A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter.
At one point he asked :
“Are you writing a story about what we’ve done ? Is it a story about me ? “
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson :
‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using, I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’
‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’
‘First quality: You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, & he always guides us according to his will.
‘Second quality: Now and then, I have to stop writing and use sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards it’s much sharper. So You, too, must learn to bear certain pains & sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on road to justice.
‘Fourth quality: What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is going on inside you
'Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: It always leaves a mark. In just a same way, you will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in every action.’
At one point he asked :
“Are you writing a story about what we’ve done ? Is it a story about me ? “
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson :
‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I’m using, I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’
‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.’
‘First quality: You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, & he always guides us according to his will.
‘Second quality: Now and then, I have to stop writing and use sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards it’s much sharper. So You, too, must learn to bear certain pains & sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on road to justice.
‘Fourth quality: What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is going on inside you
'Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: It always leaves a mark. In just a same way, you will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in every action.’
- Paulo Coelho
"Like the flowing river"
"Like the flowing river"