Short Stories To Live By

Grab a handful of sand. Pick it up. The moment you start lifting your fist, you will see sands are falling.  Regardless of how loose or tight the grip of your fist is, sands are falling. And they will continue to fall, until you have most of the sand out of your grip. At times you will feel you have a good grip and they are not escaping anymore, but the reality is, sands are falling. You and I are here for the time being. And time is passing.  Every relationship you have around you, will end one day. They come with the expiration when they start.    My kids are the essence of my soul. The comfort of my eyes, will not be with me forever. Nor will I be with my wife, who completes me in every way.  Just as I was with my father for 32 years. Thats all I spend with him. If you think about it, 30-40 years is the average of a close relationship.  And those 30-40 years are made up of months, weeks, days, hours and seconds. And while I write this, seconds are passin...

Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem   Wa laqad khalaqnaakum summa sawwarnaakum summa qulnaa lilmalaaa'ikatis judoo li Aadama fa-sajadooo illaaa Ibleesa lam yakum minas saajideen Qaala maa mana'aka allaa tasjuda iz amartuka qaala ana khairum minhu khalaqtanee min naarinw wa khalaqtahoo min teen - (Quran Surah Al-A'raf, 7:11-12)   11. Verily We created you and gave you form and shape, and ordered the angels to bow before Adam in homage; and they all bowed but Iblis who was not among those who bowed. 12. "What prevented you" (said God), "from bowing (before Adam) at My bidding?" "I am better than him," said he. "You created me from fire, and him from clay." -  (Quran Surah Al-A'raf, 7:11-12) There is no planner better than Allah. His plans are the greatest and His plans are the only plans that pan out. I've thought often that if on that day, Iblis would've just bowed down, lowered himself, at Allah's command. One act of loweri...

"Are you sure you brought it back?", my wife asked me. "I thought I did, I remember putting it in my pocket when I was at the office", I replied. It was lost and I never saw it again. I am sure every one of us has had a similar incidents in the course of their lives, some like me, had had it more than the rest. We all lose things that we often find again, and other times, never see them again. What made me wonder however though, while sitting in my office, with so many things around me, was the idea that what if there is something around me, that I will never see again. The cup, the pen, the notebook, anyone of these things can be in my sight for their last time. This however does not end with things. This thought is universal. This moment, this meeting, this closeness can be the last of its kind with anything. The people we meet, what if it was the last time we met them. I didnt know when I was at the airport in 2017 that that was the last time I was going to hug m...

I've been researching about the existence of evil with the help of various books. My current read, at this time, January 11, 2023, is Evil and the God of Love by John Hick. The various thinkers over the course of time have presented their views and I respect their views. But for a layman like me, it didnt make sense. The one thing that I seem to not agree upon with most, is that they viewed the world, this form of our existence as the final form or destination. However, I seem to have a different view. Let me try to explain. We are a work in progress, going towards our destination. The evils, sufferings, trials of this world are a part of the process. This is my analogy. A factory owner has machines, that makes marbles. He is proud of His marbles. His staff does an impeccable job at making marbles. The marbles go through various different machines at different stages of the manufacturing. All marbles, however, start off as glass and silica. They are heated over 1700 degree Celsius,...

Today, upon a bus, I saw a girl with golden hair. and wished I was as fair. When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle. She had one leg and wore a crutch. But as she passed, a smile. Ya Allah, forgive me when I whine. I have 2 legs, the world is mine. I stopped to buy some candy. The lad who sold it had such charm. I talked with him, he seemed so glad. If I were late, it'd do no harm. And as I left, he said to me, "I thank you, you've been so kind. It's nice to talk with folks like you. You see," he said, "I'm blind." Ya Allah, forgive me when I whine. I have 2 eyes, the world is mine. Later, while walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue. He stood and watched the others play. He did not know what to do. I stopped a moment and then I said, "Why don't you join the others, dear?" He looked ahead without a word; and then I knew, he wouldn't hear. Ya Allah, forgive me when I whine. I have 2 ears, th...

There was a couple who used to go to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup. They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful." As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke. "You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay." My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "let me alone", but he only smiled, "Not yet." "Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around. Stop it! I'm getting dizzy!" I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet." Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him thr...

Once upon a time an old man spread rumors that his neighbor was a thief. As a result, the young man was arrested. Days later the young man was proven innocent. After been released he sued the old man for wrongly accusing him.   In court the old man told the Judge: 'They were just comments, didn't harm anyone.'   The judge, before passing sentence on the case, told the old man: 'Write all the things you said about him in a piece of paper. Cut them up and on the way home, throw the pieces of paper out. Tomorrow, come back to hear the sentence.'   Next day, the judge told the old man: 'Before receiving the sentence, you will have to go out and gather all the pieces of paper that you threw out yesterday.'   The old man said: 'I can't do that! The wind spread them and I won't know where to find them.'   The judge then replied: 'The same way, simple comments may destroy the honor of a man to such an extent that one is not ab...

Once there was a wise old man who could answer any question anyone asked him. Two young men decided to trick him. "We're going to fool that old man. We'll catch a bird and go to the old man and say, "This that we hold in our hands today, is it alive or is it dead?" "If he says 'Dead', we'll turn it loose and let it fly, and if he says 'Alive', we'll crush it." So they caught a bird and carried it to the old man. "This that we hold in our hands today, is it alive or is it dead?" they asked The old man looked at the men, smiled and replied: "It's in your hands." Smite or let go, so simple yet so devastating.

  Dunning-Kruger effect , in  psychology , a  cognitive   bias  whereby people with limited knowledge or competence in a given  intellectual  or social domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or competence in that domain relative to objective  criteria  or to the performance of their peers or of people in general.  According to the researchers for whom it is named, psychologists  David Dunning and  Justin Kruger, the effect is explained by the fact that the  metacognitive ability to recognize deficiencies in one’s own knowledge or competence requires that one possess at least a minimum level of the same kind of knowledge or competence, which those who exhibit the effect have not attained.  Because they are unaware of their deficiencies, such people generally assume that they are not deficient, in keeping with the tendency of most people to “choose what they think is the most reasonable and optimal option.”...

There was a good-natured millionaire in the town. Three beggars thought of approaching him for help.  The first man went to the millionaire and said: "O Lord! I want five rupees. Please give me." The millionaire was taken aback at this man's impudence. "What! You demand five rupees from me as though I owe you the money! How dare you? Here, take these two rupees and get away," he said. The man went away with the two rupees. The next beggar went to the millionaire and said: "Oh Lord! I have not taken a square meal for the past ten days. Please help me." "How much do you want?" asked the millionaire. "Whatever you give me, Maharaj," replied the beggar. "Here, take this ten rupee note. You can have nice food for at least three days." The beggar walked away with the ten rupee note.   The third beggar came. "Oh Lord, I have heard about your noble qualities. Therefore, I have come to see you. Men of such charitab...

Son: "Daddy, may I ask you a question" Daddy: "Yeah sure, what it is?" Son: "Dad, how much do you make an hour" Daddy: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" Son: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?" Daddy: "I make Rs. 500 an hour" "Oh", the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Dad, may I please borrow Rs. 300?" The father was furious, "if the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or other nonsense, then march yourself to your room and go to bed. Think why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior" The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour o...

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away.   As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother. But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars."   The man smiled and said, "Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose." He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers.   As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home. She said, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother." She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.   The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother's house. Moral: Don't Send Artificial Loves to your parents. Give them the respect and courtesy they desire. They are your most precious Tre...

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.  The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.  He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.  He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like ...

Your beliefs don't make you a better person,  your behavior does.

 "There is a price to pay to make the changes you want in life. There is also a price you’re already paying for staying the way you are. You have to weigh these two prices and decide what to do based on that comparison and no one can do that for you."

Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

A young man was proud of his healthy and beautiful heart. One day, standing in the middle of the town, he proclaimed that he had  the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered to have a look at his heart.  His heart was smooth, shiny and looked very healthy.  Indeed, the man had the most beautiful heart in the valley, everyone agreed. The proud young man felt delighted and boasted his perfect heart which everyone admired. Suddenly, a voice from the crowd said, “Your heart is not as beautiful as mine.” The young man searched for the person behind the voice and an old man appeared in front him. “Show us your heart if you believe you have got more beautiful heart than mine.” said the young man. The old man carefully showed his heart. The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart.  The heart was beating strongly and healthily but it was not smooth and shiny as the young man’s heart. Instead, it had scars all over it. It had places where...

  When You Thought I Wasn't Looking (A message every parent or adult should read, because children are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say.)   When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one. ********* When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals. ********* When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come from your eyes and I learned that sometimes things hurt, but it's all right to cry. ********* When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my favorite cake for me and I learned that the little things can be the special things in life. ********* When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a prayer, and I knew there is a God I could always talk to and I learned to trust in God. ********* When you thought I wasn't looking, I felt you ki...

  When you were born, you didn't come with an owner's manual; these guidelines make life work better.   1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's the only thing you are sure to keep for the rest of your life.   2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "Life on Planet Earth". Every person or incident is the Universal Teacher.   3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation. "Failures" are as much a part of the process as "success."   4. A lesson is repeated until learned. It is presented to you in various forms until you learn it: then you can go on to the next lesson.   5. If you don't learn easy lessons, they get harder. External problems are a precise reflection of your internal state. When you clear inner obstructions, your outside world changes. Pain is how the universe gets your attention.   6. You will know you've learned a lesson when...

I got up early one morning And rushed right into the day; I had so much to accomplish That I didn't have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me, And heavier came each task; 'Why doesn't God help me?' I wondered. He answered, 'You didn't ask.' I wanted to see joy and beauty But the day toiled on gray and bleak I wondered why God didn't show me He said, 'But you didn't seek', I tried to come into God's presence; I used all my keys in the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, 'My child, you didn't knock.' I woke up early this morning, And paused before entering the day; I had so much to accomplish That I had to take time to pray.