Keep Your Dream

I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Isidro. He has let me
use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs. The last time I
was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes
back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from
stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a
result, the boy's high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked
to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.

"That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse
ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch,
showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan
for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.

"He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his
teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note
that read, `See me after class.' "The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and
asked, `Why did I receive an F?' "The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like
you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a
horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original
breeding stock and later you'll have to pay large stud fees. There's no way you could ever do it.'
Then the teacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your
grade.

"The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should
do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a
very important decision for you.' "Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same
paper, making no changes at all.

He stated, "You can keep the F and I'll keep my dream."

Little Boy's Meeting with God

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived,
so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey. When he
had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in the park just staring at some
pigeons.

The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer
when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry, so he offered her a Twinkie. She gratefully accepted
it and smiled at him. Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a
root beer. Once again she smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating
and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was, and he got up to leave but before he had gone
more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug. She gave
him her biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his
mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made
you so happy?" He replied, "I had lunch with God." But, before his mother could respond, he added,
"You know what? She's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home. Her son was stunned by the
look of peace on her face and he asked, "Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?"
She replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." But, before her son responded, she added, "You
know, he's much younger than I expected."

Moral: God is everywhere. We just need to share our happiness and make others smile to feel him.
 Think Before You Speak

It was a sunny day, but the climate was enjoyable. Everyone in the railway station was waiting for
the train to arrive. Among the crowd, there was a group of friends, youngsters who were on board
for vacation. It was a busy station with juice shop, mobile restaurants, coffee and tea stalls,
newspaper shop, restaurants, etc. The announcement regarding the arrival of the train was made
and everyone prepared to get into the train to their appropriate places.

The group of friends made loud noise to welcome the train as it entered the station. They ran to
get their reserved seats before anyone could get into the train. The empty seats were filled and the
train whistled to move. An old man with a young boy aged around 15 years came running to catch
the train. They entered the train and the train started to move. They had their seats just adjacent to
the friends' group.

The young boy was so surprised to see everything. He acclaimed at his father, 'Dad, the train is
moving and the things are moving backwards.' His father smiled and nodded his head. As the train
started moving fast, the young boy again screamed, 'Dad the trees are green in colour and run
backward very fast.' His father said, 'Yes dear' and smiled.

Just like a kid, he was watching everything with great enthusiasm and happiness loaded with tons
of surprises. A fruit seller passed selling apples and oranges. The young boy asked his dad, 'I want
to eat apples.' His father bought him apples. He said, 'Oh apple looks so sweet than it tastes' I love
this colour.' The group was watching all the activities of this boy and asked the boy's father 'Is your
son having any problem? Why is he behaving very differently?'

A friend from the group made fun of him and shouted, 'His son is mad I think.' The father of the
young boy, with patience, replied to the friend-group. 'My son was born blind. Only a few days
before he was operated and got the vision. He is seeing various things in his life for the first time.'
The young friends became very quiet and apologized to his father and son.

Change Yourself and not The World

Long ago, people lived happily under the rule of a king. The people of the kingdom were very happy
as they led a very prosperous life with an abundance of wealth and no misfortunes.
Once, the king decided to go visiting places of historical importance and pilgrim centres at distant
places. He decided to travel by foot to interact with his people. People of distant places were very
happy to have a conversation with their king. They were proud that their king had a kind heart . After
several weeks of travel, the king returned to the palace. He was quite happy that he had visited many
pilgrim centres and witnessed his people leading a prosperous life. However, he had one regret.
He had intolerable pain in his feet as it was his first trip by foot covering a long distance. He
complained to his ministers that the roads weren't comfortable and that they were very stony. He could
not tolerate the pain. He said that he was very much worried about the people who had to walk along
those roads as it would be painful for them too! Considering all this, he ordered his servants to cover
the roads in the whole country with leather so that the people of his kingdom can walk comfortably.
The king's ministers were stunned to hear his order as it would mean that thousands of cows would
have to be slaughtered in order to get sufficient quantity of leather. And it would cost a huge amount of
money also. Finally, a wise man from the ministry came to the king and said that he had another idea.
The king asked what the alternative was. The minister said, "Instead of covering the roads with leather,
why don't you just have a piece of leather cut in appropriate shape to cover your feet?"
The king was very much surprised by his suggestion and applauded the wisdom of the minister. He
ordered a pair of leather shoes for himself and requested all his countrymen also to wear shoes.
Moral: Instead of trying to change the world, we should try to change ourselves.