Doing small things matter

Lord Ram was building a bridge before attacking Lanka. One squirrel would roll on and off the banks and bring sand on its body. It would dump the sand clinging on its body on to the heap already there. The monkeys, Lord Rama’s sentinels, and soldiers described this incident to him. He went to the squirrel and asked why she was doing that. The reply was, “ To win over Lanka!”

The Lord said, “ What will these miniscule grains of sand do by way of help?” The squirrel replied, “I beg your forgiveness, lord, the grains of sand are enough or less, I cannot fathom that, but all I know is that I’m trying my level best to contribute, pulling up all my energies.”This overwhelmed Rama. He lovingly patted her back. It is said that the stripes on a squirrel’s body are the fingerprints of Lord Rama.

It doesn’t matter whether the assignment is big or small. What matters is whether you do it with total surrender and enthusiasm or not. If you are eager, you have that zeal and you are enthusiastic then no one can stop you.

Never give up !

Melanie wanted to be a dancer from the very beginning. She was a gifted artist. She could dance for hours on music. Seeing this, her parents decided to make her a ballet dancer. Those days there was a big dance troupe in town. Her parents took her to the chief of the ballet group and requested him to train her. He asked her to perform. She did that. Instead of paying any attention, he didn’t even bother to look at her. He was busy with his own work. After her performance, he admonished her, saying that she neither had the talent nor the inclination. It would be better if she gave up the idea of pursuing a career in that field and should opt for another career.

Melanie was heart- broken. She felt her world coming to an end. She followed the dance master’s advice and gave up dancing—her only passion. She joined as a teacher in a school. She had been working there for five years now. Once it so happened that the dance master was away for a while. Melanie was asked to supervise the children. She was teaching them dancing when suddenly the dance teacher reached there. She was stunned to see her talent. She encouraged her and praised her immensely. She told her that she danced superbly. Melanie was stunned to hear that. She couldn’t believe her ears. She was taken to the dance teacher and the world then witnessed one of its most exotic dancers in her.

So, we see how one pessimistic, negative minded teacher could curb Melanie’s talent for 15 years, whereas the other one shaped her into a true artist.

Do you want some such person to demolish your aspirations and hopes and dreams? Do not surrender yourself to any such person who can turn you into a frustrated creature and pull you down.

The Boy and The Starfish

One day, an old man was walking along the beach in the early morning and noticed the tide had washed thousands of starfish up on the shore. Up ahead in the distance he spotted a boy who appeared to be gathering up the starfish, and one by one tossing them back into the ocean.

He approached the boy and asked him why he spent so much energy doing what seemed to be a waste of time.

The boy replied, "If these starfish are left out here like this they will bake in the sun, and by this afternoon they will all be dead."

The old man gazed out as far as he could see and responded, "But, there must be hundreds of miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly rescue all of them. What difference is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"

The boy then held up the starfish he had in his hand and replied, "It's sure going to make a lot of difference to this one!"

Think about a time when your efforts made a difference.