Felling Trees
from "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten : Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things" by Robert Fulghum
In the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific some villagers practice a unique form of logging. If a tree is too large to be felled with an ax, the natives cut it down by yelling at it. (Can't lay my hands on the article, but I swear I read it.) Woodsmen with special powers creep up on a tree just at dawn and suddenly scream at it at the top of their lungs. They continue this for thirty days. The tree dies and falls over. The theory is that the hollering kills the spirit of the tree. According to the villagers, it always works.
Ah, those poor nave innocents. Such quaintly charming habits of the jungle. Screaming at trees, indeed. How primitive. Too bad thay don't have the advantages of modern technology and the scientific mind.
Me? I yell at my wife. And yell at the telephone and the lawn mower. And yell at the TV and the newspaper and my children. I've been known to shake my fist and yell at the sky at times.
Man next door yells at his car a lot. And this summer I heard him yell at a stepladder for most of an afternoon. We modern, urban, educated folks yell at traffic and umpires and bills and banks and machines--especially machines. Machines and relatives get most of the yelling.
Don't know what good it does. Machines and things just sit there. Even kicking doesn't always help. As for people, well, the Solomon Islanders may have a point. Yelling at living things does tend to kill the spirit in them. Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will break our hearts....
jack in the box
OUGHT. SHOULD. MUST. Three small words with perilously explosive potential. "Handle with care" should have been as plain to see as a gorilla gone ballistic at a children's petting zoo. Frightened friends feigned the warnings. Fragile. Do Not Drop. A bitter boss caused the warnings. Beware Of Dog. No Trespassing. And Jack? Jack awakened one morning in a box that belonged to an authentic litigation attorney; a square peg with wrong motives in someone else's round hole.
Overworked and underpaid. Fed up with punishing put downs by the firm's senior partner, a once summer intern nicknamed Ned. Ned had been dead from the heart down 20 years or more. Jack had been born again since he was 19. Ned flirted with the King's English like King David flirted with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:3). Everyone that knew Jack knew something was wrong - really wrong. Fearing he might respond poorly, his friends kept their distance.
At home, Jack felt like a Jewish prisoner and his home had "Auschwitz" written in sign language all over it. Sentenced to death by silence. The silence stilled his faith and stifled his spirit. Prayer had become painful. Forgiveness felt like asphalt.
Five years ago, Jack flew into enemy air space and Ned had a good shot. Anxious to devour the newest associate, he fired ground-to-air missiles with deadly precision. Jack fought the good fight both in and out of the office for almost four years. During his fifth year with the firm, his faith began to fade and the good 'ol boys from the Bible Study walked away.
Could he and should he have picked up the shattered pieces of the man that still existed from better days he'd lived before? Good question and maybe you know the answer. Understand that months of unyielding pressure had impaired his eyesight. Understand that when we question another man's character we better have some answers to explain our own. Jack did what we've all done. He did what you might be doing now. He let the sun go down on his anger one time too many (Ephesians 4:26). He cracked open the door of doubt and devilish discouragement made a mad dash for the it and ushered guilt in to act as the assassin of his faith.
You see, Jack never planned to become an attorney after he completed his undergraduate work. His real passion wasn't a real job. Not his words, but those of his father. Painting was God's gift and calling and he knew it in his heart, not just his head (Romans 11:29). Yet, acquiring his father's acceptance won out over his passion as well as his sense of purpose.
Married to his high school honey as well as a high monthly mortgage payment didn't make quitting an appealing option. Already the proud father of one with one on the way added to his financial insecurities and so he opted to stay the course and put up with Ned's oral lashings.
Another day came and Ned's neurosis sought to fool around with Jack's self-worth. But this time he went for Jack's jugular. The tiny soft tissue of Jack's heart that refused to harden; the joy that still remained. Jack's remaining joy had run to greet him every evening without fail and sat on his lap and uttered, "It's okay daddy". Jack's remaining joy hadn't yet imagined a love that walked away without a kiss goodnight. Jack's remaining joy said, "daddy," but saw Superman. Jack's remaining joy was his four year old boy, Jacob. Jacob, unlike Jack's busy wife and hushed friends, broke the silence and the code of conduct that so insidiously crept into their household.
Ned began to speak: "Should have got it right the first time, Jack. You ought to know by now that I expect perfection. Oh, and in case you forgot, it must be done today! If you want to act like Mr. Daddy-Do-Good before that bratty kid of yours goes to bed, you'd best get busy. Hope the boy has his mother's brains! Jack, I should have fired you a long time ago and saved the both of us a lot of heartache!"
Jack listened as his lips tightened. His blood pressure rose, his fists clinched. He closed his eyes and imagined Jacob's smile. He said nothing to Ned as he was blinded by the stack of bills he'd seen on the kitchen table before he left for work four hours earlier. Jack walked out in silence. He'd grown wearily used to it. He sat down as his face felt unusually tingly. He ignored it. He began to prepare his mind for a long night. A long night it would be for everyone but Jack.
You see, Jack's drive to meet the deadline caused his heart to flat line. Jack died in the box that belonged to an authentic litigation attorney. Dead at 35 from a massive heart attack. Found in his office chair the next morning by none other than Ned
Jack's joy remained. His little boy and God's miraculous creation. Jacob, like his daddy's friends, knew something was wrong. Jacob's love endured. Jacob's love stepped in when fear-wrought men walked out. He fell asleep where his daddy slept the night before. Daddy didn't come home to announce his departure or to plant a farewell kiss on his son's cherished cheek. Jesus walked in soon after Jacob had fallen asleep, and whispered in his tiny ear, "Your daddy's Home with Me."
Rather depressing story isn't it? Feeling like Jack? Jammed into a job that's joyless? You read the story and allow me to add that if you can relate, you are but one of millions. Jesus knew His disciples before hand. Matthew made nothing more than money before Jesus came along. Tax collector? Omnipotence knows our potential, His purpose, plan and specific calling for our lives.
A Jack in the box. As children, an amusing toy. Turn the crank, listen to the cheap composition, and eventually Jack pops up for a breath of fresh air. As adults, being a Jack (or Jill) in the box has been and continues to be a claustrophobic nightmare. May I encourage you to read Romans 11:29 and then Jeremiah 29:11?
Soon after reading Max Lucado's book, "It's Not About Me," I felt compelled to write and the above story is what flowed out in short order. May we all become about being God's Son Reflectors by simple obedience in using the gifts and fulfilling the calling He has provided each and every one of us.
THE FISHERMAN |
A Short Fairy Story by the Brothers Grimm |
Once upon a time...
There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, close by the seaside. The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing; and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line, all on a sudden his float was dragged away deep into the water: and in drawing it up he pulled out a great fish. But the fish said, 'Pray let me live! I am not a real fish; I am an enchanted prince: put me in the water again, and let me go!' 'Oh, ho!' said the man, 'you need not make so many words about the matter; I will have nothing to do with a fish that can talk: so swim away, sir, as soon as you please!' Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him on the wave.
When the fisherman went home to his wife in the pigsty, he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go again. 'Did not you ask it for anything?' said the wife, 'we live very wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty pigsty; do go back and tell the fish we want a snug little cottage.'
The fisherman did not much like the business: however, he went to the seashore; and when he came back there the water looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water's edge, and said:
'O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'
Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, 'Well, what is her will? What does your wife want?' 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'she says that when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go; she does not like living any longer in the pigsty, and wants a snug little cottage.' 'Go home, then,' said the fish; 'she is in the cottage already!' So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage. 'Come in, come in!' said she; 'is not this much better than the filthy pigsty we had?' And there was a parlour, and a bedchamber, and a kitchen; and behind the cottage there was a little garden, planted with all sorts of flowers and fruits; and there was a courtyard behind, full of ducks and chickens. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'how happily we shall live now!' 'We will try to do so, at least,' said his wife.
Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Ilsabill said, 'Husband, there is not near room enough for us in this cottage; the courtyard and the garden are a great deal too small; I should like to have a large stone castle to live in: go to the fish again and tell him to give us a castle.' 'Wife,' said the fisherman, 'I don't like to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry; we ought to be easy with this pretty cottage to live in.' 'Nonsense!' said the wife; 'he will do it very willingly, I know; go along and try!'
The fisherman went, but his heart was very heavy: and when he came to the sea, it looked blue and gloomy, though it was very calm; and he went close to the edge of the waves, and said:
'O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'
'Well, what does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said the man, dolefully, 'my wife wants to live in a stone castle.' 'Go home, then,' said the fish; 'she is standing at the gate of it already.' So away went the fisherman, and found his wife standing before the gate of a great castle. 'See,' said she, 'is not this grand?' With that they went into the castle together, and found a great many servants there, and the rooms all richly furnished, and full of golden chairs and tables; and behind the castle was a garden, and around it was a park half a mile long, full of sheep, and goats, and hares, and deer; and in the courtyard were stables and cow-houses. 'Well,' said the man, 'now we will live cheerful and happy in this beautiful castle for the rest of our lives.' 'Perhaps we may,' said the wife; 'but let us sleep upon it, before we make up our minds to that.' So they went to bed.
The next morning when Dame Ilsabill awoke it was broad daylight, and she jogged the fisherman with her elbow, and said, 'Get up, husband, and bestir yourself, for we must be king of all the land.' 'Wife, wife,' said the man, 'why should we wish to be the king? I will not be king.' 'Then I will,' said she. 'But, wife,' said the fisherman, 'how can you be king, the fish cannot make you a king?' 'Husband,' said she, 'say no more about it, but go and try! I will be king.' So the man went away quite sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be king. This time the sea looked a dark grey colour, and was overspread with curling waves and the ridges of foam as he cried out:
'O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'
'Well, what would she have now?' said the fish. 'Alas!' said the poor man, 'my wife wants to be king.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is king already.'
Then the fisherman went home; and as he came close to the palace he saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the sound of drums and trumpets. And when he went in he saw his wife sitting on a throne of gold and diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head; and on each side of her stood six fair maidens, each a head taller than the other. 'Well, wife,' said the fisherman, 'are you king?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am king.' And when he had looked at her for a long time, he said, 'Ah, wife! what a fine thing it is to be king! Now we shall never have anything more to wish for as long as we live.' 'I don't know how that may be,' said she; 'never is a long time. I am king, it is true; but I begin to be tired of that, and I think I should like to be emperor.' 'Alas, wife! why should you wish to be emperor?' said the fisherman. 'Husband,' said she, 'go to the fish! I say I will be emperor.' 'Ah, wife!' replied the fisherman, 'the fish cannot make an emperor, I am sure, and I should not like to ask him for such a thing.' 'I am king,' said Ilsabill, 'and you are my slave; so go at once!'
So the fisherman was forced to go; and he muttered as he went along, 'This will come to no good, it is too much to ask; the fish will be tired at last, and then we shall be sorry for what we have done.' He soon came to the seashore; and the water was quite black and muddy, and a mighty whirlwind blew over the waves and rolled them about, but he went as near as he could to the water's brink, and said:
'O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'
'What would she have now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'she wants to be emperor.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is emperor already.'
So he went home again; and as he came near he saw his wife Ilsabill sitting on a very lofty throne made of solid gold, with a great crown on her head full two yards high; and on each side of her stood her guards and attendants in a row, each one smaller than the other, from the tallest giant down to a little dwarf no bigger than my finger. And before her stood princes, and dukes, and earls: and the fisherman went up to her and said, 'Wife, are you emperor?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am emperor.' 'Ah!' said the man, as he gazed upon her, 'what a fine thing it is to be emperor!' 'Husband,' said she, 'why should we stop at being emperor? I will be pope next.' 'O wife, wife!' said he, 'how can you be pope? there is but one pope at a time in Christendom.' 'Husband,' said she, 'I will be pope this very day.' 'But,' replied the husband, 'the fish cannot make you pope.' 'What nonsense!' said she; 'if he can make an emperor, he can make a pope: go and try him.'
So the fisherman went. But when he came to the shore the wind was raging and the sea was tossed up and down in boiling waves, and the ships were in trouble, and rolled fearfully upon the tops of the billows. In the middle of the heavens there was a little piece of blue sky, but towards the south all was red, as if a dreadful storm was rising. At this sight the fisherman was dreadfully frightened, and he trembled so that his knees knocked together: but still he went down near to the shore, and said:
'O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'
'What does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'my wife wants to be pope.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is pope already.'
Then the fisherman went home, and found Ilsabill sitting on a throne that was two miles high. And she had three great crowns on her head, and around her stood all the pomp and power of the Church. And on each side of her were two rows of burning lights, of all sizes, the greatest as large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and the least no larger than a small rushlight. 'Wife,' said the fisherman, as he looked at all this greatness, 'are you pope?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am pope.' 'Well, wife,' replied he, 'it is a grand thing to be pope; and now you must be easy, for you can be nothing greater.' 'I will think about that,' said the wife. Then they went to bed: but Dame Ilsabill could not sleep all night for thinking what she should be next. At last, as she was dropping asleep, morning broke, and the sun rose. 'Ha!' thought she, as she woke up and looked at it through the window, 'after all I cannot prevent the sun rising.' At this thought she was very angry, and wakened her husband, and said, 'Husband, go to the fish and tell him I must be lord of the sun and moon.' The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought frightened him so much that he started and fell out of bed. 'Alas, wife!' said he, 'cannot you be easy with being pope?' 'No,' said she, 'I am very uneasy as long as the sun and moon rise without my leave. Go to the fish at once!'
Then the man went shivering with fear; and as he was going down to the shore a dreadful storm arose, so that the trees and the very rocks shook. And all the heavens became black with stormy clouds, and the lightnings played, and the thunders rolled; and you might have seen in the sea great black waves, swelling up like mountains with crowns of white foam upon their heads. And the fisherman crept towards the sea, and cried out, as well as he could:
'O man of the sea!
Hearken to me!
My wife Ilsabill
Will have her own will,
And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'
'What does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said he, 'she wants to be lord of the sun and moon.' 'Go home,' said the fish, 'to your pigsty again.'
And there they live to this very day.
dear friends
as you know it's good and important for you to read english books. evrything that u find. .it's not importand what it is about. i try as i can put you some stories, poems, and articles which can help you to improve your english by reading them.
there is a poem by Jubran Khalil Jubran that i liked you to read it.
Freedom
By
Kahlil Jubran
And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."
And he answered:
At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.
And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?
In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.
And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.
Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.
And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.
Questions 1-10 refer to the following passage.
The most familiar speleothems (from the Greek word spelaion for cave and thema for
deposit), the decorative dripstone features found in caves, are stalactites and stalagmites.
Stalactites hang downward from the ceiling of the cave and are formed as drop after drop of
water slowly trickles through cracks in the cave roof. Stalagmites grow upward from the floor
of the cave, generally as a result of water dripping from an overhead stalactite. A column
forms when a stalactite and a stalagmite grow until they join. A "curtain" or "drapery" begins
to form on an inclined ceiling when drops of water trickle along a slope.
Natural openings on the surface that lead to caves are called sinkholes, or swallow
holes. Streams sometimes disappear down these holes and flow through the cavern. Rivers
may flow from one mountain to another through a series of caves. Some caverns have
sinkholes in their floors. Water often builds up a rim of dripstone around the edge of the hole.
Dripping water often contains dissolved minerals as well as acid. These minerals too will be
deposited; and they may give rich coloring to the deposits. If minerals in the water change,
layers of different colors may be formed.1947
1. Stalagmites are formed by
(A) drops of water which enter through cracks in the ceiling.
(B) underground rivers which flow through the cave.
(C) water dripping from an overhead stalactite.
(D) water which trickles down a slope.
2. Sinkholes are
(A) the decorative dripstone features found in caves.
(B) natural openings on the surface that lead to caves.
(C) colorful layers of mineral deposits.
(D) None of the above
3. Which speleothem grows upward from the floor ?
(A) Stalagmites
(B) Stalactites
(C) Sinkholes
(D) Curtains
4. An "inclined ceiling" is one which
(A) is straight.
(B) is crooked.
(C) is slanted.
(D) is wet.
5. Which of the following are NOT caused by dripping water ?
(A) Stalagmites
(B) Stalactites
(C) Slopes
(D) Curtains
6. The information in the passage is most relevant to which field of study ?
(A) Geography
(B) Archaeology
(C) Physics
(D) Geology
7. "Curtains" can also be called
(A) columns.
(B) draperies.
(C) stalagmites.
(D) rims.
8. The word speeleothem comes frome which language?
(A) Latin
(B) French
(C) Greek
(D) English
9. Stalagmites are formed by
(A) drops of water which enter the cave through cracks in the ceiling.
(B) underground rivers which flow through the cave.
(C) water which seeps through the cave floor.
(D) water which trickles down a slope.
10. Which speleothem hangs from the ceiling of a cave?
(A) Stalagmites
(B) Stalactites
(C) Columns
(D) Rimstones