Who Would Like This Twenty-Dollar Bill?

Another inspiring short story i found in Paulo Coelho's book...

This is a story of a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill...

He holds up a twenty-dollar bill and start asking: 'Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?'

Several hands went up, but the lecturer said: 'Before i give it tou you, I have to do something.'

He screwed it up into a ball and said: 'Who still wants this bill?'

The hands went up again.

'And what if i do this to it?'

He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, trampled on it, and once more showed them the bill - now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up.

'Never forget this scene,' he said. 'It doesn't matter what I do to this money. It is still a twenty-dollar bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet despite all that, we are still worth the same.'

How Bananas teaches us the Meaning of Life

There was once a Nepalese Monk who had a philosophy of Bananas…

He opened the bag he was carrying and stood for a long time studying its contents. Then he said:

‘Did you know that banana can teach you the meaning of life?’

He took out a rotten Banana from the bag and threw it away.

‘That is the life that has been gone, and which was not used to the full and for which it is now too late.’

Then he drew out another banana, which was still green then put it back in the bag.

‘This is the life that has yet to happen, and which we need to wait until the moment is right.’

Finally, he took out a ripe banana, peeled it and shared it with the people around him.

‘This is the present moment. Learn how to gobble it up without fear or guilt.’

The Story of the Pencil

Here is a little story that inspired me yesterday that i hope to share with everyone.
I extracted the story from one of the short stories of Paulo Coelho's Like the Flowing River .

There were many more inspiring stories from the book mentions above, but then i like the idea of this story the most. I hope that in future, when me myself turns to be a mother or even a grandmother, i could be able to tell my children or grandchildren to be like the pencil, and holds on to the 5 qualities of a pencil! :D

Okie :) Hope you'll find the story below as inspiring as i did... Happy Reading :)
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A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important that the words, is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and he always guides us according to his will.

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in every action.’

(Quoted from Like the Flowing River by Paulo Coelho)