Life lesson from a Tale of Two Seas

Making Life lesson from A Tale of Two Seas

We learn things along in life, and many a times, it comes from simple things around us. The following email I received recently, aptly depicts the situation today, when we look around and see that many people only know how to take and forgotten about giving and sharing.
This is food for thought and reflection.

To give credit to the original author, I thought I would reproduce text in entirety as follows;

Sitting in the Geography class in school, I remember how fascinated I was when we were being taught all about the Dead Sea. As you probably recall, the Dead Sea is really a Lake, not a sea (and as my Geography teacher pointed out, if you understood that, it would guarantee 4 marks in the term paper!) Its so high in salt content that the human body can float easily. You can almost lie down and read a book! The salt in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% - almost 10 times the normal ocean water. And all that saltiness has meant that there is no life at all in the Dead Sea. No fish. No vegetation. No sea animals. Nothing lives in the Dead sea. And hence the name: Dead Sea.

While the Dead Sea has remained etched in my memory, I don't seem to recall learning about the Sea of Galilee in my school Geography lesson. So when I heard about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea and the tale of the two seas - I was intrigued. Turns out that the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea. Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea receive their water from river Jordan.

And yet, they are very, very different.Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is pretty, resplendent with rich, colorful marine life. There are lots of plants. And lots of fish too. In fact, the sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different types of fishes. Same region, same source of water, and yet while one sea is full of life, the other is dead. How come?Here apparently is why. The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee in and then out - and that keeps the Sea healthy and vibrant, teeming with marine life.But the Dead Sea is so far below the mean sea level, that it has no outlet. The water flows in from the river Jordan, but does not flow out. There are no outlet streams. It is estimated that over a million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea every day. Leaving it salty. Too full of minerals. And unfit for any marine life.

The Dead Sea takes water from the River Jordan, and holds it. It does not give.
Result? No life at all.Think about it.Life is not just about getting. Its about giving.

We all need to be a bit like the Sea of Galilee. We are fortunate to get wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don't learn to give, we could all end up like the Dead Sea.

The love and the respect, the wealth and the knowledge could all evaporate. Like the water in the Dead Sea.If we get the Dead Sea mentality of merely taking in more water, more money, more everything the results can be disastrous.

Good idea to make sure that in the sea of your own life, you have outlets. Many outlets.For love and wealth - and everything else that you get in your life. Make sure you don't just get, you give too. Open the taps. And you'll open the floodgates to happiness. Make that a habit.

To share. To give.And experience life. Experience the magic!

Posted by: Ivan

Motherly Love knows no bound and without limit

It is the month of December, where many people are now going on their year-end holidays. Perhaps, some have already gone and returned to work just like me, who just returned from attending my daughter's graduation ceremony down Under.

It was just recently, that I had several discussions about children's education, how expensive it is nowadays and how parents had to work through the years to see their hard-earned money just vanished in the couple of years for the sake of children's education. And then, there were some who would just refused to spend their so-called retirement money. It just makes one wonders that as parent, how far would one go to support his own child.

The following story was circulated recently, and I would like to share this with you.


Send it to the kids.....

My mom only had one eye. I hated her.... she was such an embarrassment.
She cooked for students & teachers to support the family.

There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me.

I was so embarrassed.

How could she do this to me?
I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out.
The next day at school one of my classmates said, 'EEEE, your mom only has one eye!'

I wanted to bury myself.
I also wanted my mom to just disappear.
I confronted her that day and said, ' If you're only goanna make me a laughing stock, why don't you just die?'

My mom did not respond...
I didn't even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger.
I was oblivious to her feelings.

I walked out of that house, and have nothing to do with her.
So I studied real hard, got a chance to go abroad to study..
Then, I got married.
I bought a house of my own.
I had kids of my own.
I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts, Then one day, my
mother came to visit me.
She hadn't seen me in years and she didn't even meet her grandchildren.

When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited.
I screamed at her, 'How dare you come to my house and scare my children!'
GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!'

And to this, my mother quietly answered, 'Oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,' and she disappeared out of sight.
One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house.

So I lied to my wife that I was going on a business trip.
After the reunion, I went to the old shack just out of curiosity.
My neighbors said that she died.
I did not shed a single tear.
They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have.

'My dearest son,
I think of you all the time. I'm sorry that I came to your house and
scared your children.
I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion.
But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you.
I'm sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were
growing up.

You see........when you were very little, you got into an accident, and
lost your eye.
As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you
having to grow up with one eye.
So I gave you mine.
I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye.

With all my love to you,
Your mother.


Such is the greatest sacrifice for the love of her own child. Love is beautiful, yet frigthening at time from the perspective of what one is willing to do and sacrifice. While the story tells of a child growing up, the same applies when one tries to give up whatever necessary just to ensure the love one remains happy. We sometimes only know how to take, and keep on taking at the expense of our love ones as in our daily routine, our daily lives. We may not realise this, but it is happening.

So, what do we do now? Always tell someone that you love that you love them because you never know what day will be their last, or your own.

Also, always seek to resolve your problems or disagreements with loved ones because if either of you should pass on before, the one who is left alive will have the rest of their life to ponder those unresolved feelings but will never find closure. And only with closure that one usually find peace.

Posted by
Ivan