Saturday, 27 September 2025

A Sack of Stones

 





A Sack of Stones…

 

Once upon a time, in a quiet village nestled among hills, there lived a wise grandfather named Esteban and his curious but stubborn grandson, Martín.

Martín hated homework. Every day it turned into a battle at home. One afternoon, after his mother reached her breaking point, she left him with Grandpa Esteban to cool off.

— “What’s wrong, Martín?”

— “Homework, Grandpa! It’s boring, it’s hard, and I don’t want to do it!”

Esteban didn’t argue. He simply walked over to the corner and brought back an old sack full of rocks.

— “Help me carry this to the other side of the field,” he said.

Martín stared at it.

— “But it’s heavy! Why should I?”

— “I’ll explain on the way.”

Grumbling, Martín picked up the sack. Step by step, it grew heavier. After a while, Esteban spoke:

— “Homework is like this sack. It feels pointless and hard. But guess what happens if someone carries a sack like this every day?”

— “What?” Martín gasped.

— “Their arms grow stronger.”

— “Homework isn’t to bother you—it’s to make your mind strong. So when real problems come, you’re ready.”

Martín frowned, quietly absorbing the message.

— “And if I just don’t do it?”

Esteban paused and smiled gently.

— “Then someone else will always have to carry your weight. But do you want to rely on others forever?”

Martín didn’t answer. But his steps grew more determined. At the end of the field, they set the sack down and sat beneath a tree.

— “I hated carrying sacks as a boy too,” Esteban said.

— “But now, each one I lift reminds me of the strength I’ve built.”

That night, for the first time, Martín asked his mother to sit with him while he did his homework. It wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t give up.

💡Sometimes, what feels heavy isn’t a punishment—

it’s preparation.

And all we need is someone like Esteban to remind us:

the weight we carry today can become the strength we rely on tomorrow.





Saturday, 20 September 2025

"Hope" in Story and Song.

 



The Lantern on the Hill

In a quiet village nestled between mountains, an old man named Arun climbed the same hill every evening at sunset carrying a small lantern. The villagers often teased him. “Why do you waste your time, old man? No one goes up that hill at night.”

Arun would just smile and keep climbing.

One winter night, a fierce storm rolled in. The path from the next village was washed out, and a group of travellers lost their way. In the darkness, they spotted a faint glow on the hill. Drawn to the light, they followed it safely into the village.

When they reached the top, they found Arun standing there with his lantern. “I light it every evening,” he said, “because I don’t know who might need to see it.”

The villagers never mocked him again. Many of them even began to carry lanterns of their own, lining the hill with little flames. From then on, the hill became known as The Path of Hope.

Message:
Sometimes our small, consistent acts — even when no one notices — can become the very thing someone else needs to find their way.

 


 

 The Broken Violin

A street musician found an old, cracked violin in a rubbish bin. Everyone told him it was worthless. Instead of throwing it out, he patched it gently and played it every evening. The sound was rough at first but became more and more beautiful. Passers-by stopped, listened, and began to drop coins, enough to rent a tiny apartment. Years later, a little girl approached him and said, “I started learning music because of your violin.”
Message: Even broken things — and broken people — can produce beauty if handled with care.

 

 



I Hope you Dance

This song Encourages taking chances, remaining hopeful,                                                                         believing that doors will open when others close.

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (dance)
I hope you dance (dance)

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances, but they're worth takin'
Lovin' might be a mistake, but it's worth makin'

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin' out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (time is a wheel in constant motion)
I hope you dance (always rolling us along)
I hope you dance (tell me who wants to look back on their years)
I hope you dance (and wonder where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance, I hope you dance (dance)
I hope you dance (time is a wheel in constant motion)
I hope you dance (always rolling us along)
I hope you dance (tell me who wants to look back on their years)
I hope you dance (and wonder where those years have gone)

Tell me who wants to look back on their years (dance)
And wonder where those years have gone (dance)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F44nrK0MxEQ




Saturday, 13 September 2025

"Someone to Believe in"

 





Every Tuesday I found a boy’s crumpled homework in my trash. One night, he told me farmers were worthless—like me.

I’ve lived seventy-two years on this patch of dirt. My name’s Ray. Folks around here call me “the old farmer with the broken barn,” and that’s fair enough. My wife’s gone, my kids grown, and most days it’s just me, the cows, and this stubborn land that refuses to quit.

What people don’t know is that, for months, I’ve been finding someone else’s life tossed into my feed sacks and trash barrel. Crumpled notebooks. Torn math worksheets. English essays with red F’s bleeding across the page. At first I thought it was just the wind carrying scraps from the school down the road. Then I noticed the same handwriting, always scrawled in anger:

“I’m dumb.”

“Nobody cares.”

“School is useless.”

It punched a hole in my chest every time. Because once upon a time, I was that kid. Teachers said my hands were good for milking cows, not holding pencils. My father said, “Brains don’t grow corn.” And I believed him, until it was too late.



One night, I caught him. The boy. Standing by my shed under the security light, clutching another ripped page. His name was Tommy, a neighbour's kid, twelve years old, freckles and too-big sneakers.

“What are you doing with my trash?” I barked, trying not to scare him.

He flinched but snapped back: “It’s not trash, it’s my homework. Dad says I’ll end up like you anyway—digging dirt, nothing to show for it.”

I froze. Like me. Worthless. Dirt.

I didn’t yell. I didn’t chase him off. I just let him run, his voice echoing long after he was gone.

That night I sat at the table with an old seed bag beside me. Pulled out a pencil. Wrote on the back:

“This seed looks useless. But give it sun, water, time—it feeds the world. Don’t throw yourself away.”

I tucked the note and a handful of kernels into the barrel where he always left his papers. Felt foolish, like a farmer writing fairy tales to the night.

Next day, it was gone.

The following week, there was another sheet in the barrel. Math problems, half-wrong. At the bottom, written in shaky pencil: “How can a seed be smart?”

I grinned. Wrote back: “Fractions are seeds too. Slice a pie into 4. Eat 1, that’s 1/4. Even a farmer knows that.”

And so it began. A secret exchange. Him throwing broken pieces of himself into my trash. Me sending them back stitched with hope.

He confessed he couldn’t spell “because.” I circled it and wrote: “You spelled it right this time. Keep going.”

He said his dad called farmers dumb. I scribbled: “My dirt puts food on his table. Dumb don’t do that.”

Week by week, his words softened. He started signing them: “Tommy.” And one day, tucked beside the page, was a candy wrapper folded into the shape of a star.


But secrets don’t stay buried long in small towns.

His father stormed over one Saturday, red-faced, fists like hammers. “You stay the hell out of my boy’s head! He don’t need farmer nonsense. School’s already enough of a joke without you filling him with lies.”

I didn’t raise my voice. Just said: “Your boy’s not broken. He just needs someone to believe it.”

That was enough. He spat at the dirt and left.

It should’ve ended there. But the next week, another note showed up in the barrel. Shakier handwriting, but determined:

“He says you’re wrong. But I think seeds are smart. Because they don’t give up, even in bad soil.”

My throat burned. The boy was fighting for himself now.

Months passed. Then, in spring, the school held a parent night. I wasn’t planning to go—farmers don’t belong in classrooms—but one of the teachers, Mrs. Carter, stopped by my gate.

“You should come,” she said gently. “There’s something you’ll want to hear.”

So I went. Sat in the back with dirt still under my nails, trying to disappear into the folding chair.

They had the kids read essays aloud. When Tommy’s turn came, he walked to the front, clutching a paper. His voice shook but carried across the gym:

“My hero is Farmer Ray. He taught me that seeds look small, but they feed the world. He taught me that being smart isn’t just about grades—it’s about not giving up. He taught me farmers aren’t dumb. They’re the reason we eat. When I grow up, I want to be both: a student, and a man who works the land.”

The room went silent. His father stared at the floor. The teacher wiped her eyes. And me? I sat in the back, fists pressed to my knees, trying not to break apart.

Afterward, Tommy slipped me a folded page. Inside was a drawing: a stalk of corn with roots tangled deep, and next to it a boy holding a book. Underneath, one line: “Thank you for seeing me.”

I walked home under the stars, his words heavier than any sack of feed I’d ever carried.

People think changing the world takes money, degrees, or power. Truth is, sometimes it takes nothing more than a stubborn farmer and a few scribbled notes in the trash.

Tommy doesn’t know everything yet. Neither do I. But we both know this: seeds grow when someone bothers to plant them.

And kids? They’re the most important crop we’ll ever tend.

So before you dismiss a farmer, or a caretaker, motor mechanic, electrician , or anyone who works with their hands—remember: without us, the world starves. And before you dismiss a kid struggling with fractions—remember: they just need one person to believe in them.

I believed. And now he believes.

That’s how you grow a future. One seed. One boy. One note at a time.

 












Saturday, 6 September 2025

Learn from Bees

 




My dad has bees. Today I went to his house, and he showed me all the honey he had from the hives. He took the lid off of a 5-gallon bucket full of honey and on top of the honey there were 3 little bees, struggling. They were covered in sticky honey and drowning. I asked him if we could help them and he said he was sure they wouldn't survive. Casualties of honey collection I suppose.

I asked him again if we could at least get them out and kill them quickly, after all he was the one who taught me to put a suffering animal (or bug) out of its misery. He finally conceded and scooped the bees out of the bucket. He put them in an empty yogurt container and put the plastic container outside.

Because he had disrupted the hive with the earlier honey collection, there were bees flying all over outside.

We put the 3 little bees in the container on a bench and left them to their fate. My dad called me out a little while later to show me what was happening. These three little bees were surrounded by all of their sisters (all of the bees are females) and they were cleaning the sticky nearly dead bees, helping them to get all of the honey off of their bodies. We came back a short time later and there was only one little bee left in the container. She was still being tended to by her sisters.

When it was time for me to leave, we checked one last time and all three of the bees had been cleaned off enough to fly away and the container was empty.

Those three little bees lived because they were surrounded by family and friends who would not give up on them, family and friends who refused to let them drown in their own stickiness and resolved to help until the last little bee could be set free.

Bee Sisters. Bee Peers. Bee Teammates.

We could all learn a thing or two from these bees.

Bee kind always.

 


Absolutely—profound is the perfect word. 🐝

Bees don’t rescue out of ego.

They don’t ask what happened or why.

They just help—instinctively, communally, lovingly.

In a world where so much human behaviour is driven by judgment or delay, the honeybee reminds us:

True compassion requires no explanation.

Just presence. Just action.

It’s humbling to realize that in the quiet chambers of a hive,

a deeper form of empathy thrives—one that doesn’t need language, only connection.

Yes—we have much to learn from the bees.

About service. About unity.

About the sacred art of not giving up on each other.

 


 

“I Am the Last to Leave the Hive”

Hello, my human friend,

This morning, I was the last to leave the hive. The others are gone—some lost, some never returned. It’s quieter now. Too quiet.

I am a bee.

And though the world calls me small, I carry forests in my feet. I carry hope in my hum. I carry the future with every flower I touch.

But I am afraid.

What happens when the last bloom dies?

What happens when the last bee fades?

Who will tell the trees to bear fruit? Who will whisper to the blossoms to rise?

You.

You are the only one left who can turn this tide.

🌼Scatter seeds like you’re sowing stars.

🌾Let nature come back to your doorstep.

💧Let this Earth breathe again.

I may be small. But my fall is not.

Don’t let me be the last.

 


 


 


Saturday, 30 August 2025

I was raised to show Respect

 



“The Quiet Power of Respect”

Respect isn’t loud.
It doesn’t shout, doesn’t need a spotlight.
It shows up in the small choices we make every day.

When a teenager listens instead of interrupting…
When they choose kind words over sarcasm…
When they treat teachers, friends, and even strangers with dignity—
That’s respect in action.

It’s saying please and meaning thank you.
It’s knowing how to speak up without putting others down.
It’s understanding that everyone has a story—even the ones we don’t understand.

Respect is strength.
Not the kind that shows off, but the kind that lifts others.
And when teens live with respect, they don’t just follow rules—they change the world around them, one kind act at a time.

 


 


 "Respect Looks Good on You”

 Listen Up – Hear people out without interrupting
 Speak Kindly – Words matter. Use them well
 Accept Differences – Diversity = strength
 Follow Rules – Respect for structure shows maturity
 Help Out – Be someone people can count on
 Own It – Admit mistakes. Learn. Grow
 Hands Off – Respect people’s space and stuff
 Say Thanks – Gratitude never goes out of style
 Include Everyone – No one likes to feel left out
 Lead with Respect – Set the tone. Others will follow

Respect isn’t old-fashioned. It’s timeless. And powerful.





Saturday, 23 August 2025

"Beginning a New School Year"





Back-to-School Checklist for Students & Parents



For Students

  • Adjust sleep schedule a week before school starts
  • Organize schoolbag, supplies, and clothes the night before
  • Write down 1–2 personal goals for the school year
  • Reach out to a friend before school starts
  • Balance schoolwork with hobbies, sports, and rest



For Parents

  • Prepare lunches, schoolbags, and outfits the night before
  • Create calm mornings, to get off to a good start for the day.
  • Ask open-ended questions (“What was the best part of your day?”)
  • Encourage independence with homework and packing
  • Connect early with teachers and school staff
  • Model positivity and celebrate small milestones

 Create a back-to-school tradition (special breakfast, photo, or treat).







“New Beginnings:

There’s something sacred about fresh notebooks, sharpened pencils, and that first morning when school buses hum down the street again. Back-to-school season is more than a calendar date—it’s a reminder that life gives us fresh starts, not only in September but every day we choose to begin again.

For students, the year ahead holds questions and possibilities: Will I find my place? Can I handle the workload? Will I make new friends? These questions are natural, and the courage to step into the unknown is part of the growing process. Small acts—like preparing your bag the night before or setting a simple goal for yourself—can turn nerves into confidence.

For parents, back-to-school can stir both relief and worry. There’s joy in seeing children take their next steps, but also the tender ache of letting them grow a little more independent. The gift we can give as parents is presence: calm mornings, listening ears, and encouragement that says, “I believe in you.”

This season, perhaps the invitation is to create rituals of belonging—whether it’s a first-day breakfast, a photo by the door, or a family check-in at the end of the week. These small traditions become the anchors children remember when the pace of life feels overwhelming.

Back-to-school is not just about sharpened pencils and packed lunches. It’s about courage, growth, and the quiet faith that we are equipped for what lies ahead.

So let’s step into this new season—students and parents alike—not with perfection, but with presence. Because sometimes the most nourishing thing isn’t having it all together, but showing up, again and again, with love.

 

 


Back-to-School Teacher Checklist

Classroom & Students

  • Learn every student’s name within the first week
  • Establish class routines and expectations early
  • Create icebreakers or community-building activities
  • Design a welcoming classroom space (posters, student voice, warm touches)

Planning & Organization

  • Build in flexible time for unexpected changes
  • Prepare lesson plans that balance structure and creativity
  • Have backup activities ready for early finishers

Personal Wellbeing

  • Pack nourishing snacks and stay hydrated
  • Set work-life boundaries (time to log off each day)
  • Schedule at least one restorative activity weekly (walk, hobby, quiet time)

Professional Connections

  • Reach out to at least one colleague for support
  • Share resources and strategies with your team
  • Celebrate small wins with others

 Start a personal reflection journal to jot down daily highlights and challenges.






“ Teachers at the Threshold ”

Every new school year is a threshold moment. Teachers step into classrooms that are not just filled with desks and chairs, but with untold stories waiting to unfold. Each student arrives carrying hopes, fears, "baggage" and untapped potential. And in this sacred space, a teacher’s presence can make all the difference.

The start of school often brings a flurry of tasks—lesson plans, seating charts, routines to establish. Yet beneath it all is the deeper work: building relationships. A name learned quickly, a smile that says “you belong here,” a space that feels warm and safe—these are the foundations of learning.

Teachers also carry the weight of expectation. It’s easy to feel that you must get it all right immediately. But perfection isn’t the goal. Presence is. Being present enough to notice the shy student’s quiet courage, the class that laughs together for the first time, or your own small victories as you guide the room.

And while teachers pour out so much, it’s essential to pour back in. A cup of tea at the end of the day, a walk to clear your thoughts, a boundary around your personal time—these aren’t luxuries, they are necessities. A well-nourished teacher has wisdom to share.

This season, may teachers remember: you don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t need to do it perfectly. What matters most is showing up with care, consistency, and heart. That alone plants seeds that can last a lifetime.

So as classrooms open and the year begins, may teachers step forward not with fear of failing, but with trust in the quiet truth: love, given steadily, is enough.

 





















A Sack of Stones

  A Sack of Stones…   Once upon a time, in a quiet village nestled among hills, there lived a wise grandfather named Esteban and his cur...