Just 3 Words

Some of the most significant messages people deliver to one another often come in just three words. When spoken or conveyed, those statements have the power to forge new friendships, deepen old ones and restore relationships that have cooled. The following three-word phrases can enrich every relationship.

I RESPECT YOU - Respect is another way of showing love. Respect conveys the feeling that
another person is a true equal. It is a powerful way to affirm the importance of a relationship.

Going Home

A pastor was going to lead a choir on a cross country singing tour.
Since it was during the school holidays, his wife and him decided to take their 5 years old daughter with them.
On the eve of returning home after a week's performance, the pastor asked the little girl: 'Which do you like more? Travelling or going home?"
"Going home, of course." the daughter said without a moment's hesitation.
"In that case, we will not take you with us on our next trip" teased the pastor.
"But Daddy, I like going home. How can I go home unless you take me on a trip first."
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The same is true in life. There will always be confusion before awakening and a wound before there can be healing. He who has never left home will never know the joy of coming returning home.

Carry On

It's easy to fight when everything's right,

And you're mad with the thrill and the glory;

It's easy to cheer when victory's near,

And wallow in fields that are gory.

It's a different song when everything's wrong.

When you're feeling infernally mortal;

When it's ten against one, and hope there is none,

Buck up, little soldier, and chortle:

Carry on! Carry on!

There isn't much punch in your blow.

You're glaring and staring and hitting out blind;

You're muddy and bloody, but never mind.

Carry on! Carry on!

You haven't the ghost of a show.

It's looking like death, but while you've a breath,

Carry on, my son! Carry on!

And so in the strife of the battle of life

It's easy to fight when you're winning;

It's easy to slave, and starve and be brave,

When the dawn of success is beginning.

But the man who can meet despair and defeat

With a cheer, there's a man of God's choosing;

The man who can fight to Heaven's own height

Is the man who can fight when he's losing.

Carry on! Carry on!

Things never were looming so black.

But show that you haven't a cowardly streak,

And though you're unlucky you never are weak.

Carry on! Carry on!

Brace up for another attack.

It's looking like hell, but - you never can tell;

Carry on, old man! Carry on!

There are some who drift out in the deserts of doubt,

And some who in brutishness wallow;

There are others, I know, who in piety go

Because of a Heaven to follow.

But to labor with zest, and to give of your best,

For the sweetness and joy of the giving;

To help folks along with a hand and a song;

Why, there's the real sunshine of living.

Carry on! Carry on!

Fight the good fight and true;

Believe in you mission, greet life with a cheer;

There's big work to do, and that's why you are here.

Carry on! Carry on!

Let the world be the better for you;

And at last when you die, let this be your cry:

Carry on, my soul! Carry on!

Robert W. Service

A Beautiful Heart

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. 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 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, because they 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 from his 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

Steve Jobs

The world renowned Apple CEO sold dreams not products. He was one of the greatest corporate storytellers in the world stage. People loved everything about him , from his presentation style, quotes or facts about his personal and professional life.

In 2005, he delivered a remarkable speech to Stanford Graduates in which he shared 3 stories. The first story was about connecting the dots. He talked about his biological mother who was a young, unwed college student, whom put him up for adoption. She felt that he should be adopted by college graduates. When a lawyer couple turned down the adoption, his mother had no choice but to give him up to a couple who had never graduated from college but with the promise that they will put him through college.

And 17 years later, he did go to college but he did not see the value in it. So, he dropped out. He stopped taking classes that didn’t interest him and dropping in on the ones that looked interesting. He didn’t have a dorm room, so he slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and walked 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple.

At that time Reed College offered perhaps the best calligraphy programme in the country. He decided to take a class where he learned how to make typography great and found it fascinating. He had no idea then, how he was going to use calligraphy for practical applications. 10 years later, Macintosh, the first personal computer designed by Apple had beautiful typography thanks to Steve Jobs.

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” said Steve.

His second story was about love and loss. He found what he loved to do early in life. At 21, he co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in his parents’ garage back. Within 10 years Apple had grown into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. But, a clash of vision left Jobs unemployed at 30. “What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating,” he recalls. For months, he struggled with his fate and began to feel like a public failure. But, slowly, Jobs began to realize that although he was fired, he still had a passion for computers and so he decided to start over.

“The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything.” says Jobs.

His last story was about death. He was diagnosed with a cancer. The doctors told him that he should expect to live no longer than six months because it was an incurable. Fortunately, after the biopsy, it turned out to be curable with surgery. The near death experience made him realize that remembering death is the most important tool he has ever encountered to help him make the big choices in life.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” says Jobs.

Steve Jobs, billionaire co-founder of Apple and the mastermind behind an empire of products that revolutionised computing, telephony and the music industry, died in California at the age of 56.

He left behind an estimated $8.3 billion in fortune, but he often dismissed others’ interest in his wealth. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful … that’s what matters to me” he said.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

After A While

Unforgettable Arthur Ashe

Even after leaving pro-tennis tour, Arthur Ashe played regularly and stayed remarkably fit. So, it was a staggering blow when friends heard of his first heart attack in 1979 at the age of 36. He went for a bypass surgery and another one in 1983. Recovery was particularly slow and he was given a few extra units of blood as a boost. 5 years later his right hand went limp and the hospital discovered that he had Aids due to the previous blood transfer.

For 3 1/2 years, Arthur kept his illness to himself, his wife and a few close friends. He revealed his sickness in April 1992 only when he learned that a newspaper was going to print a story about his condition. Despite being weak from his illness, Arthur continued helping children, working to give haven to Haitian refugees, fighting racial injustices and battling AIDS.

He received letters from his fans the world over, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease?" To this Arthur Ashe replied:
"The world over, 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals and I won it. When I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?

'Death does not frighten me,' he told a close friend later on. 'If I asked Why me?about my troubles, then I would have to ask also Why Me? about my blessings. Why my winning Wimbledon? Why my marrying a beautiful gifted woman? Why having a wonderful child?'

Arthur would have only liked to see his daughter, Camera, grow up, go to dances, enter university and marry all the things that his own mother didn't live to see him do. In 1991, he walked with his daughter hand in hand around the grounds of Wimbledon's All England Club. 'I just wanted her to see where Daddy played, he said because he knew that he might not be back. On 5th Feb 1993, Aurthur checked into the hospital and the next day, he died.

Two days before he died, Arthur Ashe finished his last book, Days of Grace.
The final chapter was done in a letter dedicated to his daughter Camera:
'Do not be angry with me if I am not there in person, alive and well when you need me. I would have like nothing more. Just remember, when you feel sick at heart and weary of life, or when you stumble and fall and you do not know if you can get up again..think of me. I will always be watching and smiling and cheering you on.'

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dedicating this story to RK..