Stars on a Snowy Night
by LukeThe thermometer had dropped to 18 degrees below zero, but still chose to sleep in the porch as usual. In the evening, the most familiar sight to me would be stars in the sky. Though they were a mere sprinkle of twinkling dots, yet I had become so accustomed to them that their occasional absence would bring me loneliness and ennui.
It had been snowing all night, not a single star in sight. My roommate and I, each wrapped in a quilt, were seated far apart in a different corner of the porch, facing each other and chatting away.
She exclaimed pointing to something afar, “Look, Venus in rising!” I looked up and saw nothing but a lamp round the bend in a mountain path. I beamed and said pointing to a tiny lamplight on the opposite mountain, “It’s Jupiter over there!”
More and more lights came into sight as we kept pointing here and there. Lights from hurricane lamps flickering about in the pine forest created the scene of a star-studded sky. With the distinction between sky and forest obscured by snowflakes, the numerous lamp-lights now easily passed for as many stars.
Completely lost in a make-believe world, I seemed to see all the lamplights drifting from the ground. With the illusory stars hanging still overhead, I was spared the effort of tracing their positions when I woke up from my dreams in the dead of night.
Posted in 
March 6th, 2010Good Thoughts to Keep in Mind
by LukeImagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them: Work, Family, Health, Friends, Spirit. And you re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls-family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed , marked, nicked , damaged or even shattered . They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
How?
Don t undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.
Don t set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.
Don t take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would cling to your life, for without them, life is meaningless.
Don t let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.
Don t give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.
Don t be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us each together.
Don t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.
Don t shut love out of your life by saying it s impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.
Don t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you ve been, but also where you are going.
Friendship
by LukeHappy is the house that shelters a friend! It might well be built, like a festal bower or arch, to entertain him a single day. Happier, if he knows the solemnity of that relation, and honor its law! He who offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up, like an Olympian, to the great games, where the first-born of the world are the competitors. He proposes himself for contests where Time, Want, Anger, are in the lists, and he alone is victor who has truth enough in his constitution to preserve the delicacy of his beauty form the wear and tear of all these. The gifts of fortune may be present or absent, but all the speed in that contest depends on intrinsic nobleness, and the contempt of trifles. There is an important element that goes to the composition of friendship, that is Truth. A friends is person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am arrived at last in the presence of a man so real and equal, hat I may drop even those undermost garments of dissimulation, courtesy, and second thought, which men never put off, and may deal with him with the simplicity and wholeness with which one chemical atom meets another, only to the highest rank, that being permitted to speak truth, as having none above it to court or conform unto. Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins. We parry any fend the approach of our fellow-man by compliments, by gossip, by amusements, by affairs. We cover up our thought from him under a hundred folds.
Somewhere i have never travelled
by Lukesomewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond
any experience, your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near
your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully, mysteriously) her first rose
or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing
(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands
Look What You Find along the Way
by LukeIf you have ever been discouraged because of failure, please read on.
For often, achieving what you set out to do is not the important thing. Let me explain.
Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they were working, a couple of older boys stopped by to watch.
"What are you doing?" asked one of the visitors.
"We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth!" one of the brothers volunteered excitedly.
The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible.
After a long silence, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders, worms and a wide assortment of insects. He removed the lid and showed the wonderful contents to the scoffing visitors.
Then he said quietly and confidently, "Even if we don't dig all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way!"
Their goal was far too ambitious, but it did cause them to dig. And that is what a goal is for-to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen; in other words, to set us to digging!
But not every goal will be fully achieved. Not every job will end successfully. Not every relationship will endure. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every love will last. Not every endeavor will be completed. Not every dream will be realized.
But when you fall short of your aim, perhaps you can say, "Yes, but look at what I found along the way! Look at the wonderful things which have come into my life because I tried to do something!"
It is in the digging that life is lived. And I believe it is joy in the journey, in the end, that truly matters.
Love Is Just a Thread
by LukeSometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’t act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he’s very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.
One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.
“Mom, I have a question to ask you,” I said after a while.
“What?” she replied, still doing her work.
“Is there love between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice.
My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.
I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I didn’t know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:
“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it’s really there. Love is inside.”
I listened carefully but I couldn’t understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness.
After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. It seemed they were the most harmonious couple. Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, green grass and trees. The sun gently glistened through the leaves. All of these made up the most beautiful picture in the world.
The doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn’t walk by himself. All of us were worried about him.
“Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.
“Susan, don’t worry about me.” he said gently. “To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life.” Reading his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.
Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm..
Goals
by LukeThere are three kinds of goals: short-term, medium-term and long-term goals.
Short-term goals are those that usually deal with current activities, which we can apply on a daily basis. Such goals can be achieved in a week or less, or two weeks, or possibly months. It should be remembered that just as a building is no stronger than its foundation, our short-term goals cannot amount to very much without the achievement of solid short-term goals. Upon completing our short-term goals, we should date the occasion and then add new short-term goals that will build on the foundation of the short-term goals. They might deal with just one term of school or the entire school year, or they could even extend for several years. Any time you move a step at a time, you should never allow yourself to become discouraged or overwhelmed. As you complete each step, you will enforce the belief in your ability to grow and succeed. And as your list of completion dates grow, your motivation and desire will increase.
Long-term goals may be related to our dreams of the future. They might cover five years or more. Life is not a static thing. We should never allow a long-term goal to limit us or our course of action.
When Do I Think Of You
by LukeWhen Do I Think Of You?
By Joe Fazio (best of)
I think of you in the peace
Solitude and stillness of the early a.m., for
You are tranquillity.
I think of you on an ocean's front,
For you are the roar of the waves,
The power of the sea, and the salt in the air.
I think of you amidst a crowd
And the chorus of city sounds
...for that is my song, and you are the music.
You are my first thought of each new day,
And the last image I glimpse, as my eyes are
Closed upon a feathered pillow.
In that secret place called sleep, it is you that
I search for, through shades of darkness and
Clouds of cotton.
When do I think of you? Every moment
Of my life. And, when the final sleep does come
And if there is thought...
It will be of you.
I think that I'm a chicken
by LukePsychiatrist: What's your problem?
Patient: I think I'm a chicken.
Psychiatrist: How long has this been going on?
Patient: Ever since I was an egg!
Say "I Love you" In Different Languages
by LukeEnglish: I Love You
Danish: Jeg elsker dig
Dutch: Ik hou van jou
Esperanto: Mi amas vin
French: Je t'aime
German: Ich liebe Dich
Indonesian: Saya cinta kamu
Italian: Ti amo
Japanese: Aishite imasu
Latin: Te amo
Polish: Kocham cie
Romanian: Te iu besc
Russian: Ya vas liubliu
Spanish: Te amo
Swedish: Jag alskar dig
Turkish: Seni seviyorum