Character of the Week

Genghis Khan(born Temüjin) was the founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He was ruthless, pragmatic and his will was iron. The Great Khan turned enemies into trusted generals, created one of the first international postal systems and was tolerant of different religions. As Father of modern Mongolia, here is some of the wisdom he left with the world and what can be understood about the conqueror.

“There is no good in anything until it is finished.”

“If you're afraid - don't do it, - if you're doing it - don't be afraid!”

“The greatest happiness is to vanquish your enemies, to chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth, to see those dear to them bathed in tears, to clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters.”

“An action committed in anger is an action doomed to failure.”

“Conquering the world on horseback is easy; it is dismounting and governing that is hard.”

“I am the flail of god. Had you not created great sins, god would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.”

The Nails

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. His father decided to hand him a bag of nails and said that every time the boy lost his temper, he had to hammer a nail into the fence.

On the first day, the boy hammered 37 nails into that fence.

The boy gradually began to control his temper the next few weeks, and the number of nails he was hammering into the fence slowly decreased.

He discovered it was easier to control his temper than to hammer those nails into the fence.

Finally, the day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all. He told his father the news and the father suggested that the boy should now pull out a nail every day he kept his temper under control.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.

“You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there.”

Control your anger, and don’t say things to people in the heat of the moment, that you may later regret. Some things in life, you are unable to take back.

The Struggle

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.

One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Until it suddenly stopped making any progress and looked like it was stuck.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man didn’t think anything of it and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. But that didn’t happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with tiny wings and a swollen body.

Despite the kind heart of the man, he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening; were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. To prepare itself for flying once it was out of the cocoon.

Our struggles in life develop our strength. Without struggles, we never grow and never get stronger, so it’s important for us to tackle challenges on our own, and not be relying on help from others.

Full of Kisses

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”

The man became embarrassed by his overreaction earlier, but his rage continue when he saw that the box was empty. He yelled at her; “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?”

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried;

“Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child.

Her father kept the gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

Love is the most precious gift in the world.

The Blind Girl

There was a blind girl who hated herself purely for the fact she was blind. The only person she didn’t hate was her loving boyfriend, as he was always there for her. She said that if she could only see the world, she would marry him.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her – now she could see everything, including her boyfriend. Her boyfriend asked her, “now that you can see the world, will you marry me?”

The girl was shocked when she saw that her boyfriend was blind too, and refused to marry him. Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote a letter to her saying:

“Just take care of my eyes, dear.”

When our circumstances change, so does our mind. Some people may not be able to see the way things were before, and might not be able to appreciate them. There are many things to take away from this story, not just one.

This is one of the inspirational short stories that left me speechless.

The Caterpillar

Think of the caterpillar.

It spends most of its life on the ground, envying the birds and indignant at its fate and its shape.

“I am the most disliked of all the creatures,” it thinks. “Ugly, repulsive, and condemned to crawl along the ground.”

One day, though, Mother Nature asks the caterpillar to make a cocoon. The caterpillar is startled -it has never made a cocoon before.

It thinks that it is building his tomb, and prepares to die.

Although unhappy with life it has led up until then, it complains to God:

“Just when I finally became accustomed to things, Lord, you take away what little I have.”

In desperation, it locks himself into the cocoon and awaits the end.

Some days later, it finds that it has been transformed into a beautiful Butterfly. It is able to fly to the sky, and it is greatly admired.

The Red of Snow (Song of the Fallen 2)

Under his hand, his people have grown formidable on the continent of Nordea. Now the great leader is in exile, banished for going against the Denrabu dogma by choosing peace over war.
Hiding in a neighbouring city, Panak would be drawn into the politics of a different world, where battles are won or lost through wit and cunning. And the war he had tried to avoid would take on a new face, the face of a mindless god intent on swallowing the world. Once more, Panak would have to choose between making peace or war. But if he fights and falls, everything he cherishes will be overrun and entombed in ice

Happy reading.

Grab a copy at https://www.amazon.com/Red-Snow-Song-Risen-Book-ebook/dp/B01GSIQ9IO/ref=pd_sim_sbs_351_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41AzeTyzC6L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_UX300_PJku-sticker-v7%2CTopRight%2C0%2C-50_OU01_AC_UL480_SR240%2C480_&psc=1&refRID=J87GERRNNNAAYAFEPZPN

NOW YOU SEE ME

My body is pierced by bullets
And I am attended by a cloud of flies
My dignity has ran away from me
Had all of me just been lies?

Upon one Monday morning
A sunny, promising day
In witness of Buea mountain
All that I was fell away
I hear footsteps on shifting gravel
And a voice barely a whisper say
"It is only an old man."
The click of metal and sounds of life drift away

My body is pierced by bullets
And I am attended by a cloud of flies
My dignity has ran away from me
Had all of me just been lies?

I was once a young man
Fighting to make an honest living
With thoughts I'll live forever
Hustling the streets of Molyko
Where I met a lady, my stardust
Only yesterday was our golden jubilee
How quickly happiness turns to dust
Oh Martha they have killed me

My body is pierced by bullets
And I am attended by a cloud of flies
My dignity has ran away from me
Had all of me just been lies?

I was a taxi driver, husband and father
Who tried to give his family silver and gold
My youngest son now has a son too
Little Ndip is only three weeks old
He has a very large nose
So they named him after me
How I smiled when I heard that
Oh children they have killed me

My body is pierced by bullets
And I am attended by a cloud of flies
My dignity has ran away from me
Had all of me just been lies?

I find myself on the deck of a ship
Sailing towards the point where the sky gives the sea un bec
As land fades away into a line on the horizon
Someone by my side asks,  "Do you think life is fair?"
I don't care for the question
I only wish the living remember who I was

(An elegy for those killed in the restive Anglophone regions of Cameroon)

BE LIKE THE ELEPHANT

An elephant and a dog became pregnant at the same time. Three months down the line the dog gave birth to six puppies. Six months later the dog was pregnant again, and nine months on, it gave birth to another dozen puppies. The pattern continued.
On the eighteenth month the dog approached the elephant questioning, "Are you sure that you are pregnant? We became pregnant on the same date, I have given birth three times to a dozen puppies and they are now grown to become big dogs, yet you are still pregnant. Whats going on?"
The elephant replied, "There is something I want you to understand. What I am carrying is not a puppy but an elephant. I only give birth to one in two years. When my baby hits the ground, the earth feels it. When my baby crosses the road, humans stop and watch in admiration, what I carry draws attention. So what I'm carrying is mighty and great."
Don't lose faith when you see others receive answers to their prayers. Don't be envious of others. If you haven't received your own blessings, don't despair. What you carry is being processed, prepared and packaged for a greater impact. Your time is coming, and when it hits the surface of the earth, people shall yield in admiration.

Character of the week

As Batman's nemesis, the Joker is portrayed as a criminal mastermind, a psychopath with a warped, sadistic sense of humor. One of the most iconic characters in popular culture, the Joker has been listed among the greatest comic book villains and fictional characters ever created. Here are some of his iconic quotes. 

• Smile, because it confuses people. Smile, because it’s easier than explaining what is killing you inside.
• If you’re good at something, never do it for free.
• What doesn’t kill you, simply makes you stranger.
• It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message. Everything burns.
• I don’t wanna kill you, what would I do without you? Go back to rippin’ off mob dealers… no, no, no… no you, you complete me.
• They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out like a leper.
• We stopped checking for monsters under our bed, when we realized they were inside us.
• I have given a name to my pain, and it is Batman.
• Live…and in person! The Caliph of Clowns, the Grand Mogul of Mountebanks, the One and Only JOKER! Prerecorded for this time zone.

A Christmas Tale

On Christmas Eve, the king invited the prime minister to join him for their usual walk together. He enjoyed seeing the decorations in the streets, but since he didn’t want his subjects to spend too much money on these just to please him, the two men always disguised themselves as traders from some far distant land.

They walked through the centre of the city, admiring the lights, the Christmas trees, the candles burning on the steps of the houses, the stalls selling gifts, and the men, women and children hurrying off to celebrate a family Christmas around a table laden with food.

On the way back, they passed through a poorer area, where the atmosphere was quite different. There were no lights, no candles, no delicious smells of food about to be served. There was hardly a soul in the street, and, as he did every year, the king remarked to the prime minister that he really must pay more attention to the poor in his kingdom. The prime minister nodded, knowing that the matter would soon be forgotten again, buried beneath the day-to-day bureaucracy of budgets to be approved and discussions with foreign dignitaries.

Suddenly, they heard music coming from one of the poorest houses. The hut was so ramshackle and the rotten wooden timbers so full of cracks, that they were able to peer through and see what was happening inside. And what they saw was utterly absurd: an old man in a wheelchair apparently crying, a shaven-headed young woman dancing, and a young man with sad eyes shaking a tambourine and singing a folk song.

‘I’m going to find out what they’re up to,’ said the king.

He knocked. The music stopped, and the young man came to the door.

‘We are merchants in search of a place to sleep. We heard the music, saw that you were still awake, and wondered if we could spend the night here.’

‘You can find shelter in a hotel in the city. We, alas, cannot help you. Despite the music, this house is full of sadness and suffering.’

‘And may we know why?’

‘It’s all because of me.’ It was the old man in the wheelchair who spoke. ‘I’ve spent my life teaching my son calligraphy, so that he could one day get a job as a palace scribe. But the years have passed and no post has ever come up. And then, last night, I had a stupid dream: an angel appeared to me and asked me to buy a silver goblet because, the angel said, the king would be coming to visit me. He would drink from the goblet and give my son a job.

‘The angel was so persuasive that I decided to do as he said. Since we have no money, my daughter-in-law went to the market this morning to sell her hair so that we could buy that goblet over there. The two of them are doing their best to get me in the Christmas spirit by singing and dancing, but it’s no use.’

The king saw the silver goblet, asked to be given a little water to quench his thirst and, before leaving, said to the family:

‘Do you know, we were talking to the prime minister only today, and he told us that an opening for a palace scribe would be announced next week.’

The old man nodded, not really believing what he was hearing, and bade farewell to the strangers. The following morning, however, a royal proclamation was read out in all the city streets; a new scribe was needed at court. On the appointed day, the audience room at the palace was packed with people eager to compete for that much-sought-after post. The prime minister entered and asked everyone there to prepare their paper and pens:

‘Here is the subject of the composition: Why is an old man weeping, a shaven-headed woman dancing, and a sad young man singing?’

A murmur of disbelief went round the room. No one knew how to tell such a story, apart, that is, from the shabbily dressed young man sitting in one corner, who smiled broadly and began to write.

(Based on an Indian story)

The Rejected Gift

Near Tokyo lived a great Samurai, now old, who decided to teach Zen Buddhism to young people.

One afternoon, a warrior – known for his complete lack of scruples – arrived there. The young and impatient warrior had never lost a fight. Hearing of the Samurai’s reputation, he had come to defeat him, and increase his fame.

All the students were against the idea, but the old man accepted the challenge.

All gathered on the town square, and the young man started insulting the old master. He threw a few rocks in his direction, spat in his face, shouted every insult under the sun – he even insulted his ancestors.

For hours, he did everything to provoke him, but the old man remained impassive. At the end of the afternoon, by now feeling exhausted and humiliated, the impetuous warrior left.

Disappointed by the fact that the master had received so many insults and provocations, the students asked:
– How could you bear such indignity? Why didn’t you use your sword, even knowing you might lose the fight, instead of displaying your cowardice in front of us all?

– If someone comes to you with a gift, and you do not accept it, who does the gift belong to? – asked the Samurai.
– He who tried to deliver it – replied one of his disciples.

– The same goes for envy, anger and insults – said the master.
“When they are not accepted, they continue to belong to the one who carried them.”