Money vs Family

Ramas family is very big. Rama is a hard worker and he is the sole bread winner of
the family. He has three kids, two sons and a daughter. He lives along with father
and mother. Rama used to work too hard to feed his family.
He works for more than 16 hours a day. The kids cannot see him as he will leave
home early in the morning before they wake-up and reach home around midnight
when kids would sleep every day. The entire family eagerly wait to spend quality
time with him and the kids miss him so much.
The children were too curious about Sundays as his father would spend the entire
day with them. Unfortunately, to meet the increasing household expenses and
educational expenses, Rama took a weekend job to work even on Sundays. The kids
were very shattered and even Ramas wife and parents too!
The typical routine continued for several weeks and year passed. All the hard work
of Rama earned a lot of benefits and he was offered promotion with attractive
increment.
The family moved to a new house, got better clothes and ate healthy foods.
However, as usual, Rama continues to earn more and more money. One day his wife
asked him why are you running for money? We can be happy with what we have
now.
Rama replied, I want to give the best available in the world to all of you and want
you to stay happy always.
Two years passed and Rama hardly spent time with his family. The children yearned
to have their father at home. Meanwhile, the sincere efforts of Rama reaped him a
fortune. He was offered partnership and share in profits. He continued to earn more
and more wealth.
Now, Ramas family is one of the richest families in the city. They have all the
facilities and luxuries. Still, Ramas children strove to meet their father as he was
hardly seen at home.
His children turned teens and they are no more kids. Now, Rama earned enough
wealth to provide a luxurious life to his next five generations.
Ramas family went to their beach house to spend their vacation. His daughter
asked, Dad will you please spend one day at home and stay with us here?
Rama replied, Yes darling, tomorrow for sure, I will join you for the lunch and be
with you all for next few days. Im tired of work and need refreshment!
The entire family became very happy.
Unfortunately, the next day, none in Ramas family were alive as they were washed
out in Tsunami!
Rama was too busy even to hear the news about Tsunami. When he tried to reach
his beach house, he saw sea and water everywhere and screamed for his family, He
could not even find the dead bodies of his family.

He can never have them again, cannot even see them and even by paying millions
he cannot get them back to life! He remembered his wifes words, Why are you
running for money? We can be happy with what we have now.
True Wealth
Once upon a time, there lived a very rich and wealthy man in a big town. He led a
luxurious life. He always boasted about his wealth to his friends and relatives.
His son was studying in a distant city and he returned home for vacation. The rich
man wanted to show off to his son how rich he was. But his son wasnt fond of any
luxurious lifestyle. However, the rich man wanted to make his son realize that his
lifestyle was extremely rich and that poor people suffered a lot. He planned a days
visit to the entire town to show him the life of the poor people.
The father and the son took a chariot and visited the entire town. They returned
home after two days. The father was happy that his son was very quiet after seeing
the poor people honouring the rich man and after witnessing the sufferings of the
poor due to lack of facilities.
The rich man asked his son, Dear boy, how was the trip? Have you enjoyed it?
Yes my dad, it was a great trip with you, the son replied.
So, what did you learn from the trip? the father asked.
The son was silent.
Finally you have realized how the poor suffer and how they actually live, said the
father.
No father, replied the son. He added, We have only two dogs, they have 10 dogs.
We have a big pool in our garden, but they have a massive bay without any end! We
have luxurious and expensive lights imported from various countries, but they have
countless stars lighting their nights. We have a house on a small piece of land, but
they have abundant fields that go beyond the horizon. We are protected by huge
and strong walls around our property, but they bond with each other and surround
themselves with their fellow beings. We have to buy food from them, but they are
so rich that they can cultivate their own food.
The rich father was stunned and speechless, on hearing his sons words.
Finally the son added, Dad, thank you so much for showing me who is rich and who
is poor. Thank you for letting me understand how poor we really are!

Cocoon and the Butterfly

Many of us know that a beautiful and colourful butterfly comes from an unappealing
worm! Here is the story of a butterfly that was never able to live its life as a normal
butterfly.

One day, a man saw a cocoon. He loved butterflies and had a craze for its wonderful
combination of colours. In fact, he used to spend a lot of time around butterflies. He
knew how a butterfly would struggle to transform from an ugly caterpillar into a
beautiful one.

He saw the cocoon with a tiny opening. It meant that the butterfly was trying to
make its way out to enjoy the world. He decided to watch how the butterfly would
come out of the cocoon. He was watching the butterfly struggling to break the shell
for several hours. He spent almost more than 10 hours with the cocoon and the
butterfly. The butterfly had been struggling very hard for hours to come out through
the tiny opening. Unfortunately, even after continuous attempts for several hours,
there was no progress. It seemed that the butterfly had tried its best and could not
give any more try.

The man, who had a passion and love for butterflies, decided to help the butterfly.
He got a pair of scissors and tweaked the cocoon to make larger opening for the
butterfly and removed the remaining cocoon. The butterfly emerged without any
struggle!

Unfortunately, the butterfly looked no longer beautiful and had a swollen body with
small and withered wings.

The man was happy that he had made the butterfly come out of the cocoon without
any more struggles. He continued to watch the butterfly and was quite eager to see
it fly with its beautiful wings. He thought that at any time, the butterfly might
expand its wings, shrink the body and the wings could support the body.
Unfortunately, neither did the wings expand nor the swollen body reduce.

Unfortunately, the butterfly just crawled around with withered wings and a huge
body. It was never able to fly. Although the man did it with a good intention, he did

not know that only by going through struggles the butterfly can emerge to be
beautiful, with strong wings.

The continuous effort from the butterfly to come out of its cocoon would let the fluid
stored in the body be converted into wings. Thus, the body would become lighter
and smaller, and the wings would be beautiful and large.

If we dont want to undergo any struggle, we wont be able to fly!

The Cunning Fox and the Clever Stork
Once upon a time, there lived a very cunning and mischievous fox. He used to
speak to other animals sweetly and gain their trust, before playing tricks on them.

One day the fox met a stork. He befriended the stork and acted like a very good
friend. Soon, he invited the stork to have a feast with him. The stork happily
accepted the invitation.

The day of the feast came, and the stork went to the foxs house. To her surprise
and disappointment, the fox said that he could not make a big feast as promised,
and just offered some soup. When he brought the soup out of the kitchen, the stork
saw that it was in a shallow bowl!

The poor stork could not have any soup with its long bill, but the fox easily licked
the soup from the plate. As the stork just touched the soup with the tip of its bill,
the fox asked her, How is the soup? Dont you like it?

The hungry stork replied, Oh it is good, but my stomach is upset, and I cant take
any more soup!

Im sorry for troubling you, said the fox.

The stork replied, Oh dear, please dont say sorry. I have some health problem and
cannot enjoy what you offer.

She left the place after thanking the fox, and inviting him to her house for dinner.

The day arrived and the fox reached the storks place. After exchanging
pleasantries, the stork served soup for both of them, in a narrow jar with a long
neck. She was able to have the soup very easily with her long bill, but the fox
obviously could not.

After finishing hers, the stork asked the fox if he was enjoying the soup. The fox
remembered the feast he himself had given the stork, and felt very ashamed. He
stammered, IId better leave now. I have a tummy ache.

Humiliated, he left the place running.

The Violets
THE sun came out and shone down on the leafless trees that cast hardly any
shadows on the pathway through the woods.

"Surely the spring is coming," the birds said; it must be time to wake the flowers."

The thrush, and the lark, and the linnet sang sweetly. A robin flew up from the snow,
and perched upon a branch; a little ragged boy at the end of the wood stopped and
listened.

"Surely the spring is coming," he too said; and mother will get well."

The flowers that all through the winter had been sleeping in the ground heard the
birds, but they were drowsy, and longed to sleep on. At last the snowdrops came up
and looked shiveringly about; and a primrose leaf peeped through the ground, and
died of cold. Then some violets opened their blue eyes, and, hidden beneath the
tangle of the wood, listened to the twittering of the birds. The little ragged boy
came by ; he saw the tender flowers, and, stooping down, gathered them one by
one, and put them into a wicker basket that hung upon his arm.

Dear flowers," he said, with a sigh, as if loth to pick them, "you will buy poor
mother some breakfast," and, tying them up into little bunches, he carried them to
the town. All the morning he stood by the road-side, offering his flowers to the
passers-by, but no one took any notice of him; and his face grew sad and troubled.
Poor mother! he said, longingly; and the flowers heard him, and sighed.

"Those violets are very sweet," a lady said as she passed; the boy ran after her.

"Only a penny," he said, "just one penny, for mother is at home." Then the lady
bought them, and carried them to the beautiful house in which she lived, and gave
them some water, touching them so softly that the poor violets forgot to long for the
woods, and looked gratefully up into hei face.

"Mother," said the boy, "see, I have brought some bread for your breakfast. The
violets sent it to you," and he put the little loaf down before her.

The birds knew nothing of all this, and went on singing till the ground was covered
with flowers, till the leaves had hidden the brown branches of the trees, and the
pathway through the woods was all shade, save for the sunshine that flecked it with
light.