade students came into the lunchroom they spontaneously started singing “Happy Birthday,” I was touched. It was very fun talking, and interacting with students.

I got to thinking about this experience when I realized how important it is to treat people how you want to be treated. Some of the students I talked to have never talked to me before, and several students wanted to give me a hug. Many years ago I decided to always give students respect even when you don’t feel they are respecting you. This simple act of kindness has paid off many times over. I love the students, and I know they love me.

Flower Seeds

Better Living, Inspirational, The moral of the story, , , ,

·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

Cowboy’s Reincarnation

Humor, , , , , , ,

“What is reincarnation?” A cowboy asked his friend.

“Well it starts” His old pal told him, “when your life comes to an end.”

They wash your face, and comb your hair, and clean your finger nails.

Then they stick you in a padded box, away for life’s travails.

Next, the box and you go in a hole that’s been dug in the ground.

It’s then that reincarnation starts, when your planted neath that mound.

The clods melt down, as does the box, and you who are inside.

And now you’re well into your transformation ride.

In a while the grass will grow upon that rendered mound,

and then one day upon that spot a lone  flower will be found.

And maybe a horse will wander by and graze upon that flower,

that once was you and has now become your vegatative bower.

Well, the flower eaten by the horse along with other feed

makes bone, and fat and muscle essential to the steed.

But there’s a part that he can’t use, and so it passes through,

and lies there on the ground, this thing that once was you.

And if by chance, I happen by and see this on the ground,

i’ll pause a while and ponder on this object I have found.

I’ll think of reincarnation and life and death and such,

and go away concluding, heck, you haven’t changed that much.

By Wallace McRae

Edited by Leon Ripplinger