Meaningful short stories

Three important and meaningful short stories for use in life


1) The Frogs
A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he could use
a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and asked the man
where he could get so many frog legs!

The farmer replied,"There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs
---millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are about to
make me crazy!" So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement
that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a
time for the next several weeks.

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather
sheepish,with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner said, "Well...
where are all the frogs?" The farmer said, "I was
mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure were
making a lot of noise!"

Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, remember, it's
probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember that problems always
seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in
your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost overwhelming like
a million frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good that when the morning
comes, and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was
about.

2) The Pretty Lady
Once upon a time, a big monk and a little monk were travelling together.
They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had
to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who
was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The big monk
offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back. The
lady accepted.

The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk."How can big
disciple brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy
with females?" thought the little monk.

But he kept quiet. The big monk carried the lady across the river and the
small monk followed unhappily.

When they had crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they
parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with
the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about the
big monk in his head. This got him madder and
madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to
explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand
it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. "How can you claim
yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a
female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make
you a big hypocrite."

The big monk looked surprised and said, "I had put down the pretty lady at
the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?"

This very old Chinese zen story reflects the thinking of many people today.
We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they
make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause
us to be bitter or jealous. But like the little monk, we are not willing to
let them go away. We keep on
carrying the baggage of the "pretty lady" with us. We let them keep on
coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of
agony. Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the
baggage of the "pretty lady". We should let go of the pretty lady
immediately after crossing the river, immediately after the
unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies.
There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is
over. It is just that simple

3) The Turtles
A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. Turtles, being naturally slow
about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing. Finally the
turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for their outing.

During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for them at
last! For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked the picnic
basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they discovered they had
forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all
agreed.

After a lengthy discussion, the youngest
turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the
fastest of the slow-moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and
wobbled in his shell.

He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned.
The family consented and the little turtle left. Three years passed and the
little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years... then on the
seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his
hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a
sandwich. At that point the
little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, "SEE! I knew
you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."

Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations.
We lose track of what's the most important thing in our lives. We are so
concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves.

When I was in my younger days

by Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days,
I weighed a few pounds less,
I needn't hold my tummy into a belted dress.
But now that I am older,
I've set my body free;
there's the comfort of elastic
where once my waist would be.
Inventor of those high-heeled shoes
My feet have not forgiven;
I have to wear a nine now,
But used to wear a seven.
And how about those pantyhose-
They're sized by weight, you see,
So how come when I put them on
The crotch is at my knee?
I need to wear these glasses
As the print's been getting smaller;
Though my hair has turned to gray and my skin no longer fits,
On the inside, I'm the same old me, It's the outside's changed a bit.

But, on a positive note...I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.
I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.
I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone.
People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.
I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

TEMPAYAN YANG RETAK

Seorang tukang air memiliki dua tempayan besar,masing-masing bergantung pada kedua hujung sebuah pikulan, yang dibawa menyilang pada bahunya. Satu dari tempayan itu retak, sedangkan tempayan yang satunya lagi tidak. Jika tempayan yang tidak retak itu selalu dapat membawa air penuh setelah perjalanan panjang dari mata air ke rumah majikannya, tempayan itu hanya dapat membawa air setengah penuh.

Selama dua tahun, hal ini terjadi setiap hari. Si tukang air hanya dapat membawa satu setengah tempayan air ke rumah majikannya. Tentu saja si tempayan yang tidak retak merasa bangga akan prestasinya, kerana dapat menunaikan tugasnya dengan
sempurna. Namun si tempayan retak yang malang itu merasa malu sekali akan ketidaksempurnaannya dan merasa sedih sebab ia hanya dapat memberikan setengah dari jumlah yang seharusnya dapat diberikannnya.

Setelah dua tahun tertekan oleh kegagalan pahit ini, tempayan retak itu berkata kepada si tukang air, "Saya sungguh malu pada diri saya sendiri, dan saya ingin mohon maaf kepadamu." "Kenapa?" tanya si tukang air, "Kenapa kamu merasa malu?"
"Saya hanya mampu, selama dua tahun ini, membawa setengah jumlah air dari yang seharusnya dapat saya bawa kerana adanya retakan pada sisi saya telah membuat air yang saya bawa bocor sepanjang jalan menuju rumah majikan kita. Kerana cacatku itu,
saya telah membuatmu rugi." kata tempayan itu.

Si tukang air merasa kasihan pada si tempayan retak,dan dalam belas kasihannya, ia berkata, "Jika kita kembali ke rumah majikan besok, aku ingin kamu memerhatikan bunga-bunga indah di sepanjang jalan." Benar, ketika mereka naik ke bukit, si tempayan retakmemerhatikan dan baru menyedari bahwa ada bunga-bunga indah di sepanjang sisi jalan, dan itu membuatnya sedikit terhibur. Namun pada akhir perjalanan, ia kembali sedih kerana separuh air yang dibawanya telah bocor, dan kembali tempayan retak itu meminta maaf pada si tukang air atas kegagalannya.

Si tukang air berkata kepada tempayan itu, "Apakah kamu memerhatikan adanya bunga-bunga di sepanjang jalan si sisimu tapi tidak ada bunga di sepanjang jalan di sisi tempayan yang lain yang tidak retak itu. Itu kerana aku selalu menyedari akan cacatmu dan aku memanfaatkannya. Aku telah menanam benih-benih bunga di sepanjang jalan di sisimu, dan setiap hari jika kita berjalan pulang dari mata air, kamu mengairi benih-benih itu. Selama dua tahun ini aku telah dapat memetik bunga-bunga indah itu untuk menghias meja majikan kita. Tanpa kamu sebagaimana kamu ada, majikan kita tak akan dapat menghias Rumahnya seindah sekarang."

Setiap dari kita memiliki cacat dan kekurangan kita sendiri. Kita semua adalah tempayan retak. Namun jika kita mau, Tuhan akan menggunakan kekurangan kita untuk menghias-Nya. Di mata Tuhan yang bijaksana, tak ada yang terbuang percuma. Jangan takut akan kekurangan kita. Kenalilah kelemahan kita. Ketahuilah, di dalam kelemahan kita, kita menemui kekuatan kita.