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Just another quick thought to share with you....
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20110227
Just another quick thought to share with you....
I am working on a musing and it is taking me too long....which is sort or ironic because it is suppose to be about time passing by too quickly...LOL!! Anyway....in the mean time...I heard this on the radio the other day and it struck me what a good lesson this is. Not only for the common man on the street but for our so called "Leaders" in our government. Tell me what you think....
The Parable of the Carpenter
By Michael Josephson
A master carpenter who worked for the same builder for nearly 50 years announced he wanted to retire. The builder told him how much he appreciated his work. He gave the carpenter a $5,000 bonus and asked him if he would build just one more house. The builder owned a magnificent lot with a spectacular view, and he wanted to build a dream home.
The carpenter was bitterly disappointed at the small bonus, but his last building fee would help him buy a small cottage, so he agreed to build the dream house.
The carpenter prided himself on his uncompromising commitment to quality, but his resentment caused him to cut corners, ignore details, and accept shoddy workmanship from other workers. He even looked the other way when some of them substituted cheaper materials and pocketed the difference.
When the house was finished, the builder shook the carpenter’s hand, and with a huge smile gave him an envelope with a thank-you card and a folded piece of paper. The carpenter was disdainful – until he unfolded the paper and found the deed to the house he had just built.
The carpenter was ashamed that he had misjudged his old friend and betrayed his own values, and he was remorseful that the house he would live in for the rest of his life was made so carelessly.
Our character is the house we live in and it’s built piece by piece by our daily choices. Deceit, irresponsibility, and disrespect are just like shoddy workmanship. Whenever we put in less than our best and ignore our potential for excellence, we create a future full of creaky floors, leaky roofs, and crumbling foundations.
The Parable of the Carpenter
By Michael Josephson
A master carpenter who worked for the same builder for nearly 50 years announced he wanted to retire. The builder told him how much he appreciated his work. He gave the carpenter a $5,000 bonus and asked him if he would build just one more house. The builder owned a magnificent lot with a spectacular view, and he wanted to build a dream home.
The carpenter was bitterly disappointed at the small bonus, but his last building fee would help him buy a small cottage, so he agreed to build the dream house.
The carpenter prided himself on his uncompromising commitment to quality, but his resentment caused him to cut corners, ignore details, and accept shoddy workmanship from other workers. He even looked the other way when some of them substituted cheaper materials and pocketed the difference.
When the house was finished, the builder shook the carpenter’s hand, and with a huge smile gave him an envelope with a thank-you card and a folded piece of paper. The carpenter was disdainful – until he unfolded the paper and found the deed to the house he had just built.
The carpenter was ashamed that he had misjudged his old friend and betrayed his own values, and he was remorseful that the house he would live in for the rest of his life was made so carelessly.
Our character is the house we live in and it’s built piece by piece by our daily choices. Deceit, irresponsibility, and disrespect are just like shoddy workmanship. Whenever we put in less than our best and ignore our potential for excellence, we create a future full of creaky floors, leaky roofs, and crumbling foundations.
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Just another quick thought to share with you.... :: Comments
Mon Feb 28, 2011 3:20 am paperinik
The Parables always express the trust. I liked that. We build our life, in part like we are and in part like others see us.
Live is how to balance on a rope like a tightrope. Sometimes we can fall down, and we have to go back, sometimes we walk in perfect balance...
Thanks MO for sharing this Parable.. but do you become a nun? ...
kiss
Live is how to balance on a rope like a tightrope. Sometimes we can fall down, and we have to go back, sometimes we walk in perfect balance...
Thanks MO for sharing this Parable.. but do you become a nun? ...
kiss
Mon Feb 28, 2011 10:02 am minnie
How wonderful , Mother.
it is so deep and it seems to have so many meanings... that I really don’t know ..where do I begin?
I won't talk about my personal experience but I will try to have a wider vision about how we are building our future.
Ok .. so ..
I really think we are living the greatest paradox ever. A scientific and technological development accompanied, I’d say, by a moral and spiritual regression.
Aren’t we in the midst of a crisis of civilization? I think we are a generation of men and women too fragile, too disappointed, too distressed and scared or simply too worried about our personal problems and our personal lives to find energies, virtues and necessary forces to be part of a social collective conscience and to face and fight the moral decay and try to dispel the shadows that are really threatening the future of civilization.
Every day we are passive witnesses of indecent events and situations that happen in every part of the world. We sit on our couches and complain and we feel desperate at the moment ….then, everything is forgotten the day after.
We wonder what the others do for us when we should begin to wonder what we do for the others.
We really should roll up our sleeves and work and study .. thinking that everything we omit to do is a chance we miss… to make our lives better … to make our children’s lives better … If we don’t do it , we will be responsible of that. If we don’t try to change things we will leave them only “creaky floors, leaky roofs, and crumbling foundations”. I wish the mankind could be aware of its dignity and of its potential, of its beauty but I am afraid that too many people nowadays seem not to belong to the mankind. To them you can’t teach what responsibility and respect mean .. they would never understand … I think the only chance we have is to isolate them.
There is something else that this parable tells me.
We often “give” on the basis of what we get ……or on the basis of how much we think people esteem us.. we tend to judge what we are given …but he more we judge the less we love, the others and ourselves.
Then we realize that we are only hurting ourselves, our dignity, our soul, our chance to look in the mirror and see someone we like.
Forgive me if I seemed delirious .. it’s Monday ..my mind is clouded because I am still
it is so deep and it seems to have so many meanings... that I really don’t know ..where do I begin?
I won't talk about my personal experience but I will try to have a wider vision about how we are building our future.
Ok .. so ..
I really think we are living the greatest paradox ever. A scientific and technological development accompanied, I’d say, by a moral and spiritual regression.
Aren’t we in the midst of a crisis of civilization? I think we are a generation of men and women too fragile, too disappointed, too distressed and scared or simply too worried about our personal problems and our personal lives to find energies, virtues and necessary forces to be part of a social collective conscience and to face and fight the moral decay and try to dispel the shadows that are really threatening the future of civilization.
Every day we are passive witnesses of indecent events and situations that happen in every part of the world. We sit on our couches and complain and we feel desperate at the moment ….then, everything is forgotten the day after.
We wonder what the others do for us when we should begin to wonder what we do for the others.
We really should roll up our sleeves and work and study .. thinking that everything we omit to do is a chance we miss… to make our lives better … to make our children’s lives better … If we don’t do it , we will be responsible of that. If we don’t try to change things we will leave them only “creaky floors, leaky roofs, and crumbling foundations”. I wish the mankind could be aware of its dignity and of its potential, of its beauty but I am afraid that too many people nowadays seem not to belong to the mankind. To them you can’t teach what responsibility and respect mean .. they would never understand … I think the only chance we have is to isolate them.
There is something else that this parable tells me.
We often “give” on the basis of what we get ……or on the basis of how much we think people esteem us.. we tend to judge what we are given …but he more we judge the less we love, the others and ourselves.
Then we realize that we are only hurting ourselves, our dignity, our soul, our chance to look in the mirror and see someone we like.
Forgive me if I seemed delirious .. it’s Monday ..my mind is clouded because I am still
Tue Mar 01, 2011 9:22 pm Mother Ocean
Um...WOW!! You are the new queen of the long posts!! Just kidding. I agree with what you are saying. I also agree this parable has many ways of looking at the question of character. You have taken a more global view...and very articulately I may add...the lack of character and the decline of morals is changing along with our strides in technology and innovations that are suppose to make our lives "easier" or "less complicated" when in actuality they are making our lives more sterile and isolated. We no long have to look into each others eyes or hear our voices to interact...friendly or not. We don't care what the neighbors are doing...just that they don't steal our WiFi...LOL!! 
No seriously....It struck me on a more personal level. How we are so quick to judge someone on perceived notions of what their responses to us should be...anything that differs from our thinking can only be with the intent to harm. We are so quick to be angry or hurt at what we perceive as the intentions of others. Revenge rules the day. If we fear something...like being misunderstood or slighted...we will see it. Even if it does not happen. Sort of a twist on "Seek and ye shall find" No one cares about what the intent behind what people do or don't do....just that you are SURE their intent is to do you harm, to the point they can never do anything different in our eyes. So, you take action. In the case of the carpenter...he abandoned all his principles to make sure that he took revenge on his former boss...he was going to show him!! He acted on what he perceived and forgot all he knew.
Like with every movement to change the world...it has to start with one person. With Character...or the lack of...it needs to start with each of us. No longer should the attitude of "never compromise" or "win at all costs" be the slogan for humanity. No longer do we seek what we do not give in return.
I have been guilty of this. I was sure people in my life only meant to hurt me...only cared for their own futures or well being. When in fact they are only trying to do the best they can and not intending to harm. I need to start to weigh all the good and bad before abandoning my values for some kind of revenge or to even the score. I need to know that it is not my disappointment at some unmet goal I set down for them without their knowledge or permission or if they really intended just to hurt me. Character building starts with me.
No seriously....It struck me on a more personal level. How we are so quick to judge someone on perceived notions of what their responses to us should be...anything that differs from our thinking can only be with the intent to harm. We are so quick to be angry or hurt at what we perceive as the intentions of others. Revenge rules the day. If we fear something...like being misunderstood or slighted...we will see it. Even if it does not happen. Sort of a twist on "Seek and ye shall find" No one cares about what the intent behind what people do or don't do....just that you are SURE their intent is to do you harm, to the point they can never do anything different in our eyes. So, you take action. In the case of the carpenter...he abandoned all his principles to make sure that he took revenge on his former boss...he was going to show him!! He acted on what he perceived and forgot all he knew.
Like with every movement to change the world...it has to start with one person. With Character...or the lack of...it needs to start with each of us. No longer should the attitude of "never compromise" or "win at all costs" be the slogan for humanity. No longer do we seek what we do not give in return.
I have been guilty of this. I was sure people in my life only meant to hurt me...only cared for their own futures or well being. When in fact they are only trying to do the best they can and not intending to harm. I need to start to weigh all the good and bad before abandoning my values for some kind of revenge or to even the score. I need to know that it is not my disappointment at some unmet goal I set down for them without their knowledge or permission or if they really intended just to hurt me. Character building starts with me.
Thu Mar 03, 2011 2:20 pm Hermana Luna
I love this guy!! I hear Michael Josephson on my car radio all the time! I don't know what else to add as a comment. Minnie, very well said. In particular, I wholeheartedly agree we often give on the basis of what we get. I think we also undervalue what we get because we have preconceived notions of what that should be and exaggerated values of what we give. Often we give an apple and get one in return when we expected to get the orchard. We need to go back to a more simplistic view and value of love, friendship and respect.
Mother, what can I say? Yes we need to look into the heart and the intentions of others. Thank you for posting this. Mr. Josephson has a monthly message, please post more.
Mother, what can I say? Yes we need to look into the heart and the intentions of others. Thank you for posting this. Mr. Josephson has a monthly message, please post more.
Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:25 pm yellowsmileyfaces
This parable is an excellent reminder to do our best. I strongly believe that in the end right will win. Even if others do not notice, you need to work and do things that you can be proud of.
I agree that this is often a lost idea in this world, but we can change the idea if we do right.
I agree that this is often a lost idea in this world, but we can change the idea if we do right.
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