Perfect Partner

Ann, the daughter of a wealthy millionaire was seeking the perfect partner for herself, so she approached her father to take his advise. On knowing his beloved daughters wish, the father, set out to choose the right person for her from the country’s top bachelors. He posted advertisements in papers and online. After the process was over, he had numerous applications. He sat down to go through them carefully and finally after a lot of research and hard work finalized 5 would be grooms for his precious daughter. He loved his daughter dearly and wanted her to take the final decision and make her own choice. So he invited all the five bachelors home to meet his daughter. When he told his daughter about it, she got very worried. It was a big decision and she wasn’t sure if she would be able to take it herself so she went up to her father and shared her concerns. Her father thought for some time and then announced that he would organize a shooting competition for the contestants. Whoever wins the competition will be the best choice. When his daughter heard about this , she was very surprised as her father knew very well knew that she was afraid of the sound of bullets and scared of the game since childhood.

Nevertheless, she trusted her fathers wisdom and decided to go ahead with the competition. On the destined day, all the five boys arrived on time , they were told they had to go through a shooting competition to win the rich man’s daughter.

They would be given three trials to achieve their target. The father told his daughter to accompany the boys during the competition but not to share with them that she is scared of the game so that she doesn’t make them nervous to which the daughter agreed.

The first lad came and took the gun in his hands. He looked at Ann and said watch, in a frenzy of a few seconds, he had shot 3 bullets in a row, all of them on target. He looked back at Ann, with a triumphant smile, she smiled back at him slightly shaken by the sound.

The second contestant was one of the richest businessman in town. He looked at the target and made a hand signal. A shooter wearing a helmet and carrying a gun appeared out of now where. He signalled the shooter who shot 3 rounds all at target. He looked back at Ann and said, “why take the trouble when I can pay others to do it for me”. Sounds like a good idea, Ann thought!

The third contestant came in a colourful attire. He was very smartly dressed and had a nice big car. When he got to know about the competition, he told Ann, “I don’t know shooting, but I sure know how to have a good time. Come with me”, and before she knew, Ann was in his car . He took her to the most fun places in town, they ate and danced and had a great time. This was definitely better than shooting, Ann thought.

The fourth contestant came with a set of brushes and lots of colors. He looked at the shooting board and said, “I will show you something better instead”. He took a long look at Ann and got immersed in his work. After two long hours, when he was finally done, Ann could not believe what she was. Her eyes with filled with tears as she saw one of the most beautiful portraits of herself. She was very impressed by his unique talent.

The fifth and final contestant when told about the competition, walked up to the shooting spot and shot his first bullet. But his shot totally missed the target, he looked back at Ann, and saw her with her eyes shut and her hands on her ears. He walked up to her and said, “lets take the second shot together.” Horrified at the idea, Ann said, “oh no , I’ll just spoil everything for you, I am very bad at it.” The young man, looked as his past shot and said, “it cant get worse than this, don’t worry.” Still in two minds, Ann lifted the gun with trembling hands together with him . He told her to relax and just focus on the target. This time the shot was a little better that the previous one but still very far from target. He told Ann to take the third shot on her own. He told her he would stand right behind her to take care if anything went wrong. Unwillingly, Ann took the third shot, which was still not on target but again slightly closer than the last ones. She was very pleased at her accomplishment but felt bad about the boy who couldn’t even take a single shot on target.

When the competition was over, Ann walked up to her father who was waiting for her. “So how did the event go, did you had fun” , he asked hugging her. Ann nodded narrating the whole competition to him. So who do you think is the best, asked his father. I liked them all father , they were all very different and unique in their own way but I still can’t decide who is the best life partner for me. I trust your wisdom and will go by your choice.”

Her father told her to wait in the library. “Fine, my darling”, he said, “I will send the one who is and will be your best life partner to meet you soon.” Ann was lost in the memories of the evening as she waited curiously to meet her fathers choice when she heard footsteps behind her.

As she turned to look back, she was utterly surprised to see the fifth contestant standing in front of her. But he didn’t even got the target once, she thought to herself. She excused herself from him and ran towards her father’s room. She wanted to know the reason for his decision.

When she approached him with his question, He asked, “do you not agree with my choice, Ann.” “No father, I trust your decision completely , I just want to know what makes you think he is my perfect life partner.” Her father told her to sit beside her and said.

“The first boy was highly competent and skilled but that is good for him, not for you both together. He was meeting you for the first time , but was so busy showing off his talent, he had nothing to offer to you in terms of bonding or togetherness.”

The second boy you said was very rich but any amount of wealth can deplete with time. And most importantly, you can make a comfortable life with money but for a good and happy life you need much more than that.

You had a lot of fun with the third boy, but don’t you have a lot of fun when you go out with your friends as well. He ignored the task at hand . If you keep ignoring problems in your life like this, they will never go because when you came back home after your fun times, the shooting board is still there waiting for you just like the problems in our life .

The fourth boy was very talented and artistic but had nothing to offer to you and your upcoming relationship and life together.

It is just the last contestant, who noticed your fears and tried to give you the courage to face them. It doesn’t matter whether you missed or got your shot, what matters is, you were in it together , learning, improving and sharing and that is the definition of a perfect partner my girl.”

A perfect partner is not the most competent, wealthiest, talented, artistic or fun person in the world but he is the one who stands with you together in difficult times and brings out the best in you.

No Stress With The Orange Theory Way

Mr. Brown worked as a supervisor for the production department in a leather factory. He was a diligent worker, always on time, perfectionist in his work and known for his relaxed and calm demeanor. His co workers loved working with him since he was always warm and respectful. All was going well when suddenly the markets crashed and the company started facing major losses.

Their biggest clients closed their accounts one by one and it seemed impertinent that the factory would soon close down until some large scale measures were not taken. The Management decided to go into major cost cutting and asked its human resource department to cut down at least 500 employees in the next 2 months.

Despite his good track record and 15 loyal years with the company Mr. Brown was selected as one of the employees to be fired in the first batch. There was major unrest among all the employees and all those who got to know about their dismissal, queued up in front of the managements office to protest, shouting abusive slogans. Workers stopped working in their lines and spent their last days declining any work.

The news went around like wild fire and in no time Mr. Brown got to know of the management’s plan. He was at that point working on a large order that was nearing its completion. It was a large order and required Mr. Brown and his team to work double shift, late into the night for several days before the order could finally be dispatched.

On the second night, during a coffee break, a friend and colleague of Mr. Brown saw him working late and walked up to him, he placed his hand on his shoulder and surprisingly asked him, “Don’t you know you are going to be laid off soon, just after the completion of the order”. Mr. Brown smiled and nodded. “Then why are you burning the midnight oil here, go sleep, nobody cares anyway”.

Mr Brown just smiled and went on to finish his left over job. He continued to work late into the nights for 3 weeks before the order was finally completed. The next day , he received a letter from the H.R department, announcing his dismissal. Mr. Brown quietly picked his stuff, neatly arranged it in a box and went to the Directors Room.

The director was a little uncomfortable at seeing him, he knew what would be coming, Mr Brown would call him names, demand an explanation  and he had no answers. Instead Mr Brown took a small paper from his box and handed it to the director.

The director was surprised as he read the paper. It was a Thank you note for being a supportive and wonderful Boss and talked of all the good times they had shared working together. Mr. Brown gave similar Thank you notes to his other colleagues and co workers before leaving.

That evening when he returned home he called all family members in the living room and announced his dismissal.

His wife and son were full of anger, they wanted to sue the company for removing him from service for no good reason but Mr. brown refused to do so. He just said,”They are going through bad times, I am sure it was a tough decision for them as well.”. His family was aghast and annoyed at his weak decision.

A few months later, Mr. Brown received a letter from his company. It seemed that the markets had revived and the factory had gone back again into full operations. It was an offer for Mr. Brown to join back but with promotions and a double package.

The day he joined back, the director who had last seen him saw him at the canteen, walked up to him and asked,

“Mr. Brown, when every body was infuriated and talking bad about the management, you had no resentment or anger towards anyone.

How come?” Mr. brown, opened his lunch box and took out an orange.

He smiled as he offered it to the director. “Because, I preferred to be an orange, he replied”.

Seeing the quizzical look on the director’s face, he gave one of his warmest smiles and asked….

“Why is it that when you squeeze an orange you get orange juice and not lemon juice?”

The director irritated at the stupid question but still very curious answered “Because its an orange and that is what is inside it”.

“What if you squeeze it a little more”, Mr. Brown asked further. 

“It will still be orange juice coming out”, answered the director by now slightly annoyed.

Mr. Brown calmly smiled and said, “yes and my gratitude and warmth were what came out of me when I was squeezed because that’s what is inside me.”

Moral: Life will suppress you, hurt you, push you and bang you. People and situations will work against you and call you bad names but what comes out of you as a response to these problems will represent who you truly are and what’s inside you. Be an Orange!

The False Human Belief

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime can break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?