Morality Consists In The Motives...

There once lived a great mathematician in a village outside Ujjaini in India. He was often called by the local king to advice on matters related to the economy. His reputation had spread as far as Taxila in the North and Kanchi in the South.

So it hurt him very much when the village headman told him, “You may be a great mathematician who advises the king  on economic matters but your son does not know the value of gold or silver.”

The mathematician called his son and asked, “What is more valuable - gold or silver?”

“Gold,” said the son.

“That is correct. Why is it then that the village headman makes fun of you, claims you do not know the value of gold or silver? He teases me every day. He mocks me before other village elders as a father who neglects his son. This hurts me. I feel everyone in the village is laughing behind my back because you do not know what is more valuable, gold or silver. Explain this to me, son.”

So the son of the mathematician told his father the reason why the village headman carried this impression:

“Every day on my way to school, the village headman calls me to his house. There, in front of all village elders, he holds out a silver coin in one hand and a gold coin in other. He asks me to pick up the more valuable coin. I pick the silver coin. He laughs, the elders jeer, everyone makes fun of me. And then I go to school. This happens every day. That is why they tell you I do not know the value of gold or silver.”

The father was confused. His son knew the value of gold and silver, and yet when asked to choose between a gold coin and silver coin always picked the silver coin.

 “Why don’t you pick up the gold coin?” he asked.

In response, the son took the father to his room and showed him a box. In the box were at least a hundred silver coins. Turning to his father, the mathematician’s son said, “The day I pick up the gold coin the game will stop. They will stop having fun and I will stop making money.”

Being sure dosen't mean being right...

A woman was waiting at an airport one night
With several long hours before her flight
She hunted for a book in the airport shop
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see
That the man beside her as bold as could be
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag between
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene
She munched cookies and watched the clock
As this gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by
Thinking "If I wasn't so nice I'd blacken his eye"
With each cookie she took he took one too
And when only one was left she wondered what he'd do
With a smile on his face and a nervous laugh
He took the last cookie and broke it in half
He offered her half as he ate the other
She snatched it from him and thought "Oh brother
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude
Why he didn't even show any gratitude"
She had never known when she had been so galled
And sighed with relief when her flight was called
She gathered her belongings and headed for the gate
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate
She boarded the plane and sank in her seat
Then sought her book which was almost complete
As she reached in her baggage she gasped with surprise
There was her bag of cookies in front of her eyes
"If mine are here" she moaned with despair
"Then the others were his and he tried to share"
"Too late to apologize she realized with grief"
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief
                                                             - A Poem by Valerie Cox

A king was passing through a small town, and he saw indications of amazing marksmanship everywhere.

Trees, barns, walls and fences had circles painted on them with a bullet hole in the exact center.

He asked to see this unusual marksman.

That turned out to be a ten year old child.

"This is incredible," said the King in wonder. "How do you make the hole right at the center of all the circles so perfectly?"

"Easy!" was the answer. "I shoot first and draw the circle later."

We get our conclusions first and build our premises around them later. We listen not to discover, but to find something that confirm our own thoughts. We argue, not to find truth, but to vindicate our thinking

Club 99 ...

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite of his luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much joy. The King asked the servant, 'Why are you so happy?'
The man replied, 'Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummies.'
The King was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor.
After hearing the King's woes and the servant's story, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The Club 99.'
'The Club 99? And what exactly is that?' the King inquired.
The advisor replied, 'Your Majesty, to truly know what The Club 99 is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep.' 
The King did as advised by his advisor.
When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy. So many gold coins! He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, 'What could’ve happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!'  He looked everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted he decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin. He even stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The Club 99.'
He continued, 'The Club 99 is a name given to those people who have  enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always  yearning and striving for that extra 1, saying to themselves: 'Let me  get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.'
We have so much to be thankful for and we can live with very little in our lives, but the minute we are given something bigger and better, we want even more! We are not the same happy contented person we used to be, we want more and more and by wanting more and more we don’t realize the price we pay for it. We lose our sleep, our happiness; we work a lot but stop enjoying that; we hurt the people around us just as a price to pay for our growing needs and desires. That is what joining The 99 Club is all about. It is hard to contend against one's heart's desire; for whatever it wishes to have it buys/earns then at the cost of soul and peace, and we stop living life then.  Until you make peace with what we do, what we have and who we are, we'll never be content and happy. Who is rich? One that is content. And who is that? - Everybody, Anybody or Nobody?

Give a closure look before say "No"

There was a wealthy man who wanted to give away $1,000,000 to a stranger who was willing to receive it.

He asked his assistant to carry a brief case containing $1,000,000 cash and to go out one night to knock at doors to offer the money to anyone who was willing to open their door and listen to him.

The assistant did exactly as his employer instructed.

But to his surprise he received almost the same respond from all the people whose doors he knocked. All of them turn him away without giving him a chance to explain about his mission.

Some of them said, “Sorry, I am not interested in anything that you are offering.”

While others said, “I am not interested in buying what you are selling.”

Some said, “The owner is not home”.

Whatever their reasons they all missed out on the opportunity to have the $1 million.

Most of us miss our big break or opportunity because we have a “closed mind” and do not give ourselves a chance to have a closer look at what is being presented to us. If it does not look good, and it does not fit with our present belief, we never give it another look. We turn it down and say, “This will never work, or this is not for me as I can't take that much risk and pay the price or it's just like another boring work”. Opportunity is as scarce as oxygen, we fairly breathe it and do not know it. And remember, opportunities are never lost; someone will take the one you miss.