Dr. Tony Campolo In His book, “Carpe Diem”

When I was a kid growing up, I knew a man who loomed bigger than
life to me. His name was Edwin E. Bailey, and he ran the
astronomical observatory at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. I
would go to the Franklin Institute most Saturdays just to spend time
with him. His encyclopaedic mind fascinated me. He seemed to know
something about everything.

I was a friend with Ed Bailey right up until he died several years ago.
When he was in the hospital, after a serious stroke, I went to visit him.
In an effort to make small talk, I told about all the places I had been to
speak and how I had come to his bedside straight from the airport.

He heard me out and then said with a slightly sarcastic manner, “You
go all over the world to people who, ten years from now, won’t
remember your name. But you haven’t left time for the people who
really care about you.”

That simple sentence hit me hard and changed my life. I have
decided not to let my time be used up by people to whom I make no
difference, while I neglect those for whom I am irreplaceable.

A friend of mine recently got a call from the White House asking him
to consult with the President of the United States. He said no
because it was to be on a day he had promised to spend with his
granddaughter at the seashore. The nation survived without him, the
President didn’t miss him, and his granddaughter had some precious
time with her “Pop-Pop.”

First things ought to be put first.

Case Study In Emotional Intelligence

Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or whom to
blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know.
We miss out some warmth in human relationship to give each other
support. Treasure what you have.

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were
a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes. When the
boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a
medicine bottle open. He was late for work so he asked the wife to
cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied
in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy playfully went to the
medicine bottle and, fascinated with its color, drank it all. It
happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small
dosages. When the child showed signs of poisoning the mother took
him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was
terrified how to face her husband. When the distraught father came to
the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered
just four words.

QUESTIONS:
1. What were the four words?

2. What is the implication of this story?

Check with the answers only after you have tried to come up with
your own.

Please read below: –

**
**
ANSWER:
The husband just said “I Love You Darling”. The husband’s totally
unexpected reaction is proactive behavior. He is indeed a genius in
human relationships. The child is dead. He can never be brought
back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother.

She had also lost her only child. What she needed at that moment
was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he
gave her. If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective,
there would be much fewer problems in the world.

Ears

“Can I see my baby?” the happy new mother asked. When the
bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth
to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned
quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had
been born without ears. Time proved that the baby’s hearing
was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred.

When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself
into his mother’s arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to
be a succession of heartbreaks.

He blurted out the tragedy. “A boy, a big boy … called me a
freak.”

He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favourite with his
fellow students, he might have been class president, but for
that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music. “But
you might mingle with other young people,” his mother reproved
him, but felt a kindness in her heart.

The boy’s father had a session with the family physician. Could
nothing be done? “I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears,
if they could be procured,” the doctor decided.

Then the search began for a person who would make such a
sacrifice for a young man. Two years went by. Then, “You are
going to the hospital, Son. Mother and I have someone who will
donate the ears you need. But it’s a secret,” said the father.

The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person
emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and
college became a series of triumphs. Later he married and
entered the diplomatic service. “But I must know!” He urged his
father, “Who gave so much for me? I could never do enough for
him.” “I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the
agreement was that you are not to know, not yet.”

The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come …
one of the darkest days that a son must endure. He stood with
his father over his mother’s casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father
stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish-brown hair
to reveal that the mother — had no outer ears.

“Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut,” he

whispered gently, “and nobody ever thought Mother less
beautiful, did they?” Real beauty lies not in the physical
appearance, but in the heart. Real treasure lies not in what that
can be seen; but what, that cannot be seen.

Real love lies not in what is done and known, but in what
that is done but not known.

He Needed Me

A nurse escorted a tired, anxious young man to the bedside of an
elderly man. “Your son is here,” she whispered to the patient. She
had to repeat the words several times before the patient’s eyes
opened. He was heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart
attack and he dimly saw the young man standing outside the oxygen
tent.

He reached out his hand and the young man tightly wrapped his
fingers around it, squeezing a message of encouragement. The nurse
brought a chair next to the bedside. All through the night the young
man sat holding the old mans hand, and offering gentle words of
hope. The dying man said nothing as he held tightly to his son.

As dawn approached, the patient died. The young man placed on the
bed the lifeless hand he had been holding, and then he went to notify
the nurse. While the nurse did what was necessary, the young man
waited. When she had finished her task, the nurse began to say
words of sympathy to the young man.

But he interrupted her. “Who was that man?” He asked.

The startled nurse replied, “I thought he was your father.”

“No, he was not my father,” he answered. “I never saw him before in
my life.”

“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?” asked
the nurse.

He replied, “I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t
here. When I realized he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his
son, I knew how much he needed me…”

A Way of Love

There was once this guy who is very much in love with his girl. This
romantic guy folded 1,000 pieces of paper-cranes as a gift to his girl.

Although, at that time he was just a small fry in his company, his
future doesn’t seemed too bright, they were very happy together.

Until one day, his girl told him she was going to Paris and will never come
back. She also told him that she couldn’t visualize any future for the
both of them, so let’s go their own ways there and then
…Heartbroken, the guy agreed. But when he regains his confidence,
he worked hard day and night, slogging his body and mind just to
make something out of him.

Finally with all these hard work and the help of friends, this guy had
set up his own company. You never fail until you stop trying one rainy
day, while this guy was driving; he saw an elderly couple sharing an
umbrella the rain walking to some destination. Even with the umbrella,
they were still drenched.

It didn’t take him long to realize those were his girl’s parents.
With a heart in getting back at them, he drove slowly
beside the couple, wanting them to spot him in his luxury sedan.

He wanted them to know that he wasn’t the same anymore; he had his
own company, car, comfort etc. He made it! Before the guy can
realize, the couple was walking towards a cemetery, and he got out of
his car and followed…. and he saw his girl, a photograph of her
smiling sweetly as ever at him from her tombstone… and he saw his
paper cranes beside her. Find time to realize that there is one person
who means so much to you; for you might wake up one morning
losing that person who you thought meant nothing to you.

Her parents saw him. He asks them why this had happened. They explained
that she did not leave for France at all. She was ill with cancer. She had
believed that he will make it someday, but she did not want to be his
obstacle … therefore she had chosen to leave him…

She had wanted her parents to put his paper cranes beside her,
because, if the day comes when fate brings him to her again he can
take some of those back with him…

Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them
to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.

Existence Of God

A woman received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with
fever. She left work and stopped by the pharmacy for some
medication for her daughter. When returning to her car to find she
had locked her keys inside.

She had to get home to her sick daughter, and didn’t know what to
do. She called her home to talk to the baby sitter, and was told her
daughter was getting worse. The sitter said, “You might find a coat
hanger and use that to open the door.”

The woman found an old rusty coat hanger on the ground, as if
someone else had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at
the hanger and said, “I don’t know how to use this.”

She bowed her head and asked God for help. An old rusty car pulled
up, driven by a dirty, greasy, bearded man with a biker skull rag on
his head. The woman thought, “Great God. This is what you sent to
help me???” But she was desperate, and thankful.

The man got out of his car and asked if he could help. She said, “Yes,
my daughter is very sick. I must get home to her.

Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?

He said, “SURE.” He walked over to the car and in seconds the car
was opened.

She hugged the man and through her tears she said,” THANK YOU
SO MUCH…You are a very nice man.”

The man replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison
for car theft.” The woman hugged the man again and cried out loud….
THANK YOU GOD FOR SENDING ME A PROFESSIONAL!” GOD I
love you and I need you. Thank you for living in my heart.

Don’t Wait

This is a story that makes you see why you should live each day as if
it were your last…

There was a guy that was born with cancer, a cancer that has no
known cure. He was 17 years old and could die at any moment. He
was always at home, under his mother’s care.

One day he decided to go out, even if it was just once. He asked his
mother for permission and she agreed. Walking down his block he
saw many stores. Stopping at a music store he looked in and saw a
very pretty girl of his own age, it was love at first sight and he walked
in.

He walked up to the counter were the girl was. She smiled at him and
asked “Can I help you with anything?” The guy could only think that it
was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and stuttered, “Well,
ummm, I’d like to buy a CD”. He grabbed the first one he saw and
gave her the money. “Do you want me to wrap it?” the smiling girl
asked. The guy said yes and the girl went into the back room to wrap
it. The guy took the wrapped CD and walked home.

From that day on he visited the music store everyday, and each day
he bought a CD. And each day the girl wrapped them up and the guy
stored them unopened in his closet.

He was a very shy boy, and although he tried he couldn’t find the
nerve to ask the girl out. His mother noticed this and encouraged him.
The next day the guy set out for the store with a determined mind, like
the previous days he bought a CD and the girl wrapped it as usual.
While she was busy he left his telephone on the counter and rushed
out of the store.

The following day the guy didn’t visit the store, and the girl called him.
His mother answered the phone, wondering who it could be. It was
the girl from the music store! She asked to speak with her son and his
mother started crying. The girl asked her what was the matter. “Don’t
you know? He died yesterday.” There was a long silence on the
phone…

Later that afternoon the guy’s mother entered his room to remember
her son. She decided to start with his closet, and to her surprised she
saw a big pile of unopened CDs wrapped in festive paper. She was
curious because there were so many of them, and she opened one.

As she tore open the package she noticed a slip of paper that said:
“Hi! You’re cute; I would love to meet you. Let’s go out sometime.
Sophie”

The mother started crying as she opened another, and another, and
another. Every single CD contained a slip of paper that said the
same.

Moral: That’s the way life is, don’t wait to show those special
people the way you feel, tomorrow could be too late.