What counts can’t always be counted, what can be counted doesn’t always count.
( Albert Einstein)
What really counts? Money, time or relationships? Have you been chasing after what can be counted but really doesn’t matter at the end of the day? The latest fads, brands, material possessions. Or even just pursuing your work. All for the sake of the people you love? Think again, if you’re not guilty of this, perhaps someone you know is preoccupied with what doesn’t really count?
Time passes whether you use it wisely or not. Money? Never enough of it, right? But how much is enough? If you have the right attitude towards work, there will be opportunities that will come your way as long as you don’t give up. Relationships? Family or even friends, do they matter? Have you made that call? What you don’t spend time nurturing, will grow cold. Have you taken people close to you for granted? They may not always be around when you want them. But knowing that someone has your back is always comforting. If you don’t have someone like that, then be that person for someone out there who may just need a smile, which costs nothing but means so much.
I recalled a story my mum used to tell me about her childhood. She grew up at a time, where it was common for extended families to stay together. My mum was a shy kid, being the only child at that time. She also found it difficult bonding with the children of the other families residing in that household. Everyone there knew that she was much loved by her father, for he would buy her pretty dresses which she loved parading around in. The other children were jealous of her and she was often shunned by them as a result.
Much later, while recounting this incident to me, she told me she later realized why her father would asked her to join him in their family room whenever he came home from work with a bag of candy. He would hide this bag of candies in his briefcase so no one else knew he brought them home. He would then ask her to share the candy with the other children. She would do so shyly, yet with a hint of pride.
Sadly her father passed away when she was about eight years old. Looking back, she realized that her father could have distributed the candy to the other children himself and asked them to be friends with her. But her father rather she gave them out to the children because through this she would be seen in a favorable light and make friends on her own.This was also a way to teach her to value relationship over material things.
Sharing your good stuff with others to gain friendships, is not a bad way to learn about what is of greater value.
Have you thought of what really matters? Don’t wait till it’s too late, start now!
Artist: Jackie S. Text: Anna G.
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Box Full of Kisses
Some time ago, a man punished his three year old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when his little girl used the gold wrapper to decorate a box, as a present under the Christmas tree.
Undeterred, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning, and said,” This is for you, Daddy.”
The man felt embarrassed by his over-reaction the day before. But when he saw that the box was empty, he became angry again.
He yelled at her,”Don’t you know? When you give someone a present there is supposed to be something inside.”
The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried,”Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.”
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
A short while later, an accident took the life of the child. Her father kept the gold box by his bedside for many years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of his little girl who had put it there.
