Our house was directly across the street from the entrance of a popular hospital in the city. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic. One summer…
-
-
‘Dear teenage boy at the skate park’
A visit to the local skate park took an unexpected turn for a mother and her little girl. The mother of a little girl aspiring to be a skateboarder has posted a…
-
Blind to failure
Scaling Mount Everest requires the enthusiasm and boosterism of a physical-education teacher combined with the survival instinct of a Green Beret. You have to want that summit. Erik Weihenmayer, 33, wasn’t just…
-
Night and day
Rabbi Isadore was a wise teacher. A student asked, “How is one to know the precise time when night ends and day begins?” One student volunteered, “It is when one can distinguish…
-
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
This story is about a famous research scientist who had made several very important medical breakthroughs. He was being interviewed by a newspaper reporter who asked him why he thought he was…
-
The greater treasure
There is a Sufi story told of how a poor farmer had journeyed to Delhi to beg for some financial help from the great Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. After some days…
-
Five monkeys and a ladder
A group of scientists placed five monkeys in a cage, and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the…
-
Shine in your own way
A samurai who was known for his nobility and honesty, went to visit a monk to ask him for his advice. When the monk had finished his prayers, the Samurai asked, “Why…
-
The falcon and the branch
Once, a king received two magnificent peregrine falcons as a gift from one of his vassal states. They were the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. Though the falcons were still…
-
“I wish you enough”
At an airport, I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together. They had announced her plane’s departure and standing near the door, he said to his daughter, “I love…