The Book of Salamat(A story originated from Philippines))

Our story begins with two neighbors. Although they were poor, they took pride in their gardens. Their yards bloomed with different kinds of vegetables all year round.

(photo:http://dancurtis.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/pen-and-book.jpg)

The first gardener would sell his harvest and keep the money all to himself, while his next-door neighbor would give away most of his vegetables and was happy when his friends would say, "Salamat." "Fool!" his selfish neighbor told him one day, "You work so hard under the sun to grow your vegetables. If I were you, I'd sell then and build and keep the money. Look at me, I will be able to build a big house next year with my money." The generous gardener just smiled and continued working on his yard. He was actually having difficulty saving money for repairing his home for the rainy season, but, he found this word of thanks more precious than money. Salamat, salamat, salamat... he noted each line of thanks in a book every night.

The greedy man soon earned enough money to build a large house made of stone and wood. He looked from his window his neighbor's tiny nipa hut. He heard about the good man's book and laughed. "Let's see that crazy old fool eat his book of salamat," he said to himself. He then called out to his neighbor... "Hey there, friend, don't you wish you had a house as beautiful as mine?" he asked, "I've even hired a gardener to care for my plants!" "You have quite a big house," his humble neighbor answered, "but I'm happy enough here." Months passed and the rains came. It was then the good man realized he truly needed money to fix his hut. He spotted his book of salamat and had a bright idea. The next morning...

"Salamat for sale! Who wants to buy my book of salamat?" The townsfolk saw the gardener selling his book and thought he had gone crazy. Yet, he went all around the village offering his book of salamat to any buyer. Word spread and reached the sultan's palace. "What's that man selling?" the Sultan asked his guards. He had never heard of anyone selling such and thought that he must have heard wrong; that the gardener was selling salabat -- ginger tea, or samat -- betel leaf. "Bring him to me, " His Majesty commanded. And the gardener was summoned. "I'm selling a book of salamat, Your Majesty," the man explained. He opened his book and the Sultan saw the word salamat written all over. The words were written in clear, fine and honest handwriting. "This man is no fool!" the Sultan said to himself.

"How much do you want for this book, my good man?" the Sultan finally asked. "I shall sell my book for whatever it will weigh in gold," the gardener answered humbly. His Majesty then told his court attendants to bring forth his weighing scale. The Sultan placed the bool on one scale and a piece of gold on the other. The book was heavier. He placed another piece of gold, but, the book was still heavier. No matter how much gold the Sultan placed upon the scale, the book still weighed heavier! Until the Sultan brought out a bag of gold and said, "There, old man, take your money and leave me in peace!"

And the gardener happily left and was able to build himself a bigger house than his neighbor's in several days' time. His neighbor got so jealous! He thought of a plan to get richer.

After learning about his neighbor's good fortune, he immediately bought a thicker and heavier book and hurriedly filled it with the word salamat. Following what his good neighbor did, the greedy man asked to be paid as much as the book will weigh in gold. The Sultan placed a bag of gold on the scale but, the bag was heavier. He then removed half of the gold. The bag was still heavier. Finally, some gold dust was left on the bag. Alas! it was still heavier. "How can that be?" the gardener said, "My book is gigantic! And I labored for two weeks writing that word salamat over and over again!" "Aha!" exclaimed His Majesty, "Poor man, you may spend a lifetime writing down the word, but if it doesn't come straight from the hearts of grateful men, it is meaningless." And to the dismay of the selfish man, the wise Sultan ordered his guards to take him outside to be punished in front of the people.
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----> It's a short story but so full of meaning. I happened to chance upon this story, since it's a little book that belongs to my sister. This became one of my favorite stories because it so describes how I look at life in gratefulness and simplicity. :D All of us, no matter how little we have, should be able to find things to be grateful about. Perhaps, everything that exists is a grace and a blessing. I do believe that the challenges that we encounter are blessings; because they bear a good fruit if we receive it wholeheartedly and allow it to mold us into better persons. The smallest of things, can be a great blessing, we may not know. ~

*to be given one* :)

(photo from Photobucket)

I chose to call you Night,

For the reasons I thought of,

So I'll shed you some light,

Of why I called you the name above.

I'd compare you to the night,

The time of the day when people can rest.

It's not the morning but nevertheless provides light,

It's the time I look forward to, when the sky for me is at its best.

You're like the moon up above the sky,

That silver ball that's glowing,

So far is it's distance but seems as if it hovered close by,

It's like how you're far away, but your presence I'm constantly feeling.

The brightly stars remind me of you,

The stars that fill the sky and twinkle away.

You light me up when my days go blue,

You make me smile and see the beauty, of every single day.

You maybe the meteor shower,

Amazing to behold and may grant a wish to come true,

You're that amazing, and I won't ask for anything better,

You're a wish come true, like you told me, too.

You're the winds that are around,

Cold but refreshing to the senses,

You're a relief to my troubles that bound,

You sweep them away in the comfort of your presence.

All this I reason,

Of why I chose that name especially for you,

A meaningful name, fresh as the summer season.

This I reveal to you, for all that I know of you.

5 Hours of Sitting----- Just solving two math problems.

Yes, you guessed it.

I sat for five hours yesterday, trying to solve two math problems(my homework) that needed to be solved carefully, lest you commit an error and the entire problem becomes wrong.

Hmmph. I can imagine what a torture it must be(especially those who do not like math) to have a 3-hour lesson in mathematics; just sitting, listening to the professor, solving problems with long solutions, quizzes and all the while your head is in the clouds, just wishing you could go home and sleep, and escape the boring-ness of it all. That'd probably be torture for me too. It's not that that I don't like math, it just gets frustrating when you don't understand a problem(which is exactly the point of my article).

So, you ask, how I could I have possibly spent five hours on two math problems?

Believe me, I don't know either. But I just did. I had no notion of time, I just really wanted to get those problems over with and read a book.

*sigh* Knowing me, I don't like not being able to pass a homework. I'll sit and deal with it 'til it's done(and until I understand it).

What happened was this: I sat, opened my notebook and went through my homework. I did understand most of what my professor discussed during class, but when I tried to apply it to the problems in my homework---- I ended up getting confused.

So I read, read and read. All over again. I reviewed examples from my notes. Still confused. I grabbed my dad's math books and looked for specific solutions. I still didn't understand. I looked through my past and tried to get some ideas. And I think that worked.

With all that searching, finding, solving, thinking and writing, I didn't notice the time. Sure, I went downstairs to eat and drink when I felt like it, but I didn't mind looking at the time. I didn't realize that it was already 11:30 and I was still at problem 1(I started around 8:30pm). "Oh well," I shrugged and said to myself, "I gotta finish this."

But of course, being stuck at a problem for a long gets very frustrating. After 2 hours since starting, I was ready to throw my pillow to the floor. :D But don't worry, I don't do that. It simply attacks your nerves, wanting so much to solve the problem but you just can't understand. Still on I go; review, search, think and write. I'm struggling and frustrated, but I go on.

The time ticks on, and I think I'm beginning to get it. I make progress, solved more equations and I was almost at the last part: graphing. *whew*

My pen continues sliding back and forth across the paper, writing and graphing. After such a time, I finished the first problem. Yay! It was a great relief to have finished even half of what you're supposed to do. Feeling enlightened, I was inspired to write. *scribble*

By 1 am, I was done with my draft. I transferred all of my solutions to a bond paper(just like what our professor told us), along with my graph.

And pretty soon, I was finished.

When I finally put down my blue-ink-pen, it was when I felt all the energy being drained out from me. But at least I was finished. And I learned. *sleeps after*

At some points in our life, we do need to sit back and learn things. We don't expect the answers to come so easily. We sit, stay glued to that seat until we've learned. Just like what I did.

It's such a relief to be able to pass an outcome of all that you've worked hard for. It may have some errors, but I'll learn from those, since I understand most of the picture.

I learned. And that's what matters.

(We find that some of the most difficult things we encounter become worth it at the end. Our struggles and efforts don't go to the wastebasket. Believe me, you've definitely gained something from it whether you felt it or not. :D)