Love & Care Of A Brother

I was born in a secluded village on a mountain.  Day by day, my parents plowed the yellow dry soil   with their backs towards the sky.

I have a brother who is 3 years younger than me.  I wanted to buy a handkerchief, which all girls   around me seemed to have. So, one day I stole  50 cents from my father's drawer.  Father had discovered about the stolen money right away.

He made me and my younger brother kneel against the wall as he held a bamboo   stick in his hand.

'Who stole the money?' he asked.

I was stunned, too afraid to talk. Neither of us admitted to the fault, so he said, 'Fine, if nobody wants to admit, you two should be beaten!'

He lifted up the bamboo stick.

Suddenly, my younger brother gripped father's hand and said, Dad, I was the one who did it!'

The long stick smacked my brother's back repeatedly.  Father was so angry that he kept on whipping my brother until he lost his breath.

After that, he sat down on our stone bed and scolded my brother, 'You have learned to steal from your own house now. What other embarrassing things will you be possibly doing in the future? You should be beaten to death, you shameless thief!'

That night, my mother and I hugged my brother. His body was full of wounds from the beating but he never shed a single tear.

In the middle of the night, all of sudden, I cried out loudly.  My brother covered my mouth with his little hand and said, Sis, now don't cry anymore. Everything has happened.' I still hate myself for not having enough courage to admit what I did. Years went by, but the incident still seemed like it just happened yesterday. I will never forget my brother's expression when he protected me. That year, my brother was 8 years old and I was 11 years old.

When my brother was in his last year of secondary school, he was accepted in an upper secondary school in the central. At the same time, I was accepted into a university in the province. That night, father squatted in the yard, smoking, packet by packet.  I could hear him ask my mother, 'Both of our children, they have good results….why good results?

Mother wiped off her tears and sighed,' what is the use? How can we possibly finance both of them?' 

At that time, my brother walked out, he stood in front of father and said,   'Dad, I don't want to continue my study anymore, I have read enough books.' Father swung his hand and slapped my brother on his face. 'Why do you have a spirit so damn weak? Even if it means I have to beg for money on the streets, I will send you two to school until you have both finished your studies!' And then, he started to knock on every house in the village to borrow money.

I stuck out my hand as gently as I can to my brother's swollen face, and told him, ‘A boy has to continue his study; if not; he will not be able to overcome this poverty we are experiencing.' I, on the other hand, had decided not to further my study at the university.

Nobody knew that on the next day, before dawn, my brother left the house with a few pieces of worn-out clothes and a few dry beans. He sneaked to my side of the bed and left a note on my pillow; 'Sis, getting into a university is not easy. I will go find a job and I will send money to you.'  I held the note while sitting on my bed, and cried until I lost my voice. That year, my brother was 17 years old; I was 20 years old. With the money father borrowed from the whole village, and the money my brother earned from carrying cement on his back at a construction site, finally, I managed to get to the third year of my study in the university.

One day, while I was studying in my room, my roommate came in and told me, 'There's a villager waiting for you outside!' Why would there be a villager looking for me? I walked out, and I saw my brother from afar. His whole body was covered with dirt, dust, cement and sand. I asked him, 'Why did you not tell my roommate that you are my brother?' He replied with a smile,' Look at my appearance.  What will they think if they would know that I am your brother? Won't they laugh at you?' I felt so touched, and tears filled my eyes. I swept away dirt and dust from my brother's body. And told him with a lump in my throat, 'I don't care what people would say! You are my brother no matter what your appearance is?'

From his pocket, he took out a butterfly hair clip. He put it on my hair and said, ‘I saw all the girls in town are wearing it. So, I think you should also have one.'
I could not hold back myself anymore. I pulled my brother into my arms and cried. That year, my brother was 20 years old; I was 23 years old. I noticed that the broken window was repaired the first time I brought my boyfriend home. The house was scrubbed cleaned. After my boyfriend left, I danced like a little girl in front of my mother, 'Mom, you didn't have to spend so much time cleaning the house!' But she told me with a smile, 'It was your brother who went home early to clean the house. Didn't you see the wound on his hand? He hurt his hand while he was replacing the window.' I went into my brother's bedroom. Looking at his thin face, I felt like hundreds of needles pricked in my heart. I applied some ointment on his wound and put a bandage on it, 'Does it hurt?' I asked him. 'No, it doesn't hurt. You know, when at the construction site, stones keep falling on my feet ...Even that could not stop me from working.' In the middle of the sentence, he stopped. I turned my back on him and tears rolled down my face. That year, my brother was 23 years old; I was 26 years old.

After I got married, I lived in the city. Many times my husband invited my parents to come and live with us, but they didn't want. They said, once they left the village, they wouldn’t know what to do. My brother agreed with them. He said, 'Sis, you just take care of your parents-in-law. I will take care of Mom and Dad here.' My husband became the director of his factory. We asked my brother to accept the offer of being the manager in the maintenance department. But my brother rejected the offer. He insisted on working as a repairman instead for a start. One day, my brother was on the top of a ladder repairing a cable, when he got electrocuted, and was sent to the hospital. My husband and I visited him at the hospital. Looking at the plaster cast on his leg, I grumbled, 'Why did you reject the offer of being a manager? Managers won't do something dangerous like that. Now look at you - you are suffering a serious injury.  Why didn't you just listen to us?' With a serious expression on his face, he defended his decision, 'Think of   brother-in-law. He just became the director, and I being uneducated, and would become a manager, what kind of rumours would fly around?'

My husband's eyes filled up with tears, and then I said, 'But you lack in education only because of me!' 'Why do you talk about the past?' he said and then he held my hand. That year, he was 26 years old and I was 29 years old. My brother was 30 years old when he married a farmer girl from the village. During the wedding reception, the master of ceremonies asked him, 'Who is the one person you  respect and love the most?' Without even taking a time to think, he answered,' My sister.' He continued by telling a story I could not even remember. 'When I was in primary school, the school was in a different village. Everyday, my sister and I would walk for 2 hours to school and back home. One day, I lost the other pair of my gloves. My sister gave me one of hers. She wore only one glove and she had to walk far. When we got home, her hands were trembling because of the cold weather that she could not even hold her chopsticks. From that day on, I swore that as long as I  live, I would take care of my sister and will always be good to her.' Applause filled up the room. All guests turned their attention to me. I found it hard to speak, 'In my whole life, the one I would like to thank most is my brother, 'And in this happy occasion, in front of the crowd, tears were rolling down my face again.

Love and care for the one you love every single day of your life. You may think what you did is just a small deed, but to that someone, it may mean a lot. God is just so good, and He's good all the time. 

Remember, prayer does change things!

Happy New Year 1/1/11

May every great new day bring you sweet surprises…

Happy New Year to All :-)

Story of an old clock and a new clock

There was an Old Church. It is more than 100 years old. As the old priest is not physically well, the Church committee decided to appoint a new priest. The young priest took charge of the church. While roaming around the Church building, he thought to do some renovation in the church to make it more attractive.With the help of the church committee, they did many things like bought new carpets, painted the walls, put new sealing etc.

As part of the renovation, the priest thought to change the old clock which is powered by key and making noise with a brand new electronic clock. But the priest decided to keep the New clock beside the old clock for the time being as many old people are so much attached to the old clock.

The new clock was very happily and smoothly jumping each second with "tick" "tick" "tick" "tick" sound. There was power and enthusiasm in his jumping. At the same time the old clock with very difficulty and with the noise of wheels also tried to move along with the new clock.

In the beginning the new clock was very proud and was reluctant to speak to the Old clock. But after some time to burn the boredom, the new clock decided to talk to the old clock.

During the conversation, the new clock asked the old clock "How long have you been here?" to that the old clock replied that more than 100 years. Hearing the answer, the new clock fell into thoughts. It tried to calculate the jumps to make in order to complete the 100 years. For one minute 60 jumps, for one hour 3600 jumps, for one day 86400 jumps, for one month 2592000 jumps, for one year 31536000 jumps, for 100 years 3153600000 jumps.

Shortly after the calculation, the new clock stopped jumping the seconds.The old clock, noticing the silence of the new clock, asked the reason for the silence.

To that the new clock replied "I was calculating the jumps you have competed last 100 years. You have dome millions of jumps. I don't think I would be able to complete that much jumps. Thinking about all that jumps, I am stressed and cannot move. I am helpless and cannot jump one second. While thinking about it I had a heart attack."

The old clock knowing the situation, asked one question. "I know your situation, but I would like to ask you one question, Can you jump one second?"

To that the new clock replied. "It is very easy, I can easily jump one second. It is very very easy."

The Old clock replied "Do that."The old clock continued, Just think about one second at a time and jump. Don't think about 100 years, just think about one second. The new clock happily started to jump one second at a time.

Moral: The moral of the story is don't think about all the things to be done in a lifetime. Just think about the next moment. Just think about one day at a time. It will help us to continue our journey. Don't get depressed or discouraged. One step at a time will lead you to the destination. Don't give up!!!! Don't be a quitter!!