Thursday, January 17, 2013

The White Tiger - Must Read..

 Long ago in a village near the Kumgang Mountains in Korea there lived a young boy. His father had been missing since he was a baby, and the boy knew very well the reason why. Andrew, age 6 An enormous White Tiger still lived in the Kumgang Mountains who had tormented the village for years, coming down to prey not only on horses and cattle, but even on the human beings who lived there. Years ago, his father, who had been the finest hunter and gunman in the land, ventured into the Kumgang Mountains to shoot the White Tiger and to save the village. He had never returned.

When the boy was still small he already decided deep in his heart that when he grew up, he would be the one to shoot down the tiger that had overpowered his father. As soon as he was allowed, he trained rigorously with the gun and became almost as good a gunman as his father had been. When he was fifteen years old, the boy went to his mother and said, "Mother, I'm ready now to set out for the Kumgang Mountains to find the White Tiger and defeat him. Please, let me go."

The mother did not want to lose her son, too. With tears in her eyes, she said, "Even a famous marksman like your father was lost to the terrible White Tiger. Please, son, quit dreaming about such nonsense and stay safe here at home." "Don't worry, Mother," the son cried. "I shall find the White Tiger, I know it!". Finally the mother said, "Very well, as you wish. But first let me ask you one thing. Your father used to have me stand with a water jug on my head. Then he would shoot off the handle of the water jug from one mile away without spilling any water. Can you do the same thing?". When he heard this, the young son immediately tried to match his father's skill. He had his mother stand one whole mile away, with a water jug on top of her head. He took careful aim, but missed. So he gave up his idea of going to the mountains and instead, practiced three more years with the gun.

After three years, he tried again. This time he succeeded in knocking off the handle of the water jug on his mother's head without spilling a drop of water. Then the mother said, "Actually son, your father was able to shoot the eye out of a needle from one mile away. Can you do this?". The son asked his mother to place a needle in a tree trunk. Then he walked back for one mile. Taking careful aim, he let go a shot, but missed. Once again, he gave up the idea of going to the Kumgang Mountains and settled down to another three years of practicing even harder. At the end of three years, he was 21 years old by that time, he again tried the same trick. This time, with the crack of his gun, the eye of the needle fell to the ground.

Now in fact, what the mother had told her son about the amazing feats his father used to be able to do, were all lies. The mother had thought that if she told him impossible tales about the father, that the boy might give up his crazy idea of seeking the terrible White Tiger. Jeff, age 10 But now that he had actually succeeded in performing each of the feats she told him her husband could do, the mother could not help being impressed with his determination. So she gave permission for him to leave for the Kumgang Mountains.

The son was thrilled. He immediately set out. At the foothills he came across a small inn. An old woman, who was the innkeeper, asked the young man why he had come. He told her that his father had been a victim of the White Tiger years ago and that he had practiced for many years to avenge his death.. The old innkeeper then said, "Ah, yes, I knew your father. He was the greatest gunman in all the land. Why, he stopped here at this very inn, many years ago, before venturing into the Kumgang Mountains. Can you see that tall tree over there in the distance? Why, your father used to turn his back to that tree and then shoot down the highest leaf on the highest branch from over his shoulder. If you can't do the same thing, how can you expect to defeat the White Tiger?".

The hunter's son, when he heard this, said he also would try. He placed his gun over his shoulder and took aim and shot. But he missed. He knew then that he still wasn't ready, and he asked the old innkeeper to let him stay with her a while. From that day, he kept practicing shooting over his shoulder at the tree. After three more years, he was finally able to shoot down the highest leaf on the highest branch. Then the old innkeeper told the hunter's son, "Just because you can do that, it still doesn't mean you can outshoot your father. Why, your father used to set an ant on the side of a cliff and then, from a distance of three miles away, he would shoot that ant off without even scratching the surface of the cliff. No matter what a fine gunman you may be, certainly you can't match that."

The young man then tried to do what the old innkeeper said his father had done. Again he failed at first and had to practice three more years. Like the young man's mother, it turns out that all that the old innkeeper had told him had been made up because she, too, only wanted to save his life. But the hunter's son, not questioning her once, had practiced until he could do the tasks she said his father had done. The old innkeeper was filled with amazement. "With your skill now, surely you will avenge your father's death." So saying, the old innkeeper prepared a bag with many rice balls for him to eat along the way. The hunter's son thanked her and started out along the path leading into the heart of the Kumgang Mountains.

The young man pressed deeper and deeper into the mountains. For days and days he wandered through the wilderness. After all, the Kumgang Mountains have twelve thousand peaks and stretch over a vast area, and he had no means of knowing just where the White Tiger was hidden. Justin G. So he wandered on through the vast mountain ranges. One day, while the hunter's son was seated on a big rock nibbling a rice ball, a ragged old woman stumbled up to him and said, "Excuse me, sir. Could you spare an extra rice ball for me?". The hunter's son handed the old woman several rice-balls, which she ate ravenously. Then the old woman said, "We don't see many strangers this deep into these mountains. What brings you here?". When the hunter's son explained, the old woman shook her head vigorously from side to side. "Nay, good fellow," she said. "Forget about shooting the terrible White Tiger.

He is too quick. As soon as the tiger desires to pounce, his next prey is gone. From one day to the next, we never know whether we are going to survive to see the morrow. You are a young man. You ought best to leave these mountains at once and go back home while you're still alive!". Then the hunter's son replied that no, he would not be persuaded to leave. He described how hard he had practiced for so many years, and that now, with his skill, he knew he could smite the White Tiger after all. "Well," sighed the old woman, "if you are so sure, then you should know that the only way to shoot the White Tiger is to shoot him when all you see is but a white dot on the horizon. If you wait a single moment too late," here she shook her finger, "or if you miss your first shot, believe me, all will be will be lost for you."

The old woman left. The hunter's son immediately took to scanning the horizon until he was entirely familiar with every curve and shadow on each mountainside far and wide. Thus he waited for hours, his gun at readiness. Jesse, age 10 While the sun was setting, a single white dot appeared in a fraction of a moment on a distant  mountainside. No dot had been there the moment before, the young man was certain of that. Instantly, he fired at the white dot. His heart pounding, he raced toward the mountainside where he had aimed his shot. And there he came upon the felled White Tiger, nearly as big as a mountain itself. It had collapsed with its mouth open, ready to swallow its next prey -- him! Astonished by its size and thrilled that he had actually defeated the legendary beast, the son stepped into the dead tiger's throat. Inside the tiger's mouth, he followed a black tunnel. Eventually, he came to a vast room as large as a fairground. This was the giant White Tiger's stomach.

Then the young man came upon an unconscious girl who lay huddled in a heap. The young hunter took the girl in his arms and nursed her until she awakened. The girl looked into his face and thanked him with all of her heart. She then revealed that she was the daughter of the king's highest advisor, who was famous in the capital city. The young girl told him how just the night before, the great White Tiger had stolen her away while she was washing her hair outside on the veranda of her home. Suddenly, the two of them heard what sounded like a human voice. Puzzled, they groped in the dark toward it. When lo! The voice belonged to an old man crouched in the corner. Who was it but none other than the boy's father! He had survived all these years inside the White Tiger's stomach on the prey swallowed by the great beast.

The father and son rejoiced in having found one another at last. Hannah, age 6 Then together with the young girl, the three of them escaped through the tiger's mouth and found that they were in the middle of a large field. The young man skinned a portion of the tiger, for he wanted to take home as a remembrance the beautiful white tiger-skin. Taking the young girl by one hand and his father by the other, he proudly returned home, where his mother was waiting for him.

Words cannot describe her joy to see not only her son come safely back home, but her long lost husband, too!. Then the young hunter took the maiden to her home in the capital city. Her father cried tears of joy to see his daughter returning safe and sound. In gratitude, her father welcomed the young hunter into his family to become his daughter's husband and to be heir to his name and fortune. The young man's mother and father proudly attended their son's wedding day. And the young man and his bride lived happily ever after in the grand mansion of the king's highest advisor. 

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The loser who never gave up!

When he was a little boy his uncle called him “Sparky”, after a comic-strip horse named Spark Plug. School was all but impossible for Sparky.
He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero. He also flunked Latin, algebra and English. And his record in sports wasn’t any better. Though he did manage to make the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season. Oh, there was a consolation match; he lost that too.

Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward socially. It wasn’t that the other students disliked him; it’s just that no one really cared all that much. In fact, Sparky was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours. There’s no way to tell how he might have done at dating. He never once asked a girl out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down… or perhaps laughed at. Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates… everyone knew it. So he learned to live with it. He made up his mind early that if things were meant to work out, they would. Otherwise he would content himself with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity.

One thing WAS important to Sparky, however — drawing. He was proud of his artwork. No one else appreciated it. But that didn’t seem to matter to him. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the the yearbook. The editors rejected the concept. Despite this brush-off, Sparky was convinced of his ability. He even decided to become an artist.

So, after completing high school, Sparky wrote Walt Disney Studios. They asked for samples of his artwork. Despite careful preparation, it too was rejected. One more confirmation that he was a loser.

But Sparky still didn’t give up. Instead, he decided to tell his own life’s story in cartoons. The main character would be a little boy who symbolized the perpetual loser and chronic underachiever. You know him well. Because Sparky’s cartoon character went on to become a cultural phenomenon of sorts. People readily identified with this “lovable loser.” He reminded people of the painful and embarrassing moments from their own past, of their pain and their shared humanity. The character soon became famous worldwide: “Charlie Brown.” And Sparky, the boy whose many failures never kept him from trying, whose work was rejected again and again,… is the highly successful cartoonist Charles Schultz. His cartoon strip,
“Peanuts,” continues to inspire books, T-shirts and Christmas specials, reminding us, as someone once commented, that life somehow finds a way for all of us, even the losers.

Sparky’s story reminds us of a very important principle in life. We all face difficulty and discouragement from time to time. We also have a choice in how we handle it. If we’re persistent, if we hold fast to our faith, if we continue to develop the unique talents God has given us, who knows what can happen? We may end up with an insight and an ability to inspire that comes only through hardship. In the end, there are no “losers” with God. Some winners just take longer to develop!

By CAPT J. David Atwater, CHC, USN
Charles Schulz (November 26, 1922–February 12, 2000)

About Charles Schulz’s cartoon:
The Peanuts Cartoon

Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward.
The strip is the most popular and influential in the history of the comic strip, with 17,897 strips published in all, making it “arguably the longest story ever told by one human being”, according to Robert Thompson of Syracuse University. At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages.

More reading:

Thursday, January 10, 2013

THE BIRTHDAY PACKAGE - Moral & Inspirational Story


This story you're about to read has an important lesson for you to learn. So, read it carefully...

A young married woman whose husband was a wealthy man was expecting a birthday gift from her husband. For quite a number of months she had admired a very beautiful diamond ring in a showroom, and she knowing that her husband could afford it, if he would, told him that was all she wanted for her birthday, and nothing more. As her birthday was drawing nigh, this lady awaited signs that her husband had bought the diamond ring.

At last, her birthday finally came. On the morning of her birthday, her husband called her into his room. He told her how proud he was to have such a good wife as her and told her how much he loved her. After telling her all sort of sweet talks, he finally handed her a beautifully wrapped gift box. Very excited and curious, the wife opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the her name embossed in gold. Angrily, she raised her voice to her husband and said, 'With all your money, a Bible was all you could give me?!!' And stormed out of the house, leaving her husband.

Many years passed and the lady was very successful in all her dealings and business. She managed to settle for a more beautiful house and a new wonderful family, but realized her ex-husband was very old, and thought perhaps she should sayhim a visit because she had not seen him for so many years. But before she could make travelling arrangements, she received a text message telling her that her ex-husband had died, and willed all of his possessions to her. She needed to come back immediately and take care of things. When she arrived at her ex-husband's house, sudden sadness and regret filled her heart. She began to search through her ex-husband's important papers and saw the Bible, still as new as when it was presented to her.

she had left it years before. With tears, she opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. Her ex-husband had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11, which reads 'And if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father, who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask Him?' As she read those words, a tiny package dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a diamond ring, with her name engraved on it-the same diamond ring which she saw at the showroom! On the tag, the date of her birth, and the words.'LUV U ALWAYS' were inscribed.

How many times do we miss God's blessings, because they are not packaged as we expected? Do not spoil what you have, by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

Moral of the story: Always appreciate little things, irrespective of how small they seem.