Inspiring and Thoughtful Stories

Inspiring and Thoughtful Stories

The water bottle beside a water pump

There was a man who had walked in the desert for two days. En route, he encountered a sand strom. After the fierce winds and blowing sands had passed, he was unable to recognize the right direction. Just as he could sustain no longer, he suddenly found a small abandoned house. He dragged his body with fatigue and entered the house.

This was a house without ventilation and piled-up with rotten wood. In desperation, he walked to the corner of the house, and to his surprise, found a water pump. He tried excitedly to pump water, but no matter how hard he tried, not a single drop came out.

Collapsing to the ground, he saw a small corked water bottle next to the water pump. On the bottle was a yellowish paper which read:” You must pour ou the water into the water pump in order to pump water! Don’t forget, please fill the bottle with water again before you leave!”

He pulled out the cork and indeed discovered that the bottle was filled with water! His mind started to struggle… Out of selfishness, as long as I drink all the water in the bottle, I will not die and can walk out of this house alive! If I follow what is written on the paper and pur the only water available into the water pump, in case no water comes up, the I will die of thirst here. Should I take the risk or not?

Finally, he decided to pour the whole bottle of water into the water pump which looked shabby and unusable. He drew water with a shaking hand …. water truly gushed out!

After he had satisfied his thirst, he filled the bottle with water and recorked it. Then, he added his own words at the bottom of the paper: “Believe me, it truly works.” Enlightenment: Learn to give before taking.

The Arrangement of the Angel

Two traveling angels came to a rich family and asked to stay for the night. This family was not friendly towards them, they refused to let the angels rest in a comfortable guest room. Instead, the family gave them a comer in the cold basement. When the angels were setting the bed, the older angel saw a hole in the wall, so he patched it up. The younger angel asked for the reason, the older angel said, “Some things are not how they look.”
On the second night, the two angels arrived at a poor farmer’s house, and asked to stay for the night. The farmer couple welcomed them with great warmth. They offered all of their very little food to the two guests, and also let the angels sleep in their bed. The following morning, the two angels saw that the farmer and his wife were crying. Their milk cow, the only source of income, had died last night.

The younger angel was very angry, he questioned the older angel for a good explanation. The first family had everything, and the older angel even helped them patch up a hole in the wall. The second family was very kind even when they were so poor, yet their cow had died.
“Sometimes things are not as they look, said the older angel, “when we were staying in the basement of the rich family, I looked through the hole in the wall and found that there was a pile of gold behind the wall. Because the owner was already blinded by greed, he was not willing to share, so l patched up the wall.”
“Last night, the angel of Death came for the farmer’s wife, I let the milk cow take her place. So sometimes things are not as they look.”

Story of Alexander the Great

When Alexander the Great was young, he was extremely powerful and influential. He made conquests everywhere, including most of the three major continents in Europe, Asia, and Africa, which were once belonged to ancient Greece.

Alexander the Great had countless treasures, lands, and subordinates (people); however, this mighty conqueror died at a very young age of 33, and he was nationally mourned. Before his death, Alexander the Great requested to carve out two holes at the sides of his coffin. When he lay inside the coffin, he
wanted both of his hands dangling out from his coffin. He told people next to him that he would like to warn the world of the lessons he had learned: Although he owned countless treasures and attained the highest status, he could not take anything with him.

At his deathbed, he called his generals and told them that he had three wishes that they must carry out. He said, “My first desire is that’, said Alexander, “my physicians alone must transport my coffin back to the city.
Secondly, when my coffin is being carried to the grave, the path leading to the graveyard is to be strewn with gold, silver and precious stones which I have collected in my treasury. My third and last wish is that both my hands are to be kept dangling out of my coffin.”
The people who had gathered there wondered at the king’s strange wishes. But no one dared to bring the question to their lips, so they were silent with the orders. At this very confusing moment, Alexander explained the reason for having these three last wishes, “First, I want my physicians to carry my coffin to show people that no doctor can really cure anybody from sickness. They are powerless and cannot save a person from the clutches of death. So people must not take life for granted. The second wish of strewing gold, silver and other riches on the way to the graveyard is to tell people that not even a fraction of gold will come with me. I spent all my life earning riches but cannot take anything with me. Let people realize that it is a sheer waste of time and life to chase after wealth. Wealth cannot buy back time and life. And about my third wish of having my hands dangling out of the coffin, I wish people know that I came empty-handed into this world and I go out of this world empty-handed as well.

Inspiring and Thoughtful Stories

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