A blind man was begging on the road to Mecca, when a pious Moslem came over and asked whether the people were giving generously – as the Koran commands. The man showed him his little tin, which was almost empty. The traveler said:
- Let me write something on the card around your neck.
Hours later, the traveler returned. The beggar was surprised, for he had received a large amount of money.
- What did you write on the card? – he asked.
- All I wrote was: Today is a beautiful spring day, the sun is shining, and I am blind.
based on a story by Khalil Gibran
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Nice story! Most of the time, people needs to be reminded just how lucky they are! And when they realise it, then they can be thankful and generous.
I relate this to the people in my home…a lot of times we take others for granted, especially those close to us. My mum is 80+ and talks real loud. People would stare whenever we have a conversation in the street or restaurant…both of us shouting! Mum gets defensive when I once suggested she see a doctor and have continued to refuse to admit that she’s hard of hearing…she reads the newspaper front to back, read subtitles on TV…I feel she’s afraid to lose her memory or be labeled senile.
Like putting a mirror in the hands of the beggar so the people walking by can see themselves.
Una de mis grandes penas es la mala actitud de la mayoría de la gente hacia las personas discapacitadas. La lectura, simplemente admirable.
that story depicts people’s lack of attention not mentioning lack of spiritual abilities. In todays world there is no intuition, everything has to be spelled out on big billboards or repeated endlessly in TV commercials. Spiritual Dark Ages.
muchas veces es necesario recordarnos lo muy bendecidos que somos para poder darnos cuenta de la necesidad de otro al escribir el musulman esto en el cartel estaba recordando a cada uno de los lectores lo bendedidos que estamos y tambien ver la sencillez y humildad con que acepta sus deficiencias el mendigo hizo esto que cada uno de algo de sì para colaborar con la pobreza y necesidad del otro. caminamos ciegos muchas veces ni siquiera miramos la pobreza de nuestros hermanos que pasan por nuestro lado miremos sintiendo un poco para que Dios tambièn lo hga con nosostros .gracias paulo por tus enseñanzas cada dìa son mas crudas y faciles de aprender
A good story, I’d read it but with the last phrase “It’s a beautiful day but I can’t see it” :)
what a great way to demonstrate that advertising & the type of advertising is important LoL.
of course, we are beggars. at the moment we want that people recognize something we have done, have said, a new idea, a new book (aleph …lol), looking for a job, we are sitting there & want to get their attention for it.
having a handicap acknowledged …
I am losing my hearing. but I do not walk around with a sign around my neck & I do not want to. hearing aids … luckily they are small & now reflect the power that our computers have. they are not my big warning signs either. using these little “miracles” still put me sometimes in a situation that I need the understanding of the person I communicate with.
sometimes it seems to be so hard to understand that it is not my failure of not getting it immediately …
it seems to be so hard to feel into my situation, to generate an understanding & willingness to look at it.
This is a tiny moment of not audio-related understanding but all this becomes exposed by a hardly visible change in the person’s facial expression or body posture.
Bueno avemos tanta persona ciega pero no del sentido avitual si no a entro de nosotro que no. Queremos vernos tal como somo hay parte del universe clamando juticia yo por EJMPlO vivo en Newyork seGun disen primer capital del mundo y avemos la mita, de perdona pasando Ambre yo vivo ESA Realidad ysi eso esta’ pasando Aqui. Como estaran’ Los demas paise yo por ejemplo no boy auna tienda de Ropa hace un monton de años y bolviendo ala EScRitura yo lei hace un monton de años con las Alas Rota era un linbro de amor. Perdido y para mi se trataba de verso muy Bello y Hera aserca de la mujer amada de algo que’ no se materialiso’ en la Tierra y ablas de Los olores arboles del libano si no Recuerdo mal pues eh perdido un poco la memoria acauda de un ataque’ cerebrar .
El da todo, El ha dado todo sin medida,sin reserva,sin pensar en el dolor que puede provocar un roto corazon, El da cada dia, El sin reservas dia tras dia con pequenos detalles por conquistar un solo objetivo… Mi corazon,un corazon que solo da todo a medias,un corazon que da con pies de plomos por miedo a ser lastimado,y porque creer que hay algo mejor en el futuro,que da excusas para estar y no estar a su lado,un corazon que sabe que el futuro no es a su lado,pero que esta tranquilo y comodo con el,un corazon que se ha acostumbrado a su presencia mi corazon ama su presecencia.
hi,
thanks for the wonderful word
It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.
‘Work is love made visible.’ K. Gibran
Very inspiring! Yes, I read it before & thank you for remind us that people that we can see are privileged/blessed every single day. :)
There are so many that can’t see their own beauty, light, joy and divinity
There is no problem with their sight just with how they look
Even the blind know that happiness is inside
Come see for yourself
No problem in the present
It’s a gift of joy
Bless you
LoveM
I AM Awareness…Ever-present perceiver…Sees all is passing
Aware of this sea…That watches the waves arise…Seeing your being
There is a still space…In this play of light and sound…That’s untouchable
I think it was probably both the fear of losing what people thought they had and what the man begging for money missed out, and a very-short-lived sense of gratitude for being able to appreciate the bright sunny day..
Fear, put together with gratitude, tremendously influences people’s general attitude towards life. Isn’t it?
Bueno o que eu saquei en claro de esta historia e que un mensaxe claro e sincero dalle unha volta de tuerca a situaciòn do mendigo ,,logo he claro que nom ve logo como explicar o escrito no seu pezcozo,,ay he donde nos creemos se ver ,e fiamonos das apariencias mais que dos feitos
OOPS QUE CIEGA HE SIDO………………….¡
Sí que diferente las cosas cuando no se ve, si somos capaces de tener empatía con los demas nos daremos cuenta que estamos en un mundo pribilegiado: Nuestro Mundo
“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.”
― Khalil Gibran.
“If I am really a part of your dream, you’ll come back one day.”
― Paulo Coelho.
Ι have just got my … sign, my answer, from the MAGUS, our Paulo Coelho!!
Blessings.
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
What I think about this story? I’m not sure. On the one hand, the carelessness of people. It needs a sign to call attention to the suffering around them. This is probably so in the world. What would have happened if nobody had come to the blind? On the other hand, people were willing to give as they were aware of the situation. That’s reassuring.
What I feel about this story? A lot. She reminds me of a friend. She is blind. She sees better than any person I’ve met so far. She has no easy fate in life and she takes it with a lightness and joy, she always has a kind word or a joke, it’s unbelievable. It’s nice to think of she. I’ve learned a lot from her. May God bless her. Thank you have chosen this wonderful story. I like Khalil Gibran very much.
I wish you all a wonderful evening
so called blind people (or others who lack one sense) have their other senses better developed in return. why – it seems – we are not interested in what their amplified sensory perception tells them about life, about us? is it so that we have learned to define people by what they lack and then we stay with that definition, because ít´s more comfortable? would we call ourselves the “non-flying ones” ?
” All I wrote was: Today is a beautiful spring day, the sun is shining, and I am blind. ”
I have nothing to say.
There are certain texts that so perfect is impossible to say anything. I will only contemplate.
there is a video that has a similar message. it’s called the power of words and also has a bind man. you should watch it, it’s beautiful:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU
the translation in Japanese:
書かれていた言葉
盲目の男がメッカへの巡礼路で人々に施しを求めていた。
そこへ敬虔なムスリムの旅人が盲目の男の側までやってきて、人々が彼に-コーランが定めるように-施しを与えているのかどうか聞いてみた。
盲人は彼に持っていた空き缶を見せた。
そこには殆ど何も入っていなかった。
そこでその旅人は言った：
「あなたが首に掛けている札に私が何かを書いてみましょう」
1時間後、旅人が盲人の所へ戻ると、盲人は多額の施しを受けていた。
盲目の男は多額の施しに驚き、旅人に聞いた：
「何を札に書いたのですか？」
「私は札にこのように書きました。『今日は美しい春の日です、太陽が輝いており、そして私は目が見えません』」
〜ハリル・ジブラーンの物語に基づいた話〜
Hey Thelma….. I had read this quote by Kahlil Gibran a few weeks ago…… And since it expresses love so beautifully, i had sent it to the man i love…… It takes a pure heart to understand such wonderful emotions……
“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.” ~Kahlil Gibran
e’ molto difficile far credere agli altri che si puo’amare senza pretendere..ci accorgiamo sempre dopo di quanto siamo stati cechi pur vedendo.
i love your words, and tonight i dreamed of jesus. they say that the meaning of that dream is that im very lucky and my ‘dreams’ will make come true. because of you!
Просить?Лучше сдохнуть!В.Высоцкий.
the feeling I got from this story can be expressed by the following quote: In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. – Albert Camus
In the depth of his ‘winter’, the blind man found an invincible ‘summer’.. and everyone looking the blind man and what was written found in the depths of his own winter his own invincible summer…
Love and Gratitude
Annie
Traduction en francais
Un homme aveugle mendiait sur le chemin de la Mecque lorsqu’un musulman devoue est venu et lui a demande si les gens lui donnait genereusement comme le commande le Coran. L’homme lui montra sa petite boite qui etait presque vide.
Le voyageur lui dit:
-’Laissez-moi ecrire quelque chose sur le carton autour de votre cou.’
Quelques heures plus tard, le voyageur revient.
Le mendiant fut surpris car il avait recu une grosse quantite d’argent.
-’Qu’avez-vous ecrit sur le carton?’il lui demanda.
Tout ce que j’ai ecrit etait :’ Aujourd’hui, est un beau jour de printemps,le soleil brille et je suis aveugle.’
Basee sur l’histoire de Khalil Gibran
“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.”
― Khalil Gibran.
The story is based on a similar story by Khalil Gibran, a real POET. A philosopher and a romantic..
The quote above, which I found lately is how I dream LOVE…
LOVE,
Thelma xxx
Awareness is important.
And that happened with people passing by maybe.
Such a lovely story. As many of these moral tales it has limitations. Unless one wants to develop a nice female attitude, not allowed to speak up or to “complain” ever, I guess the story would work. You know me too well. This is not me! haha
I am no beggar sitting around with a can. Are you? No, we are full of life that needs to be shared. Sometimes we are sweet, other times sour, we just are what we are. I rather be myself than receiving a can full of coins.
Porqué olvidamos lo verdaderamente importante? Papa perdió su vista en mitad de su vida… yo llevo parte de su oscuridad en mi alma. Para ti papá que estás en mi.
I am calling Ali.
Sometimes we look past the things that are in plain sight and we need other people to point it out to us. It makes me stop and think that I was one of those who passed by the beggar when I could have been the one wrote in the card.
Thanks for giving me insight!
-Angeline
i cried when i read this,he was blind and on hes card writes:Today is a beautiful spring day, the sun is shining, and I am blind.thats so sad.the sun is shining but he can not see it,still holding on.:)thank u
I wrote a poem yesterday, due to my experience and “confrontation” with a person, who walked with me 8 months..we became friends, but in the end these were my thoughts.. funny coincidence:)
Many times we are blind to what we see.
Many times we see things that aren´t there.
Many times we see things that cannot be seen.
Many times we close our eyes and still keep them open.
Our eyes can be blind, our eyes can show us heaven or hell.
Either way, the choise is ours – responsibility is ours – to listen, see and feel through them.
Dear Emi, thank you and since you mentioned Paraolympic Games, yesterday I was so proud and moved, because my counrty, Cyprus with the 800,000. citizens won a goldern metal in swimming, there. She is a winner of life!! She is almost blind and there she was proud, crying, listening to the Greek anthem, kissiing the flowers given and the metal. A beautiful girl with so much courage and joy of life. I know that her Mother is always near her and they both have transformed their pain to victory.
LOVE and have a nice day,
Thelma
This brought tears to my eyes! I am appreciative and honored to have read these words and experience a reaction in my soul.
On the card around my neck I write:
Tonight the stars are out, the crickets sing, the wind howls, the earth is still, and I am alive!
Each day I try and bring a little light into
the life of someone.
It takes so little yet to a lonely and sad
soul it means so much.
There are many who are hurting and need to
know someone cares.
god bless.
i agree with what Thelma said..enjoy life and never foret of the less fortunate, who sometimes realise that life is beautiful despite their problems…Paraolympic Games are taking place in Beijing these weeks..they are an absolute lesson of courage and love of life..we should all be inspired by these spectacular athletes
Fully agree – say it how it is ! ask !! and you shall receive ,we must be clear in what is written -speak our truth and do not be afraid ,if you do not take a chance ,risk and write what is in your heart then you will never know …Some people have trouble saying how they feel so its best I think to write it out ..write them a letter -Today is a beautiful spring day ,the sun is shining ,and I love you …Love and Light Tania
hmm..positive attitude…that’s the key?..the truth?
:-)
love
Agnieszka
It must not be necessary to need someone to remind us that we have to thank God and life for what we have. Usually we take for granted our health and wealth.. Enjoy life and never forget the less fortunate.
Love,
Thelma
p.s. Dear Paul from Austria, I would prefer not to write anything or ask anything, to save myself …from disappointements!!
T.
SMACK <3
You are an excellent writer. But it seems not enough to describe the art of your writing. What I feel reading you is that you say all that I think and want to say. But obviously, it is about thought. Your diction is simply yours.
É uma linda história. Nos serve de lição para que possamos observar o mundo de uma forma mais positiva. Nos faz refletir também sobre a dor alheia, de nosso irmão, que por vezes carece de nosso olhar…
If we could only teach all those who believe in making bombs, who believe in building an extremely costly military; all it takes is “What is written”. Free speech… express all our anger, all our fear in verbally written bombs, and we feel better and start to heal.
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