A man and his dog were walking along a
road. The man was enjoying
the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was
dead. He remembere ddying, and that the
dog had been dead for years. He wondered where the road
was leading them.After a while, they came to a high,
white stone wall along one side of the road. It looked
like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it wasbroken
by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was
standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch
that looked like mother of pearl, and the street that led
to the gate looked like pure gold.He and the dog walked
toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a
desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called
out, "Excuse me,where are we?" "This is
Heaven, sir," the man answered."Wow! Would you
happen to have some water?" the man asked."Of
course, sir. Come right in, and I'll have some ice water
brought right up." The man gestured, and the gate
began to open."Can my friend," gesturing toward
his dog, "come in, too?" the traveler asked.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't accept pets."The
man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road
and continued the way he had been going. After another
long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came
to a dirt road which led through a farm gate that looked
as if it had never been closed. There was no fence. As he
approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against
a tree and reading a book."Excuse me!" he
called to the reader. "Do you have any water?"![](mandog.jpg)
"Yeah, sure, there's a pump over there." The
man pointed to a place
thatcouldn't be seen from outside the gate. "Come on
in."
"How about my friend here?" the traveler
gestured to the dog.
"There should be a bowl by the pump."
They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an
old fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it. The
traveler filled the bowl and took a long drink himself,
then he gave some to the dog. When they were full, he and
the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by
the treewaiting for them. "What do you call this
place?" the traveler asked.
"This is Heaven," was the answer.
"Well, that's confusing," the traveler said.
"The man down the road said that was Heaven,
too."
"Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and
pearly gates?
Nope. That's Hell."
![](glowbar.jpg)
Honesty
and Belief ![](ast002.gif)
One day,
while a wood cutter was cutting a branch
of a tree above a river, his iron axe
fell into the river.
When he began crying, an angel appeared and
asked him, "Why are you crying?"
The wood cutter told that his axe has fallen into the
river.
The angel went down into the water and came up with
a golden axe. " Is this your axe?", the angel
asked.
The wood cutter said "No".![](woodman.jpg)
The angel again went down and came up with a silveraxe.
" Is this your axe?", the angel asked. The wood
cutter said "No".
The angel went down again and came up with the iron
axe. " Is this your axe?", the angel asked. The
wood
cutter said "Yes".
The angel was pleased with the woodcutter's honesty
and gave him all the three axes. The woodcutter
lived happily ever after.
![](glowbar.jpg)
Most Beautiful Heart ![](ast002.gif)
One day
a young man was standing in the middle of
the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful
heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered
and they all admired his heart for it was perfect.![](Heartbeating.gif)
There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all
agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they
had ever seen. The young man was
very proud and
boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the
crowd and said, "Why your heart is not nearly as
beautiful as mine." The crowd and the young man
looked
at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full
of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and
other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and
there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places
there were deep gouges where whole pieces were
missing.The people stared -- how can he say his heart is
more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the
old man's heart and saw its state and laughed. "You
must be joking," he said. "Compare your heart
with mine, mine is perfect and
yours is a mess of scars and tears."
"Yes," said the old man, "yours is perfect
looking but I would never trade with
you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom
I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and
give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their
heart
which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because
the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough edges, which I
cherish, becausethey remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have
given pieces of my heart away, and the other person
hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the
empty gouges -- giving love is taking a chance.Although
these gouges are painful, they stay open,reminding me of
the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday
they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now
do you see what true beauty is?" The young man stood
silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up
to the old man, reached into his perfect young and
beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to
the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his
offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece
fromhis old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in
the young man's heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as
there were some jagged edges.The young man looked at his
heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever,
since love from the old man's heart flowed into his.They
embraced and walked away side by side
![](glowbar.jpg)
Write In
Sand ![](ast002.gif)
A story
tells that two friends were walking through the desert.In
a specific point of the journey, they had an
argument,and one
friend slapped the otherone in the face.
The one, who got slapped, was hurt, but without anything
to
say, he wrote in the sand:"TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE".
They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where
they
decided to take a bath. The one who got slapped and hurt
started drowning, and the other friend saved him. When he
recovered from the fright, he wrote on a stone:
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE".
The friend who saved and slapped his best friend, asked
him, "Why, after I hurt you, you wrote in the sand,
and now you write on a stone?"
The other friend, smiling, replied: "When a friend
hurts us,
we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of
forgiveness get in charge of
erasing it away, and when something great happens, we
should engrave it in the stone of the memory of the
heart, where no wind can erase it"
Learn to write in the sand.
![](glowbar.jpg)
Follow
Your Dreams...![](ast002.gif)
There
were once 2 brothers who lived on the 80th level. On
coming home one day, they realized to their dismay that
the lifts were not working and that they had to climb the stairs home. After
struggling to the 20th level, panting and tired, they
decided to abandon their bags and come back for them the
next day. They left their bags then and climbed on. When
they had struggled to the 40th level, the younger brother
started to grumble and both of them began to quarrel.
They continued to climb the flights of steps, quarreling
all the way to the 60th floor. They then realized that
they had only 20 levels more to climb and decided to stop
quarreling and continue climbing in peace. They silently
climbed on and reached their home at long last.Each stood
calmly before the door and waited for the other to open
the door. And they realized that the key was in their
bags which was left on the 20th floor.This story is a
reflection on our life.Many of us live under the
expectations of our parents, teachers and friends when
young. We seldom get to do the things that we really like
and love and are under so much pressure and stress so
that by the age of 20, we get tired and decided to dump
this load. Being free of the stress and pressure, we work
enthusiastically and dream ambitious wishes. But by the
time we reach 40 years old, we start to lose our vision and dreams.We began to feel
unsatisfied and start to complain and criticize. We live
life as a misery as we are never satisfied. Reaching 60,
we realize that we have little left for complaining
anymore, and we began to walk the final episode in peace
and calmness.At 80, we think that there is nothing left
to disappoint us, only to realize that we could not rest
in peace because we have an unfulfilled dream... a dream
we abandoned 60 years ago.So what is your dream?
Follow your dreams so that you will not live with
regrets.
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