Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Worth of A Person

“The greatest lie ever told is that some people are worth more than others, not that it places certain people on a pedestal but that if some people are worth more it stands to reason that others are worth less. When you give yourself permission to think of others as worthless it opens up all manner of abuse and neglect.”

(source: Rick Tobias, Yonge Street Mission Director, The Earworm:The Genovese Effect)
see http://laurensheil.blogspot.com/2010/10/genovese-effect.html

Friday, October 22, 2010

Fable of the porcupine

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold.
The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together.
This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions even though they gave off heat to each other.

After a while, they decided to distance themselves one from the other
and they began to die, alone and frozen. So they had to make a choice: either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together. This way they learned to live with the little wounds that were caused by the close relationship with their companion, but the most important part of it was the heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

The best relationship is not the one that brings together perfect people, but the best is when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and can admire the other person's good qualities.

(source: Bob Alspaugh)

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Forgiveness

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past.
A healed memory is not a deleted memory.
Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget
creates a new way to remember.
We change the memory of our past
into a hope for our future.

Lewis B. Smedes

(source: Charles Pittman)

Monday, October 11, 2010

Life

Your aspiration is your motivation,
your motivation is your belief,
your belief is your peace,
your peace is your target,
your target is heaven,
and life is like hard core torture without it!

(source: Unknown)