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My Favorite Stories
A Circle of Kindness -author
unknown
"What goes around ....."
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish
farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry
for help coming from a nearby bog.
He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There,
mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling
to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow
and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the
Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and
introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. "I
want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life."
"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer
replied, waving off the offer.
At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the
door of the family hovel. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.
"Yes," the farmer replied proudly.
"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and
give him a good education. If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to
a man you can be proud of."
And that he did. In time, Farmer Fleming's son
graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to
become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the
discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken
with pneumonia. What saved him? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman? Lord
Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill. Someone once said:
What goes around comes around.
Work like you don't need the money. Love like
you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.
BIG ROCKS
One day an expert in time management was speaking to a
group of business students and to drive home a point, used an illustration those
students will never forget.
As he stood in front of the group of high-powered
overachievers he said, "Okay, time for a quiz," and he pulled out a
one gallon wide mouth mason jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also
produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a
time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would
fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"
Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time
management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and
pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some of the gravel in and shook the jar
causing the pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the
big rocks. He then asked the class once more if the jar was full.
By this time the class was on to him and said
"Probably not."
"Good" he replied. He reached under the table and
brought out a bucket of sand and started dumping it into the jar. The sand went
into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked
if the jar was full.
"NO!" the class shouted. Once again he said
"Good" and grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it into the
jar until the jar was filled to the brim.
Then he looked around the room and asked, "What is the
point of this illustration?"
One eager beaver raised his hand and said, "The point
is that no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can
always fit some more in."
"NO," the speaker replied, "that's not the
point. The truth is that this illustration teaches us that if you don't put the
'big rocks' in first, you'll never get them in at all."
What are the 'big rocks' in your life? Time with our loved
ones, your faith, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or
mentoring others?
Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first, or you'll never
get them in at all. So, tonight, or in the morning, when you are reflecting on
this short story, ask yourself this question: “What are the BIG ROCKS in my
life?” Then, put those in your jar first.
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