Two short inspiring stories with life lessons to reflect upon

1. Story To
Reflect
Upon 85
GENEROSITY
Mahatma Gandhi went from city to city, village to village
collecting funds for the Charkha Sangh. During one of his
tours he addressed a meeting in Orissa. After his speech a
poor old woman got up. She was bent with age, her hair was
grey and her clothes were in tatters. The volunteers tried to
stop her, but she fought her way to the place where Gandhiji
was sitting. "I must see him," she insisted and going up to
Gandhiji touched his feet. Then from the folds of her sari
she brought out a copper coin and placed it at his feet.
Gandhiji picked up the copper coin and put it away
carefully. The Charkha Sangh funds were under the charge
of Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked Gandhiji for the coin but
Gandhiji refused. "I keep cheques worth thousands of
rupees for the Charkha Sangh," Jamnalal Bajaj said
laughingly "yet you won't trust me with a copper coin."
"This copper coin is worth much more than those
thousands," Gandhiji said. "If a man has several lakhs and
he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn't mean much. But
this coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed.
She gave me all she had. That was very generous of her.
What a great sacrifice she made. That is why I value this
copper coin more than a crore of rupees."
Reflection
* In a materialistic and self-centred society today,
giving with sincere generosity, is a rare virtue indeed.
* The world would be a happier place if more reach out
to the poor and needy.

2. Story To
Reflect
Upon 86
Alexander Fleming
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day,
while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help
coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming
and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what
could have been a slow
and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse
surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and
introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied,
waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the
door of the family hovel.
"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied
proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education.
If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be
proud of."
And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St.
Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become
known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the
discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia.
What saved him? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.
His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.
Reflection
* An act of kindness and compassion would have its positive
effects in the course of time.
* ‘Good Begets good and bad begets bad’. That’s moral
causation.
* Someone once said what goes around comes around.