Tag: #morals

A Turtle That Couldn’t Swim…

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 12 Comments

My 7 year old daughter told me a story recently. She is really good in making up stories and comes up with something new very often. Now this one was about a turtle which couldn’t swim. The story goes like this…..

Once, there lived a turtle on a rock near to the pond. He used to cry everyday looking at the water. One day, a crow saw him crying and asked the reason. He said that he is a turtle but cannot swim. This makes him sad and that is why he is crying. Then the crow said, “I can only teach you fly, sorry.” After saying that the crow flew away.

After a few days, one of the fishes in the pond saw him crying. Fish asked him about the reason for being so sad. He said, “I’m a turtle but I cannot swim.” Fish said, “You cannot swim because you are not trying enough. You just sit on the rock and cry all day. That is not going to make you swim. You need to try harder.” Listening to that, he became sadder and started to cry louder.

Then, one day, he saw a happy tortoise walking slowly near the pond nibbling flowers and leaves. At that moment, he realised that he couldn’t swim because he was not a turtle, he was a tortoise!

The story is short and simple. But, it has a huge lesson to give us. It’s about self awareness. We will be crying all our lives thinking about all the things that we cannot do or we don’t have if we don’t know exactly who we are just like that tortoise who thought it was a turtle. With self awareness, we learn our own strengths and weaknesses which in turn helps in our own development.

This story, also teaches us that unless we help ourselves no-one can help us in understanding the real us. Our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues can only give their own views and perceptions about us which may not be true. The act of gaining self awareness may take time and energy as you will have to go through a lot of reflection and introspection but it is worth it for all good reasons.

I don’t know how a 7 year old can come up with something like this, but, she surprises me everyday. And I’m, just a proud mom.

-JMJ

Fingerprints…

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 36 Comments 

It's all over me and inside me,
From the uppermost layers of dead cells of my skin,
To the innermost dark caves of my soul,
From birth to till this age, 
All those fingerprints had made me,
And moulded me.

The tapping hands on my back when I was born to make me breath,
The soothing ones when I cried,
The loving touch of my mother and father,
And the caring ones of my beloved grandparents.

The naughty ones of my little brother who pulled my hair during fights,
Teachers who gave their blessings on my head,
The friends who loved to hold my hands and hug,
And the family next-door who gave me food when my parents were not at home.

The touch of a person who I loved the most,
The words of the same which made prints on my heart and soul,
The people who disgraced me for who I'm,
The hands which tore me inside out.

The little fingers which aroused all my motherly instincts,
To love and to care without any conditions,
To be strong against all the evils when it's needed,
To find happiness and be hopeful about the future.

The person who left me hanging on the thread,
The people who ruined everything what was left,
The hands which shattered everything one after another, 
To destroy my life and to crush my spirit. 

All those fingerprints in my life,
Taught me how to be a human,
To be brave and vulnerable at the same time,
To be positive when I find negativity all outside,
To smile and be kind to someone who is being unkind.

-JMJ

The Remorse

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 26 Comments 

I saw a girl down the street,
A toddler who loved a treat,
With an innocent smile she wandered around,
From one place to another as she didn't remember where she was found.
With a plastic carry bag on her hand,
She was following the big girl who was in command,
Picking up the litters to buy some food,
But I'm sure it was no good.
I walked past her in a hurry to get my bus,
Thinking that I would get another chance and no need of a fuss,
Doing the same thing the whole week,
Finally I found sometime for the weak.
Waiting for her with a bag in my hand,
I never thought that I would be so late to understand,
That reaching out to others is never a waste of time,
Now, all I got is a feeling of remorse that I was not there for her on time.
                     -JMJ

The Volcano

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 11 Comments

Once there was a beautiful place with lots of trees, plants, animals and birds. A place like heaven where the day started with the blooming flowers and chirping of birds and ended with an amazing view of sunset and the nights were so serene. A volcano too lived among them. She loved to see lives around her and was proud of the place where she was situated.

One day, the volcano was tagged as an extinct one as she had not erupted for a long time and scientists could not find any activity within her. So, people started to come to this beautiful place to see the volcano as well as to make some business out of it. Many of them who came, were not that gentle towards her or to the place which she loved. They exploited it so much that place started to ruin it’s beauty. As people thought that the volcano was extinct, they used to go nearer to her and threw stones at her. People love to tease and attack something which they think that can’t react, don’t they? It continued for a long time and what happened was unexplainable. The volcano erupted with a maximum intensity and she started to spit fire balls along with the lava and poisonous gas. The whole place was turned to ash and the lava engulfed everything, people, animals, birds, trees and plants. Nothing survived.

Now, the volcano was tagged as active. People were afraid not even to go nearer to volcano but to the place. She waited patiently because she knew that the place will be beautiful and she will be happy. After a few years, she was proud of the place again where she was situated and she lied dormant once again watching the beautiful sight around her hoping that she won’t be tagged as extinct again.

I have tried to make my point using a parable here. I hope that you will like it. Please leave your comments on the topic as I would really love to read them.

Honesty is still the best policy….

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 9 Comments

Nowadays, we find a lot of people around us who love to twist the truth for their own benefits. They don’t mind even if it tarnishes the character of a person or hurts a person to an extent that it can cause mental imbalance. Only thing that these kind of people care, is their own safety and reputation.

Let me tell you a story about two nurses, a staff nurse and a senior nurse. One day, it was noticed during the pharmacy check that some of the drugs of a patient were missing as there was no record of it being given to the patient. It came to the notice of the ward manager that those two members of the staff were working on the day when the patient was discharged. Both of them were summoned. The staff nurse knew that it was her senior who discharged the patient but as it happened a while ago, she could not recollect what really happened. So, she told the ward manager that she really doesn’t remember. The senior staff member blamed the junior one for the incident, even though she knew that it was her mistake. The pharmacist found out later that the medicines were given to the patient but the problem was in the documentation. If only, the senior staff could have told the truth that she forgot to sign, the junior one didn’t have to go through all the tension and insult.

Who do you think that you feel like giving respect, the staff nurse or the senior nurse? Does the position or status of a person is more valuable than the virtues of another? Do you think that you will benefit more with dishonesty and lies and also that those profits are really profits? Do you think that accepting our mistakes can make us less honored?

One of the virtues that I really value is honesty and I really think that if a person can’t be honest then he or she cannot be trusted. I also think that if a person can’t own up their mistakes, then they have a weak character. To lie and to put our fault on someone else’s head is a grave mistake than the one originally committed. It not only causes problems to an innocent person but also takes the chance to correct our mistakes and to make things right. Being honest can be difficult, but in the long run that will give us the true happiness and success in the life.

If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.

Virginia Woolf

It’s discouraging to think how many people are shocked by honesty and how few by deceit.

Noël Coward

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

Albert Einstein

Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.

Thomas Jefferson

It takes strength and courage to admit the truth.

Rick Riordan

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Abraham Lincoln

Please leave your comments on the topic as I would really love to read them.

I Promise You!

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 11 Comments 
I promise you! Is it just one of those regular sentences that we speak or the faith and hope that we give to someone?

First story… I was on my leave a few days ago when my daughter came to ask to play with her. I was busy doing some housework so I asked her to tidy up her room. She agreed to do it but made me to do a pinky promise that I would play with her after that. After tidying up her room, she came to me and asked, “Can we play now?” and I said yes. She was jumping with excitement and joy. I could see in her eyes how happy she was that I kept my promise.

Second story… an old woman of about 83 years was admitted in the hospital. She was promised by the doctors that she could be discharged on the day. The day passed but she wasn’t discharged from the hospital as they had to do few more tests. On the second day, the doctors promised the same but nothing happened. She was sad but she waited for the next day so that she could go back to her nursing home where she loves to live with her friends. The third day’s promise and the same experience made her so angry, anxious and worried that she said why wouldn’t they say me anything if they already knew the rules and protocols before I go to my nursing home. She called her son and started crying. I had to talk to her son and clarify the matter with him but as expected he wasn’t happy. He told me that he was really disappointed on the matter that his mother was promised three days in a row that she was going to be discharged which never happened and it made her so uncomfortable and nervous.

Another one…a friend of mine told a story about a family. A man everyday promises his wife of 15 years that he would stop drinking alcohol. His wife gives him chances after chances but she doesn’t find any changes in him or in his behavior after taking alcohol. Years of physical and mental abuse makes her depressed and everytime he drinks she asks only one thing, “why can’t you keep just one promise so that we can live like a family? Why wouldn’t you take an effort to stop it as you promise me everyday?” She carries on to do her role as a mother to her two children because she loves them a lot but is completely detached from her husband as she has lost all her hope. She is now living a miserable life.

All of the above stories shows the significance of promises that we make and how we keep them. A promise gives hope to people. It makes the people to believe in other person and to have faith in them. No matter the age of the person, from a small child to an elderly person, a broken promise can break the trust on the person who made the promise and also can cause disappointment and sadness. So, before we say “I promise you!” it is really essential to think whether we can make that happen or not. If not, do not make promises because you do not break a promise instead you break a heart.

A promise made is a debt unpaid.

Robert Service

Promises are like the full moon, if they are not kept at once they diminish day by day.

German Proverb

Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.

Benjamin Franklin

Breach of promise is a base surrender of truth.

Mohandas Gandhi

Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves.

Richard Paul Evans

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character, not wealth or power or position, is of supreme worth.

J.D. Rockefeller

It’s not what a person tells you that matters. It’s how they treat you that reveals their true feelings. Their character is revealed not by the promises they make, but by the promises they keep.

Anonymous

Promise is a big word. It either makes something or it breaks something.

Anonymous

Please leave your comments on the topic as I would really love to read them.

The Sword Of Damocles!

~ Joyce Mary J ~ 24 Comments

In general, people love to have a fairy tale life. The “happily ever after” ones, where there is no sorrow, disappointment or frustration. The kind where one is only loved and trusted and where one can believe another with their lives. We tend to fancy on other’s lives which seem perfect for our eyes. The grass is always greener on the other side, isn’t it?

Damocles was a courtier in the court of Dionysius II of Syracuse, a ruler in Sicily. The ancient moral parable explains how Damocles was attracted to the throne and the luxuries which came with it and how simply Dionysius gave him a life lesson. The throne which had a double edged sword hanging above with a single hair of the horse’s tail was offered to Damocles for one day. Damocles jumped on the offer and then only he could find the dangers of being the ruler and the anxieties and the fear which came along with it. So, what is the moral of the story?

The Sword Of Damocles

Everyone has their own sword hanging above and no one’s life is perfect. A millionaire who has all the luxuries of the earth would be lonely and depressed whereas a poor man could have a lovely family and friends who love and care about him. So, wishing to have another’s life is a great mistake. We don’t know of what they are suffering from. Instead, what should we actually do is to be grateful for the life which we have and to create a positive environment for us and for others.

Another lesson that we can learn from this story is that we cannot enjoy our life if we have fear inside our heart. The fear of criticism, fear of failing, fear of not being good enough, fear of getting the disease and fear of death are just a few examples that most of us are afraid of. In order to live a happy life make sure to get rid of all the fears and live in the moment. Celebrate the little things in your life because ultimately they are the most important ones.

In conclusion, I think that it is essential to be grateful for the life which we got and to find happiness in the moments. At last, those simple moments are the most valuable treasures in our lives.

Kindly share your thoughts on the same as I really love to read them all.