The Stories Behind

We have all been taught many lessons in life. Some are quite “commonsensical”, and thus relatively easy for us to “digest” and accept. Others may appear to be straightforward, yet there seems more to it that we can understand more about to truly appreciate its value. Well, if you’re the kind of person like me who likes to ask whys and more whys..then this is just for you!

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Why we fall…...

Remember the latest Batman movie?
Why do we fall?
We fall so that we can learn to pick ourselves up.
We are already so familiar with this, if you think there is an even deeper meaning to it, just read on.

The Adversity Principle

There is, in the world of nature, a phenomenon known as the “Adversity Principle” which means that difficulties and hard times can actually be more beneficial to plants and animals than continual easy living. As strange as it seems, habitual well-being can be disadvantageous to a species. Think about the big male lion lying in a cage at the zoo. All his needs are met, and his hunting skills are useless. His muscles become flab as he yawns his way through the day. Meanwhile, the lion roaming free on the plains of Africa, stalking and competing for his next meal, remains fit and strong by the challenges and dangers he faces. This principle is seen throughout nature, where the necessity to adapt and struggle, if it doesn’t result in death and extinction, tends to product a tougher species with a better hold on life.

Could it also be that adversity is beneficial to human beings, as well? Within limits, that seems to be the case. Although we complain and squirm when it comes out way, our first response to trouble is to say, “Why me?” as though some injustice had befallen us. Could it be that we (and our children) need the disappointment, the inconvenience, the stresses, and the discomfort in our lives? I believe we do, and that character and strength are often the by-products not of pleasure, but of pain.

- Adopted from Today, 31st October, Dr James Dobson

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Is it always about you and yourself?

I dislike selfish people because I think it’s just right for people to learn to spare a thought for others. But I never really knew how to express myself when it comes to answering the question of why people can’t be selfish. But this story taught me something new…

The story of a farmer who grew award-winning corn.

Each year he entered his corn in the state fair it won a blue ribbon.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering in competition with yours each year?" the reporter asked.
"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn."

He is much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves.

So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who chose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

So if you have something good, don't keep it to yourself but share it.
It is when we give that we receive...and much more.

- From an email I received [James Bender, in his book How To Talk Well (New York: Mcgraw-Hill Book Co. Inc.1994)]