The Ant and The Dove

One hot day, an ant was searching for some water. After walking around for some time, she came to a spring.

To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass. While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water.

She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly plucked off a leaf and dropped it into the water near the struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and climbed up there. Soon it carried her safely to dry ground.

Just at that time, a hunter nearby was throwing out his net towards the dove, hoping to trap it.

Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly bit him on the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter dropped his net. The dove was quick to fly away to safety.

One good turn deserves another.

Trapped in a well ?

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.

At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. with each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up!
Shake it off and take a step up.

The Story of Stone Soup

Once upon a time, somewhere in post-war Eastern Europe, there was a great famine in which people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find, hiding it even from their friends and neighbors. One day a wandering soldier came into a village and began asking questions as if he planned to stay for the night.

"There's not a bite to eat in the whole province," he was told. "Better keep moving on."

"Oh, I have everything I need," he said. "In fact, I was thinking of making some stone soup to share with all of you." He pulled an iron cauldron from his wagon, filled it with water, and built a fire under it. Then, with great ceremony, he drew an ordinary-looking stone from a velvet bag and dropped it into the water.

By now, hearing the rumor of food, most of the villagers had come to the square or watched from their windows. As the soldier sniffed the "broth" and licked his lips in anticipation, hunger began to overcome their skepticism.

"Ahh," the soldier said to himself rather loudly, "I do like a tasty stone soup. Of course, stone soup with cabbage -- that's hard to beat."

Soon a villager approached hesitantly, holding a cabbage he'd retrieved from its hiding place, and added it to the pot. "Capital!" cried the soldier. "You know, I once had stone soup with cabbage and a bit of salt beef as well, and it was fit for a king."

The village butcher managed to find some salt beef . . . and so it went, through potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, and so on, until there was indeed a delicious meal for all. The villagers offered the soldier a great deal of money for the magic stone, but he refused to sell and traveled on the next day. The moral is that by working together, with everyone contributing what they can, a greater good is achieved.

Its Never Too Late !!!

Moishe the Carpenter, returning home with his week's wages, was accosted by an armed robber on a deserted street.

"Take my money," said Moishe, "but do me a favour: "Shoot a bullet through my hat otherwise my wife won't believe I was robbed."

The robber obliged. He threw Moishe's hat into the air and put a bullet through it.

"Let's make it look as if I ran into a gang of robbers," said Moishe, "otherwise my wife will call me a coward! Please shoot a number of holes through my coat."

So the robber shot a number of holes through the carpenter's coat. "And now…" continued Moishe.

"Sorry," interrupted the robber. "No more holes. I'm out of bullets."

"That's all I wanted to know!" said Moishe. "Now hand me back my money and some more for the hat and coat that you've ruined or I'll beat you black and blue!"

The robber threw down the money and ran away.

Moral:
It's never too late to use our brains to get out of a difficult situation!!

Excellence

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for our own satisfaction and efficiency...

The working Ant

Every day, a small ant arrives at work very early and starts work immediately. She produces a lot and she was happy.

The Chief, a lion, was surprised to see that the ant was working without supervision. He thought if the ant can produce so much without supervision, wouldn't she produce even more if she had a supervisor!

So he recruited a cockroach who had extensive experience as supervisor and who was famous for writing excellent reports. The cockroach's first decision was to set up a clocking in attendance system. He also needed a secretary to help him write and type his reports and …... he recruited a spider, who managed the archives and monitored all phone calls.

The lion was delighted with the cockroach's reports and asked him to produce graphs to describe production rates and to analyse trends, so that he could use them for presentations at Board's meetings. So the cockroach had to buy a new computer and a laser printer and ...... recruited a fly to manage the IT department.

The ant, who had once been so productive and relaxed, hated this new plethora of paperwork and meetings which used up most of her time…!

The lion came to the conclusion that it was high time to nominate a person in charge of the department where the ant worked. The position was given to the cicada, whose first decision was to buy a carpet and an ergonomic chair for his office. The new person in charge, the cicada, also needed a computer and a personal assistant ,who he brought from his previous department, to help him prepare a Work and Budget Control Strategic Optimization Plan …

The Department where the ant works is now a sad place, where nobody laughs anymore and everybody has become upset...

It was at that time that the cicada convinced the boss , the lion, of the absolute necessity to start a climatic study of the environment .Having reviewed the charges for running the ant's department , the lion found out that the production was much less than before.

So he recruited the owl , a prestigious and renowned consultant to carry out an audit and suggest solutions. The owl spent three months in the department and came up with an enormous report , in several volumes, that concluded : " The department is overstaffed ...


"Guess who the lion fires first? The ant , of course, because she "showed lack of motivation and had a negative attitude".

What is the Problem ?

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus depot, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.


At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a Pathan got on. Six feet four, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground.. He glared at the conductor and said, "Pathan doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

Conductor didn't argue with Pathan, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened – Pathan got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next..

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way the Pathan was taking advantage of the poor conductor. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself.

So, on the next Monday, when the Pathan once again got on the bus and said, "Pathan doesn't pay!"

The driver stood up, glared back at the Pathan, and screamed, "And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, the Pathan replied,.......... "Pathan has a bus pass."

Moral:
Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one.

Stop walking in your shoes

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes and went directly to the surgery block. He found the boy's father going and coming in the hall waiting for the doctor. Once seeing him, the dad yelled:

Why did you take all this time to come? Don't you know that my son's life is in danger? Don't you have the sense of responsibility?

The doctor smiled and said:
I am sorry, I wasn't in the hospital and I came the fastest I could after receiving the call And now, I wish you'd calm down so that I can do my work

Calm down?! What if your son was in this room right now, would you calm down? If your own son dies now what will you do?? said the father angrily

The doctor smiled again and replied: I will say what Job said in the Holy Book From dust we came and to dust we return, blessed be the name of God. Doctors cannot prolong lives. Go and intercede for your son, we will do our best by God's grace.

Giving advice when we're not concerned is so easy Murmured the father.

The surgery took some hours after which the doctor went out happy,

Thank goodness!, your son is saved! And without waiting for the father's reply he carried on his way running. If you have any question, ask the nurse!!

Why is he so arrogant? He couldn't wait some minutes so that I ask about my son's state Commented the father when seeing the nurse minutes after the doctor left.

The nurse answered, tears coming down her face: His son died yesterday in a road accident, he was in the burial when we called him for your son's surgery. And now that he saved your son's life, he left running to finish his son's burial.