The Story Teller

Archive for July, 2011

Jimmy is a workaholic. He is a passionate employee who never stops working. In turn, he wants to come home in a clean and organized house. That’s why, his wife, Lulu, stays at home to do the housekeeping and babysitting. Though she doesn’t mind doing that, she somehow wants to go out sometimes, meet old friends or shop for new clothes. But Jimmy never lets her out. She feels like a caged bird, properly fed but not allowed to fly.

The way she felt is not hidden to their 5-year old son, Jamie. The little boy knows his mother loves them, but he also knows that she wants to go out of the house and have some fun.

One day, Jimmy brought home a nice budgie in a cage. He gave it to Jamie who shrieked in delight at the sight of the nice little green birdy inside its big, clean cage with feeder for food and water.

For hours, Jamie looked at it and was fascinated by its marvel. Obviously, he really REALLY liked the little bird. So, his parents were shocked when Jamie took the bird out of its cage and let it go..

His father was the first one to react..

“Why, Jamie? I thought you like it?”

“I do. I really do..”

“Then, why did you let it go?” Jimmy curiously asked.

“Because it’s sad. It wants to go out and fly..”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“I see it in mommy?”

“What?” this time Lulu mirrored Jimmy’s shocked expression.

“Yes. That little birdy is just like mommy. It looks happy but it also likes to go out and fly. I like it to be happy that’s why I let it fly away. It it comes back, maybe it likes me too. But if it doesn’t, maybe it’s happier somewhere else..”

That night, Jimmy and Lulu had a long talk. The following morning, the unsurprised Jamie welcomed a pretty little green bird perched on their window sill..

Our WORD FOR THE WEEK…

Dreamcatcher is a handmade object made of willow hoop woven with loose net and decorated with feathers and semi precious stones.

Believed to have originated from the Ojibwe (Chippewa) Nation intended to teach natural wisdom, a dream catcher is hung above the bed to protect sleeping children from nightmares. It is said to filter the dreams and allow only the good dreams to pass through and slide down to the feathers onto the dreamer while the bad dreams are trapped against the web until they evaporate at the light of day.

Legends have it that a long time ago, while an old Lakota (spiritual leader) was on a high mountain, he had a vision of Iktomi (the great trickster and searcher of wisdom) who appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi picked up the Lakota’s willow hoop and began to spin a web while he spoke about the cycles of life: how we begin our lives as infants moving on to childhood, adulthood until we finally go to old age where we become like infants again, thus, the cycle is complete.

He also told him about the good and bad forces we encounter in each time of our lives; how the good will steer us to the right direction and the bad in the wrong which might lead us to harm.  When Iktomi was finished, he handed the web to the elder and said to use it to help his people reach their goals by using their ideas, dreams and visions. Anyone who believes in the great spirit will have his good ideas filtered by the web while trapping the bad ideas never to let it pass.

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Source: http://www.dream-catchers.org/dream-catcher-history.php

Susan is a fashionable woman. She always wears the most fashionable clothes and the most trendy styles. Her hair cut is always copied from Hollywood stars and she is always adorned with the most conspicuous accessories. She has a vast collection of gemstones common and rare alike. She wears them around her neck, her wrists, her ears, her ankles and any part of her body that can be ornamented.

Her doting husband tolerates her passion and even supports her obsession with such material possessions. Susie, her 5-year old daughter, oblivious of the value of such colorful sparkling stones, loves their glittering effects every time her mother moves. She also has her share of such gems and though she never knows their true worth, loves to have them on her when her mother shows her off to her friends.

One day, when their washer woman, Letty, asked Susan if she could take her own daughter, Rita, into her employer’s house, as the 6-year old girl has no companion at the time, Susie begged her mother to say yes. Obviously, little Susie was bored and wanted to have a playmate.

So, the washer woman brought her child with her and the 2 little girls spent the whole day playing. At the end of the day, Susie was sad to let Rita go, but Letty promised to bring the girl again next week. After 3 days, however, Susan started looking for a piece of jewel. It was a string of sapphire stones set as a beautiful necklace.

As anybody can be a suspect, Susan summoned Letty and Rita and described the missing necklace, then she asked the little girl if she had seen it or touched it in any way. Rita innocently said ‘yes.’ Shocked beyond belief, Susan called the police station and had Letty and Rita arrested for robbing her house.

A week passed and Letty and Rita were almost forgotten. Susan got into Susie’s room to get her a pair of pajamas when she saw a mancala board under the table. The holes were filled with sapphire stones. She called Susie to ask what it was, Susie said..

“That? That’s one of your necklaces. You left it here a long time ago. When Rita came, I cut the string and we used the stones to play Mancala.”

“But Rita said, she touched it..”

“Of course, she did. Haven’t you played Mancala before, Mommy? You have to scoop the pebbles from the hole and drop a piece in each hole all the way through..”

Tears flowed from Susan’s eyes as she picked up the phone to call the police station..

Adults and children see the same things in different eyes…

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Note: Original story by the blog author. Any similarities with other stories, fiction or otherwise, are purely incidental.

For our WORD FOR THE WEEK

Challenge yourself continually with ongoing online education. See GuidetoOnlineSchools.com to get started.

Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pulchritude

If the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was built by King Nebuchadnezzar II to please his wife Amytis of Media, the TAJ MAHAL in Agra, India, was built by Shah Jahan (Prince Khurram) in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

Shah Jahan was only 14 years old when he fell in love at first sight to the beautiful Persian Princess Arjumand Banu Begum (later named Mumtaz Mahal meaning the ‘Jewel of the Palace’) and wanted her for his wife. And though the emperor had other wives, she was his favorite.

In 1631, though, Mumtaz Mahal died while giving birth to their 14th child. So great was the grief of the emperor that he ordered his court to go into mourning for 2 years and then built the richest mausoleum which took 22 years and 22,000 laborers to finish.

When Shah Jahan died in 1666, his tomb was placed beside that of Mumtaz’s. And now, the richest mausoleum is known as TAJ MAHAL, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

It’s not only a piece of magnificent architecture, it’s a testimony of undying love of an emperor to his beloved.

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Source: http://www.tajmahal.org.uk/story.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taj_Mahal

Mr. Ramirez was in a rush. It was his son, Joshua’s birthday. The boy was turning 11 he was so excited as his father promised to give him what he really really wanted. So, to make sure Joshua gets what he wants, Mr. Ramirez asked him to write down his wish 2 weeks before his birthday to give his father time to find it. The piece of paper, however, was still tucked unopened in Mr. Ramirez’s daily planner. He’s just too busy today to look at it. But since he already asked his secretary to send the newest and biggest OPTIMUS PRIME robot to their house, Mr. Ramirez is sure that his son already got what he wanted so he didn’t feel the need to go home early for the birthday party.

So, he decided to stop working at 9pm when he was sure his son’s party was over and the house is already clean and quiet. But when he got to his car, he found his cell phone, which he didn’t notice missing since morning, on the driver’s seat. He has about 50 missed calls and 75 text messages from his wife. As there was too many of them, he didn’t bother to check the messages. He just went straight home. He was surprised to find the house empty. A note was on the table telling him where his wife and son were. The hospital.

According to his wife, Joshua was so disappointed when he woke up and found his father gone. He was even more disappointed when the big box arrived that he ran so fast and was hit by a car. When she asked why he didn’t know any of this, Mr. Ramirez admitted to his wife that he didn’t check his cell phone. In absence of anything to say, the man asked his wife why their son ran away when he saw the box, she simply said ‘it’s not what Joshua was expecting to get for his birthday.’ So, Mr. Ramirez asked what Joshua wanted to get. To this his wife  answered ‘didn’t you read his note?’

So, Mr. Ramirez went out to read the note his son put in his daily planner. It said..

Mr. Ramirez cried so hard he didn’t notice when the doctor approached.

‘Mr. Ramirez?’

The man lifted his head and looked at the doctor’s face hoping to see some hope.

‘Your son is out of danger…’

Mr. Ramirez thanked the doctor and shamelessly wept..

(NOTE: Original story by the blog author, any similarity to other stories or articles, fictional or otherwise,  is purely incidental)

“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”

~Robert Frost

One hot summer day, a young boy entered a refreshment shop clasping a handful of coins in his right hand and took the nearest table and sat down. The waitress eyed the boy suspiciously and out of habit asked him what he wants to have. The boy asked how much a special pearl shake costs. The waitress said the one with additional scoop of pearl costs P35. The boy counted his money, it was P35.  The waitress waited but rolled her eyes when the boy asked again about the cost of an ordinary pearl shake. The waitress answered P30, but it only has one scoop of pearl. The boy said he’d like to have one.

The waitress prepared his order and put on his table. The boy silently consumed his pearl shake. Once done, he thanked the waitress and let himself out. The waitress went to clean the table and found to her surprise five P1.00 coins obviously left by the boy for her as tip. The waitress ran out of the shop to look for the boy and thank him for the tip but he was already gone.

The waitress clutched the coins. The boy could have ordered the special pearl shake instead he preferred the cheaper one just so he could give her a tip. As two drops of tears  flowed down her cheeks so was a lesson in humility was learned by the waitress who normally judge a person by how much is in his wallet and not what is in his heart.

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Image Source: company.co.uk

Last week, I attended a meeting in our Makati Branch. It was the first department meeting since the end of the peak season. The meeting turned out fine and we were able to discuss all the things that we met there for including the schedule for the next meeting. While getting myself a glass of juice from the pantry, I met the Operations Manager who seems to be as glad to see me as I was to see her. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, I got more personal and asked her about her ten-year steady boyfriend whom I met in one of our conventions about 3 years ago. She answered me by showing her ringed finger. It may not be a BrianGavinDiamonds.com custom engagement ring, but it surely was special.  I gave her a sisterly hug and asked her when the big day is going to be. She said some time in December and please be quiet about it. I said no problem, congratulated her and left the pantry. I entered the meeting room with a half smile and a big secret in my head..