Inspirational Short Stories

In this subject, everyone is going to share inspirational short stories that he/she thinks they are share- worthy.

I'll start.

*A lesson about life*

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:
"If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee.
In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink.
What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us."

God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!

"The happiest people don't have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything."

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

*You and God*


People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

*The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!*



A woman baked bread for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra bread on the window sill, for whosoever would take it away. Every day, a hunchback came and took away the bread. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: “The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” This went on, day after day. Every day, the hunchback came, picked up the bread and uttered the words: “The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” The woman felt irritated. “Not a word of gratitude,” she said to herself.


“Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?” One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. “I shall get rid of this hunchback,” she said. And what did she do? She added poison to the bread she prepared for him! As she was about to keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. “What is this I am doing?” she said. Immediately, she threw the bread into the fire, prepared another one and kept it on the window sill.
As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the bread and muttered the words: “The evil you do, remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!” The hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman.


Every day, as the woman placed the bread on the window sill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune. For many months, she had no news of him. She prayed for his safe return. That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak.
As he saw his mother, he said, “Mom, it’s a miracle I’m here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole bread. As he gave it to me, he said, “This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine!” ” As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale.


She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned bread that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life! It was then that she realized the significance of the words: ”The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!”


Do good and Don’t ever stop doing good, even if it is not appreciated at that time. Because some day or the other, if not in this world but surely in the Hereafter you are going to get compensated for your actions in this world.

ohh, i appreciate them very much especially the final one. It made me tremble at the end. I liked its moral lesson and i really wish pple would learn from this.
But how about putting the title this way:
the evil and the good you do come back to you?
It is more realistic. Isn't it?

Ines,

I understand what you mean; it's just like in Arabic (ken 3malt 5ir wala 8ar be8 yarja3 3lik). However, as it is a saying, I think that when we translate it into English, we say it differently, we don't translate it literarily. (Well, at least that's what I've learnt from the translation class)

I didn’t think about it in Arabic. I even don’t know the saying in Arabic. But, what we care here is the moral of the saying not how to translate it. So I think in Arabic of English or even Spanish, if we do good or evil it comes back to us

sorry.
but it's obvious that we're not on the same page here.
but it's ok