Kindness

If you are busy being kind,

Before you know it you will find
You soon forget 'twas ever true
Don Bosco Utume February 03, Sunday: Issue 53
That someone was unkind to you?
If you are busy being glad, • Jambo You(th) is a weekly news letter aimed at helping the Youth in moulding their daily
And cheering people who are sad, lives in Christ.
Although your heart may ache a bit, • Our vision is expressed in just two phrases: GOOD CHRISTIANS and RESPON-
You'll soon forget to notice it.
SIBLE CITIZENS.
If you are busy being true, Features
To what you know you ought to do, Pep-up : Stories for Reflection
You'll be so friendly you'll agree, To the Young : The Challenge of Jesus
How wonderfully interesting life can be. Think about it! : Ways to Harmony and Peace
Saint of the Week : St. Dorothy
Peace Poem : Kindness
Peace is not the product of terror or fear. Last Drop : Whom to Blame?
Peace is not the silence of cemeteries. Let there be Peace
Peace is not the silent revolt of violent repression. A wise old gentleman retired and purchased a modest home near a junior high school. He
Peace is the generous, tranquil contribution spent the first few weeks of his retirement in peace and contentment…then a new school year
of all to the good of all. began. The very next afternoon three young boys, full of youthful, after-school enthusiasm,
Peace is dynamism. Peace is generosity. came down his street, beating merrily on every trash can they encountered. The crashing per-
It is right and it is duty. cussion continued day after day, until finally the wise old man decided it was time to take some
action.
Bishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980)
The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the young percussionists as they banged their way
down the street. Stopping them, he said, “You kids are a lot of fun. I like to see you express
your exuberance like that. Used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a
Last Drop favour? I’ll give you each a dollar if you’ll promise to come around every day and do your thing.”
This is a story about four people, named Every body, Some body, The kids were elated and continued to do a bang-up job on the trash cans. After a few days,
Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and the old-timer greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad smile on his face. “This reces-
Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could sion’s really putting a big dent in my income,” he told them. “From now on, I’ll only be able to
have done it but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans.” The noisemakers were obviously displeased, but they
because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought that Anybody did accept his offer and continued their afternoon ruckus.
could do it, but Nobody realised that Anybody wouldn't do it.
A few days later, the wily retiree approached them again as they drummed their way down the
street. “Look,” he said, “I haven’t received my Social Security Check yet, so I’m not going to be
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did
able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?”
what Anybody could have done. “A lousy quarter?” the drum leader exclaimed. “If you think we’re going to waste our time, beat-
ing these cans around for a quarter, you’re nuts! No way, mister. We quit!” And the old man
NB: Send your questions, comments or feedback to jamboyouth@yahoo.co.uk For further informa- enjoyed peace and serenity for the rest of his days.
tion and back issues of Jambo You(th) please check on our website: www.jamboyouth.multiply.com
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Editors: Anastasio Sdb & Shyjan Sdb
TO THE YOUNG
The Challenge of Jesus
I am furious, and He tells me: FORGIVE!
I am AFRAID, and He tells me: TAKE COURAGE!
I have DOUBTS, and He says to me: HAVE CONFIDENCE!
I feel RESTLESS, and He says to me: BE CALM!
I prefer to go MY OWN WAY, and He tells me: COME, AND FOLLOW ME!
I make MY OWN PLANS, and He says to me: FORGET ABOUT THEM!
I am towards MATERIAL GOODS, and He says to me: LEAVE THEM BEHIND!
I want SECURITY, and He says: I PROMISE YOU ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I like to live MY OWN LIFE, and He says: LOSE YOUR LIFE!
I believe I AM GOOD, and He tells me: GOOD IS NOT SUFFICIENT!
I like to BE THE BOSS, and He says: SERVE!
I like to COMMAND OTHERS, and He says: OBEY!
I like to UNDERSTAND, and He says: BELIEVE!
I like CLARITY, and He speaks in PARABLES.
I like POETRY, and He speaks to me of REALITIES.
I like my TRANQUILITY, and He likes me to be DISTURBED.
I like VIOLENCE, and He says: PEACE BE WITH YOU!
I draw the sword, and He says: PUT THAT AWAY!
I think of REVENGE, and He says; OFFER THE OTHER CHEEK!
I choose HATRED, and He says: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES!
I speak of ORDER, and He says: I HAVE COME TO CAST FIRE UPON THE EARTH!
I try to sow HARMONY, and He says: I HAVE COME TO BRING DIVISION!
I like to be the GREATEST, and He says: LEARN TO BE AS LITTLE AS A CHILD!
I like to be HIDDEN, and He says: LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!
I seek the BEST PLACE, and He says: SIT IN THE LAST BENCH!
I like to be NOTICED, and He says: PRAY IN YOUR ROOM BEHIND LOCKED DOORS!
No, I do not understand this Jesus.
He provokes me. He confuses me.
Like so many of His disciples,
I, too, would like to follow another master,
Who would be more certain and less demanding.
But my experience has been almost the same as
Peter: “I do not know of any one else, WHO HAS THE WORDS OF ETERNAL LIFE.”
If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.
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Ways to Harmony and Peace
• A little more patience to bear up with this person, with whom I am compelled to
live, and who is not at all congenial to me.
• A little more firmness to continue this work which duty demands and which is so
repellent to me.
• A little more humility to remain at the post, to which God has led me and
which does not correspond with my dreams and plans.
• A little more commonsense to take people as they are, not as I would like
them to be.
• A little more prudence to bother as little as possible about others and their
affairs.
• A little more strength to endure an event which suddenly and profoundly dis-
turbs my peace of soul.
• A little more cheerfulness so as not to show that I have been hurt.
• A little more unselfishness in trying to understand the thoughts and feelings of
others.
• Above all, a little more prayer to draw God to my heart and take counsel with
Him.
Mrs. Gladdys Medina
SAINT for the WEEK
February 6 St. Dorothy
She was a martyr in Caesarea (Cappadocia, central Turkey) during the great persecution
of the Emperor Diocletian (313). Solid historical fact is lacking, but that is compensated for
by the beautiful if legendary "Acts of St. Dorothy". According to this account, as she was
taken to her death for refusing to worship idols, a lawyer named Theophilus made fun of
her and asked her to send him fruit from the 'garden of Paradise' where she maintained
she was going. In response to her prayer, an angel duly appeared and presented to Theo-
philus a basket containing three roses and three apples. This apparition was enough to
cause his instant conversion, and, in turn, his own martyrdom for the faith. The cult of St.
Dorothy was popular in Western Europe especially in the late Middle Ages and her repre-
sentation can be seen in surviving pre-Reformation art in East Anglia, for example. The
shrine of St. Dorothy is in Rome, in the church dedicated to her in Trastevere (i.e. the
'other side' of the Tiber). She is the patron saint of florists and greengrocers, and her feast
day is the occasion for a blessing of a whole cornucopia of flowers, vegetables and fruits,
many of an exotic tropical kind such as she would never have known in her lifetime in the
arid steppes of Turkey.
Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace.
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