The important things in life

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”
“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff.”
“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.”
“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

Author: Unknown
Taken from: http://academictips.org/blogs/moral-tale-the-important-things-in-life/ 

Sarawak Trip'14

I just returned from my school's trip to Sarawak where we had a cultural immersion. Before reaching there I had no idea what to expect. Based on my previous experience (in Malacca last time) I knew that I could at least look forward to some fun with my friends and maybe a few boring museums. What we experienced, however, took me by surprise and left me with very unforgettable memories. The first 2 days were literally museums after museums but from then on, the trip took on a more experiential side. We visited the Sarawak Cultural Village, which effectively put whatever we learned/saw in the museum into real life, it was the exact model of a traditional longhouse. However, we weren't satisfied, and we discussed in the debrief at night that we wanted to see something more authentic. The next day, we got our wish. We went to a real long house, one belonging to the Bidayu tribe, and the people actually lived there. Granted, they had become more modernized, but their traditional practices and locations (the Head room) were still preserved. Our guide, Uncle Edward, was an aged man who used to go through the practices of the past, e.g men over the age of 13 had to sleep together in a "Bachelor's room". Because he told us about his personal experiences, it made the whole trip very authentic. He also shared with us a lot of stories and taught us traditional things like the eagle dance and how to use a blowpipe. But this was where the amazing part came in. He shared with us a story about spirits, and how superstitious the tribe was. He also had a personal encounter with spirits that scared me considerably, and that haunted me the rest of the day. I was really afraid to be honest, but that night, before I went to sleep, I read my Bible. I follow a checklist that will help me to finish reading the entire bible in 52 weeks and i have been using that checklist consistently since last year. That day's passage was 1 John 4(i think) and the first verse was "Do not believe in other spirits". That was the clearest message God has ever given to me, and reading the passage really comforted me and helped me to put away my doubts and fears. He truly is amazing, Praise the Lord!

Interesting points from the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

So today i re-read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader again :) the thing that i loved about this series was that there were quite a few (sort of) biblical references being made throughout all the books.

In the chapter "How the adventure ended" where Eustace described how he transformed from a dragon back to a boy, it is mentioned that Aslan, the lion, brought Eustace to a well, and asked him to undress then "get in there and bathe". Eustace had no clothes on, but he soon understood that he was supposed to scratch and peel off his scaly dragon skin. All this+the bath was so that he would become a human again, that his flesh would be restored. Water is also often labeled as something we use to cleanse or clean ourselves with, even in the Bible, where Pontious Pilate, during Jesus's trial, washed his hands in front of the crowd when they demanded Jesus's death. This was to signify that he was innocent of Jesus's blood. This can be found in Matthew 27:24.

 This story (in my opinion) can be linked to the story of Naaman, found in 2 Kings 5. He was the commander of the king's army. Unfortunately, he was afflicted with leprosy. As we all know, leprosy is a very serious disease caused by a type of bacteria and one of the effects of having leprosy, is that your skin will  become scaly. God instructed Naaman, through Elisha, to bathe in the Jordan River 7 times, so that his "flesh would be restored and" he "would be cleansed."

Another biblical reference I believe has been made, would be when Eustace tries in vain to remove all his scaly skin. He peeled and peeled and peeled, but the skin was never completely removed. It was only when Aslan said "You will have to let me undress you" and Eustace agreed, that the skin finally came off and Eustace was restored to his normal human self. This section is possibly highlighting this bible verse, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding." from Proverbs 3:5. By ourselves, we will never be able to accomplish anything, it is only with God's grace and his help that we will be able to carry out his good works. This passage also reminded me that God always wants to help us (well except when he's angry with us) because he loves us, but we will never get helped if we don't open our hearts to receive his love and help. Similarly, if Eustace didn't agree to Aslan's help, he would never have been restored to his human self.

Well all this are just my thoughts haha sorry if there are any mistakes (if there are pls do point out!!) and I hope that you have attained some new insight from this :)

God bless! ^^

9 Fascinating Facts about Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech

1. Originally, the speech was titled "Normalcy, Never Again" and was based on several drafts.
2. Dr. King didn't begin drafting his speech until 12 hours before he was scheduled to speak because of his hectic schedule. 3 people contributed to the content of the speech, Dr. King, Stanley Levinson and Clarence Jones.
3. According to co-author Jones, Dr. King dramatically departed from the original draft, essentially ad-libbing one of the world's greatest speeches.
4. As he was speaking, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson yelled to Dr. King: "Tell them about the dream Martin." From that point, Dr. King began punctuating his speech with the phrase, "I have a dream."
5. Many sections of the speech were originally delivered as part of a speech Dr. King gave in June 1963 after the Great Walk to Freedom in Detroit.
6. Because of the impact of the speech, Dr. King was named Time's Man of the Year for 1963 and received the Nobel Peace Prize a year later, becoming the youngest recipient.
7. The rhetorical technique of repeating a phrase at the beginning of a sentence is called anaphora. The famous phrase is repeated 8 times.
8. As Dr. King left the podium after the speech, he gave the copy of his speech to George Raveling, a Villanova basketball player and acting volunteer guard, who still has the typewritten text and has turned down a $3 million offer for the speech .
9. The speech is 1666 words long and took 16 minutes and 2 seconds to deliver.
From Reader's Digest
http://www.rdasia.com/10-facts-mlk-speech

The Three Trees

Once there were three trees on a hill in a woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."
Then the second tree said "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."
Finally the third tree said. "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.."
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter." and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsman said, "I don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take this one" and he cut it down.
When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and women came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "peace" and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the king of kings in it's boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.
The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

SO TRUE gosh

School Phone Menu ..... California School.
"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school. In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member,
please listen to all the options before making a selection:

- To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1

- To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2

- To complain about what we do - Press 3

- To swear at staff members - Press 4

- To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

- If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

- If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7

- To request another teacher, for the third time this year - Press 8

- To complain about bus transportation - Press 9

- To complain about school lunches - Press 0

- If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior,
class work, homework and that it's not all the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!

More quotes! :)

Just a little note first the stuff in italics are my comments, not part of the quote :)

1. The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow. For every challenge encountered there is opportunity for growth. ~Unknown
-->Think of challenges/difficulties as opportunities and chances! :) 

2. Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect, it means that you have decided to look beyond the imperfections. ~Unknown

3. The best revenge is massive success. ~Frank Sinatra
-->Whenever you hate someone to the extent where you feel like you cannot forgive the person(eg Elizabeth Choy and the Japanese soldiers) remember this quote, there is  really no point wasting time in getting angry/plotting revenge on that person, this is definitely the best payback  for both you and your enemy xD