<TT>This is a good story and is true, please read it all the way through until the end! </TT> <TT>I got this forwarded by my friend </TT><TT> I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. </TT> <TT>The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called "Smile." The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions. </TT> <TT>I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway, so, I thought this would be a piece of cake, literally. </TT> <TT>Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son. </TT> <TT>We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had </TT><TT>moved. </TT> <TT>As I turned around I smelled a horrible "dirty body" smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. </TT> <TT>He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. </TT> <TT>The second man fumbled with his hands! as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation. </TT> <TT>I held my tears as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they</TT> <TT>wanted. </TT> <TT>He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the </TT><TT>restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm). </TT> <TT>Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me, judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. </TT> <TT>I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand. </TT> <TT>He looked up at me with tears in his eyes, and said, "Thank you." </TT> <TT>I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this for you. God is here working</TT> <TT>through me to give you hope." </TT> <TT>I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope." </TT> <TT>We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give. We are not church goers, but we are believers. </TT> <TT>That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love. I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. </TT> <TT>I turned in "my project" and the instructor read it.</TT> <TT>Then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?" I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. </TT> <TT>She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed In my own way I had touched the people at</TT> <TT>McDonald's, my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student. </TT> <TT>I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn: UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE! </TT> <TT>Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE. </TT> <TT>Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your</TT> <TT>heart. </TT> <TT>To handle yourself, use your head. </TT> <TT>To handle others, use your heart. </TT> <TT>God Gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest. </TT>
Wow what a post!! I was literally in tears while reading it. Most of us lavishly spend on gifts to give to those whom we know, whether they need them or not. But we will truly please ourselves by those sweet gestures we could do to strangers and less privileged. Sridhar i was reminded of one situation from the book of shirdi sai baba's saccharitha, when i read this post. "A lady who is a staunch devotee of BABA, is having lunch at a friend's feast. A dog comes by looking hungry and anticipating. That lady kind-heartedly puts few pieces of roti in the dog's direction. The dog eats those pieces gratefully and goes away. Later, this lady brings some food for Baba. Baba says I am full, u only gave me roti. The lady does not understand a thing and she asks as to when she gave him food. So he replies i came in the form of the dog and had the roti pieces u put. Further he adds i exist in all forms of life. So never turn away a hungry life and blesses that lady ." The lady in the story has done the same and i can imagine the happiness her soul has experienced from her kindly act and the blessings she would have received from God. Ur post drives us all for some serious introspection. Thanks for sharing a wonderful post.
This story unites us all - the entire mankind! Prathi, the human race takes pleasure in finding distinctions within the race and somehow claiming superiority. About a third of the human race claims superiority on account of the colour of their skins; another third on account of the language they speak - it goes on and on. Basically we are divisive in nature. Stories like these (blessed be the friend who forwarded this mail to me) reminds us that we are the same under our skins - whether we live in sweltering heat or sub-zero temperatures, whether we eat animals or herbs, whether we click our mouse to do our work or chase the mice as part of our work, whether we can read or not and finally whether we get our daily food or not. Prathi, I too was in tears when I read this and before my tears dried up I posted this in the site. Bring this to the attention of as many members as possible. Any movement for world peace and unity can only start from gestures like this; our grand attempts for peace like the United Nations, League Of Nations etc. have been all grand failures. thanks for the nice words, Prathi. Those words really belong to that wonderful woman in the story, who to me, the Mother Goddess Herself who took a human form to teach us how to love and accept. sridhar
wonderful post Hello Sridhar, A beautiful post from you. I think if every one of us can extend a little helping hand (some way or other), this world would become a paradise; like the song - Just another day for you and me in Paradise by Phil collins..... I'm a chocoholic and one section of my handbag is always filled with all kinds of chocolates..everytime while going out or while waiting for signal at traffic - my daughter and myself look around for children to give away the chocolates and I tell you sridhar - the whole expression on their face changes.. and its as if they've got the whole word in their hands and nothingelse can ever give u so much joy and that feeling of overwhelming love. Everytime somebody goes abroad, we get a suitcase full of chocos and I tell you by sharing it with the less privileged, I think my daughter is learning an important lesson of sharing things; she being the only daughter this is one way of making her understand things and the rude world outside......... I started this by asking my daughter to give chocos to small children and I tell her to observe the reaction.. this is when she was young - I did it just to divert her attention or to change her mood when she becomes crankier, but even today she does it and its become a frequent action and b4 handing out she tells to herself - now I'm gonna make this boy smile - its a very casual statement but I'm sure she'll understand the intensity of it very soon........
I am happy, Meena I am happy Meena that you liked the post and happier still that you and your daughter are already practising what that lady did in McDonalds. After seeing a lot of grand events, pompous celebrations I now know for sure that the real happiness for us lies in small things which make others happy. About 6 months ago I was going in my bike. Suddenly there was a heavy rain and may people took shelter under a large canopy of a petrol bunk. The place was nice and warm and we were perfectly sheltered from the rain. The rain stopped in a few minutes and in the wink of the eye, everyone was gone. I thought about the petrol bunk. It had provided us one of the three fundamental human needs - shelter - albeit for a few minutes. I put the bike on the stand and went in to see the manager. I told him how happy I was to have stayed in the bunk when there was rain outside. And what a nice service he had one to some 100 people who would otherwise be fully drenched. I thanked him profusely before I left the place. Meena, you should see the expression on his face. Another second more he would have wept. We being men carefully avoided a scene and went about our ways. It was a small thing, a simple act; but it stays in my mind for ever. The whole day thereafter was different, happier and more fulfilling. May your choco-kindness increase. May you see more and more smiles on others faces and may your life be happy and fulfilling. sridhar
Very touched by ur experiences!! Yes Shridhar u r right. Real happiness lies in small things which make others happy. These acts we will never be able to erase of our hearts no matter what changes happen in our lives. As a college girl, and bred in a middle class family, i used never have lot of money in my pockets. It was enough for me to go to the college and may be have a few snacks with my friends and thats about it. Everyday when i got off the bus while returning home, there was this old man, almost 80 and he was a beggar. I used to see him almost everyday and would hand him over 1 rupee or 50 paise. But on occassions when there was more money with me i used to give 10 rupees or how much ever came to my mind. My friends used to say we should not encourage them. But everytime i saw him my throat choked with pain . I was reminded of my grandfather who was of his age and who had a home, good food and people to take care of him, while this man was left on the streets to beg for food.. I thought that was the least one can do for another human. Till day i am not able to forget that old man who made a lasting impression on my heart and really taught me to have a different outlook on life. But the best part of this is its us who benefit more than them. Seeing urs and meena's post we can see the happiness u guys took from the kind act of urs which glistened as smiles in other peoples faces. May be the receiver feels happy for a span of time and forgets it. But we who have committted a kindly act can never erase those impressions and i am sure we will be encouraged to do more and more of the same if not for anything else but just to experience that sheer happiness we get from it. That was a very thought provoking post, which will surely churn such memories in every reader's mind. Thanks again sridhar.
Thanks Prathi, Once Again! I feel very happy to have kindled memories of good gestures in you again. I have been continously thinking of the effects of good and evil thoughts and deeds. Many religions say that good deeds bring their rewards and bad ones, their punishments. Now I am convinced that the good deeds are their own rewards and bad deeds, their own punishment. If you are sensitive enough and good enough, when you do a good deed, that itself is the reward. After experiencing the good feeling your mind is full. You don't expect wait for another reward from God or for that matter anybody. You don't even want a recognition for that deed. That's life Prathi. There is no heavan or hell away from the present situation. When you don't look for secondary rewards, when you don't have any ulterior motives in doing good deeds, then the mere act of doing them is the reward. The same case applies to bad deeds also with the reversal of signs. Very rarely a person gets the opportunity of touching other's lives in such a significant manner. The lady at Mcdonalds and the friend who sent me the mail have touched all our lives in a significant manner. It's a blessing, Prathi. We all feel blessed. sridhar
Thanks for passing on the SMILE! Sridhar, That post really made me cry. But the irony is that the lady was asked to document the reactions after she smiles at a stranger! But i have had such experiences , that too being in a foreign country. I have seen many a old person smiling at me and i have responded also. It does give a good feeling. I always tell my daughter that it is a good way of passing a positive energy around us . We both do this often and share those experiences which again strenthens us.. Also your thoughts on good deeds and bad deeds is very true, i believe them to a large extent! Hope more people read all this and get reinforced in their beliefs and thus lead the world to a better future ! Thanks to the others also for sharing thier experiences, shows that we do have our share of Good souls around still! regards,
