The travelers and the plane tree

Two travelers, worn down by the heat of the sun, decided to throw themselves on the ground to rest under a large plane tree. While they were resting under its shade, one man said to the other:
-"What useless tree this is! I see that it doesn't bear fruit, and I think we cannot use its wood for anything."
-"Don't be so ungrateful," rustled the tree in reply. "I am being extremely useful, shielding you from the hot sun. And you dare to call me useless and unhelpful!"

Always, we must appreciate and show gratitude for the goods received. Big or small, they're all for our benefit.

A best friend story

A story tells that there were two friends walking through the desert, and at one point during the trip, they had an argument.

The one who was offended, wrote in the sand:

-"Today, my best friend slapped me in the face."
They went ahead and reached an oasis where they decided to take a bath.
The one who had been slapped and hurt, started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he had recovered from the near drowning, he took a stiletto and wrote on a stone:

-"Today, my best friend saved my life."
Intrigued, the friend who had saved him asked:
-"Why after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone?"
With a huge smile on his face, he replied:

-"When you are offended by a great friend, you should write it in the sand, where winds of forgetfulness will take care of erasing it; on the other hand, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind in the world will be able to erase it."

Do not value the things that you have in your life. But value who you have in your life.

The master and the scorpion

An Asian master who was watching a scorpion drowning, decided to take it out from the water. But when he did, the scorpion stung him. 
From the effect of the pain, the master dropped the animal, which again fell in the water drowning. The master tried to get it out again, and the animal stung him again.
Someone who had observed everything, approached the master and said:
-"Excuse me, but you are stubborn! Don't you understand that whenever you attempt to pull it out from the water, it will sting you?"
The master replied:
-"The nature of the scorpion is to sting, and this will not change mine which is to help."
And then, with the help of a leaf, the master drew the animal from the water and saved its life.

Do not change your nature if someone hurts you;just take precautions.

The gift of insults

Near Tokyo there lived a great Samurai, now very old, who used to teach Zen Buddhism to young people. In spite of his age, legend told that he was still able to defeat any adversary.

One afternoon, a warrior, who he was known for his complete lack of scruples, showed up there. He was famous for using techniques of provocation: he waited until his adversary made the first move, and being gifted with an enviable intelligence which allowed him to repair any mistake, he counterattacked with lightning speed.
The young and impatient warrior had never lost a fight. Knowing the Samurai's reputation, he had come to beat him, and increase his fame.
All of the students were against the idea, but the old man accepted the challenge.
Everyone went to the town square, and the young man started insulting the old master. He threw some rocks in his direction, spat in his face, shouted every insult he knew, and he even insulted his ancestors. For hours, he did everything he could provoke him, but the old man remained impassive. At the end of the afternoon, feeling exhausted and humiliated, the impetuous warrior left.
Disappointed by the fact that the master had received so many insults and provocations, the students asked him: 
-"How could you bear such indignity? Why didn't you use your sword, even knowing that you might lose the fight, instead of being a coward in front of us all?"
-"If someone comes to you with a gift, and you don't accept it, who does the gift belong to?" Asked the Samurai.
-"He who tried to deliver it," - replied one of his disciples.
-"The same goes for envy, anger and insults." - said the master. -"When they are not accepted, they continue to belong to the one who carried it with them."

Author: Paulo Coelho 

The story of the pencil

A boy was watching his grandfather write a letter. At one point, he asked:

"Are you writing a story that happened to both of us? Is it about me?"

Grandpa stopped writing and with a smile spread on his face, said to the grandson:

"That's true. I'm writing about you. However, the pencil is more important that the words I'm writing. I would like you to be like it when you grow up."

The boy looked at the pencil, and he didn't see anything particular about it.

"But it's the same as all the pencils that I've ever seen in my life!"

'It depends on the way in which you look at things. There are five qualities it has, if you maintain them, they'll keep you at peace with the world.'

"First: you can do great things, but don't ever forget there is a hand guiding your steps. We called it God, and he'll always lead you in the direction of his will."

"Second: Once in a while, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but it's sharper at the end. Therefore, you must be able to bear some pains, because it'll make you a better person."

"Third: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to erase what is wrong. You must understand that correcting something we have done is not necessarily a bad thing, but something important to keep us in the path of the righteousness."

"Fourth: what really matters in pencil is not wood, but instead the graphite inside. Therefore, you always take care of what happens inside of you."

"And finally the fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In the same way, you have to know everything you do in life will leave traces, and try to be mindful of every action."

Author: Paulo Coelho

The Bottle

There was a man lost in the desert, destined to die of thirst. Luckily, he arrived at a crumbling old cottage. No windows. No roof.

He walked around and found a small shadow where sat down protected from the heat and the sun of the desert. Looking around, he saw an old water pump. It was completely rust. He crawled toward it, took the handle and began pumping without stopping, but nothing happened. Disappointed, he wiped his wet forehead with his hand and lay on his back. His arms lay limply on the floor at his sides. Then he noticed that there was a bottle by his side. He picked it up and read the label: "You first need to prepare the bomb with all the water that it contains, then, please have the courtesy to fill it again before you leave."

The man took the lid off the bottle and saw that it was full of water.

"I could drink this water, and I might survive. But I could fill the pump. Maybe I'd get fresh and cold water from the bottom of the pit, and I could take all the water that I want. What should I do?" He thought.

In the end, he emptied all the water into the pump, grabbed the handle and began pumping. The pump started to grind, but nothing happened.

He was breathing hard with his eyes locked on the pump, a sad expression on his face. The pump continued whining. And then suddenly a little flow started to pour. The water ran with abundance, fresh and clear water.

With a startled expression on his face, he filled the bottle and drank anxiously. Immediately after, he filled it up to the next traveller, took the note and added another phrase: "Trust me it works, you have to give all the water before you get it back."

A few times in life, we have excellent opportunities that we can help us to be a better person. But perhaps we are afraid. We pull back ourselves because our insecurity paralyzes us. And if we overcome our fears, we could take everything that we want.  

Man's Best Friend

I want to share this letter in honor of miles dogs who die every day in oblivion.

Dear friend, I see you're crying because it's my time to go. Please do not cry. I want to explain to you some things.

You' re sad because I've gone and I'm happy because I met you. How many like me, die every day, without having met someone special?

Sometimes, we spend so much time alone and down on our luck! We only know the cold, the thirst, the danger, the hunger. We also have to worry about how we'll get something to eat and where we'll spend the night.

We see many faces every day that pass us by without even a look, and sometimes it's better that they don't look at us, as they might realize that we are there and harm us. Sometimes, we might have the great luck that among the people passing an angel might stop and pick us up. Sometimes, those angels come in a groups, and they're organized. Sometimes, there are other angels that send help to us. And then it all changes. If it's necessary, they will take us to another type of angels who knows much and give us medicines to heal. They choose a strange word that they pronounce every time we come. 'name' I think that is what they call it. And that makes us feel special, we cease to be anonymous, of being one of many. And we know what a house is like! Do you know how important that is for us? We don't have to be afraid anymore, no more hunger, or cold, or pain, or danger. If you could take into account how happy that makes us feel. For us, any house is like a palace! We do not care if it's going to rain, or have to worry that someone is going to hurt us. And mostly we're not alone anymore because no animal likes to be alone. What more you could ask for?

I know that you are sad at my departure, but I have to go now. I want to ask you not to blame yourself for anything. I heard you sobbing that you should have done more for me. Please do not say that, you did a lot for me! Without you, I wouldn't have known all the nice things that I'm taking with me.

Please, don't cry! I leave a happy person, taking with me the memory of the name, and every caress you gave me, the sound of your voice talking to me, even though you didn't always understand what you told me.

My task from here on is to help you not to be too sad. Tonight when you look at the sky and see a star blink I want you to know I am trying to catching your eye, telling you that I have arrived well and to thank you for the love that you have given me. 

I say goodbye for now. There's a heaven for special people like you. The same sky where we're going. I'll be waiting for you.