Horseplay!! : An unwritten rule from the world of statue makers.



If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

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The monuments of the nations are all protests against nothingness after death; so are statues and inscriptions; so is history.
-- Lee Wallace (1827 - 1905)

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much love, light and laughter,
ananya.

*~Come play with my children feel the peace and Scatter some joy.~*
~*Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter.*~
We can't all be stars, but we can all twinkle.
We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Secret Santas

The most beautifully inspiring story I have read till date in this rather gloomy year of recession, wars and what not.

ST. LOUIS – At a suburban Goodwill store on Friday, Theresa Settles selected a large, black comforter to warm her family until she can raise the money to turn the gas heat back on. A petite woman approached, her face obscured by dark sunglasses and a wrapped winter scarf, and handed Settles two $100 bills stamped with the words "secret Santa." "The only condition," she said, "is that you do something nice for someone. Pass it on."

"I will," Settles said, the only words she could get out of her mouth.

Apparently, the secret Santa was a protege of Kansas City's undercover gift giver, Larry Stewart, who died of cancer nearly two years ago. Stewart roamed city streets each December doling out $100 bills to anyone who looked like they might need a lift.

Before his death in January 2007, Stewart told a friend how much he would miss his 26 years of anonymous streetside giving, during which he gave away about $1.3 million.

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Its heartening to see that in the days of self-made billionaires like Warren Buffet, who give inspiration to make everyone rich, here is a man who gives inspiration anonymously to make you rich albeit in a more meaningful way.

If you want to know more about this movement, do visit The Secret Santas

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"It's not about the man, it's not about the money, it's about the message, Anyone can be a secret Santa with a kind word, gesture, a helping hand.
-- Kansas City Santa.

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What a story for this X'mas!!!

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much love, light ad laughter,
ananya.

*~Come play with my children feel the peace and Scatter some joy.~*
~*Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter.*~
We can't all be stars, but we can all twinkle.
We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Alive and Present

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright once told of a childhood incident that may have seemed insignificant at the time, but had a profound influence on the rest of his life. It happened when he was nine years old. It was winter. Young Frank was walking across a snow-covered field with his uncle. As the two of them reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed out his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow's flight, and then young Frank's tracks meandering all over the field.

"Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the fence to the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle said. "And see how my tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."

Years later the world-famous architect liked to tell how this experience had greatly contributed to his life's philosophy. "I determined right then," he'd say with a twinkle in his eye, "not to miss most things in life, as my uncle had."

He determined to be alive and present. To be fully aware and squeeze as much life out of each moment as possible.

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"Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death."
-- Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame.

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much love, light and laughter,
ananya.

Lesson in Futility

Hazrat Inayat Khan, tells this story which is a part of his Sufi Teachings.

There was a wall in a village that existed for ages, and many tried to climb it but few succeeded. Those who had climbed it saw something beyond, smiled, climbed over the wall and never returned. The people of the town began to wonder what magic could be there and what attraction, that whoever climbed over the wall never returned. So they said, "We must send someone who can reach the top, but we must tie him with a rope to hold him back." When the man they had sent reached the top of the wall, he smiled and tried to jump over it, but they pulled him back. When the people asked, "What did you see there?" he could not answer, he could only smile.

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When all your desires are distilled
You will cast just two votes:

To love more,
And be happy.
-- Hafiz, from "The Gift"

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much love, light and laughter,
ananya.