Showing posts with label Humanity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Humanity. Show all posts

Sunday, October 14, 2012

57 cents church

I thought this was a good story to share with you.

Until the next time, cheers.




57 cents church

A little girl stood near a small church from which she had been turned away because it was "too crowded."

"I can't go to Sunday School," she sobbed to the pastor as he walked by.

Seeing her shabby, unkempt appearance, the pastor guessed the reason and, taking her by the hand, took her inside and found a place for her in the Sunday school class. The child was so happy that they found room for her, and she went to bed that night thinking of the children who have no place to worship Jesus.

Some two years later, this child lay dead in one of the poor tenement buildings. Her parents called for the kindhearted pastor who had befriended their daughter to handle the final arrangements.

As her poor little body was being moved, a worn and crumpled red purse was found which seemed to have been rummaged from some trash dump.

Inside was found 57 cents and a note, scribbled in childish handwriting, which read: "This is to help build the little church bigger so more children can go to Sunday School."

For two years she had saved for this offering of love.

When the pastor tearfully read that note, he knew instantly what he would do. Carrying this note and the cracked, red pocketbook to the pulpit, he told the story of her unselfish love and devotion.

He challenged his deacons to get busy and raise enough money for the larger building.

But the story does not end there...

A newspaper learned of the story and published It. It was read by a wealthy realtor who offered them a parcel of land worth many thousands.

When told that the church could not pay so much, he offered to sell it to the little church for 57 cents.

Church members made large donations. Checks came from far and wide.
Within five years the little girl's gift had increased to $250, 000.00--a huge sum for that time (near the turn of the century). Her unselfish love had paid large dividends.

When you are in the city of Philadelphia , look up Temple Baptist Church , with a seating capacity of 3,300. And be sure to visit TempleUniversity, where thousands of students are educated.

Have a look, too, at the Good Samaritan Hospital and at a Sunday School building which houses hundreds of beautiful children, built so that no child in the area will ever need to be left outside during Sunday school time.

In one of the rooms of this building may be seen the picture of the sweet face of the little girl whose 57 cents, so sacrificially saved, made such remarkable history. Alongside of it is a portrait of her kind pastor, Dr. Russell H. Conwell, author of the book, "Acres of Diamonds".


This is a true story, which goes to show WHAT GOD CAN DO WITH 57 CENTS.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Sikh woman teaches Reddit a lesson in tolerance

I wished more people of this world would address issues this way....with level headedness. Kudos to both of them.

Until the next time, cheers.

The Sydney Morning Herald, Saturday, 29 September 2012


Sikh woman teaches Reddit a lesson in tolerance


Stephanie Haberman


  • 28 reading now
"My face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are" ... Balpreet Kaur.
"My face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are" ... Balpreet Kaur.


This post was originally published on Mashable.
A Sikh woman's classy, thoughtful response to a mean-spirited photo of her posted on Reddit has not only warmed the hearts of people around the globe, it has even forced the man who posted the photo to look at his actions and repent.
By not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world. 
Balpreet Kaur
The original poster, a student at Ohio State University who goes by the username "European_Douchebag," posted the above photo with the caption "I'm not sure what to make of this."
Classmates of the woman in the photo, Balpreet Kaur, a neuroscience and psychology student who also attends Ohio State, alerted her to the post on Facebook. Kaur is Sikh, and will not alter her appearance because of those religious beliefs.
In a response to the post, Kaur shared the reasoning behind her appearance, and why what appeared to be a big deal to the man who posted the photo didn't matter to her at all.
"If the OP wanted a picture," she wrote, "they could have just asked and I could have smiled."
According to Kaur, Sikhs believe in the sacredness of the body, because "it is a gift that has been given to us by the Divine Being … just as a child doesn't reject the gift of his/her parents, Sikhs do not reject the body that has been given to us."
One of the more poignant parts of the response was Kaur's in-depth explanation of why she holds her beliefs.
"When I die, no one is going to remember what I looked like, heck, my kids will forget my voice, and slowly, all physical memory will fade away. However, my impact and legacy will remain: and, by not focusing on the physical beauty, I have time to cultivate those inner virtues and hopefully, focus my life on creating change and progress for this world in any way I can. So, to me, my face isn't important but the smile and the happiness that lie behind the face are."
The compassionate response garnered an incredible outpouring of support for Kaur. After reading through her response, the poster, who has remained anonymous, posted another thread - this time seeking forgiveness.
"I felt the need to apologise to the Sikhs, Balpreet, and anyone else I offended when I posted that picture," he wrote. "Put simply it was stupid. Making fun of people is funny to some but incredibly degrading to the people you're making fun of. It was an incredibly rude, judgmental, and ignorant thing to post."
"I'm sorry for being the part of Reddit that is intolerant and douchebaggy," he continued. "I've read more about the Sikh faith and it was actually really interesting. It makes a whole lot of sense to work on having a legacy and not worrying about what you look like. I made that post for stupid internet points and I was ignorant."
According to Kaur's biography on Interfaith Youth Core, it says that she wants to "one day, save the world – one step at a time."
First step, accomplished.
Mashable is the largest independent news source covering digital culture, social media and technology.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

India's servants bear brunt of callous rich

The question of the mistreatment of the poor and defenceless has been on since the beginning of mankind. However, it is really rather shocking at this age and time when we expect humans to be much more educated and cultured. Many rich people believe that they can do whatever they want as they have the money to get away with it.

This mistreatment is also quite prevalent in Malaysia. I suppose this is a cross culture problem. 

I have also seen the movie The Help and it was an eye opener what the blacks had to go through even as recently as in the 50s. So, it does not matter if you're white or black or yellow or brown, there are evil humans!!

Until the next time, cheers.

India's servants bear brunt of callous rich

The Sydney Morning Herald,

Amrit Dhillon

A still from the movie. A still from the film showing an upset maid. 

ONCE in a while, the Indian media carry stories of rich Indians abusing domestic servants.

A teenage girl bludgeoned to death for trying on her employer's lipstick; a maid left for a week with no food and locked in the flat by a doctor couple who have gone to Bangkok; a boy punished for over-salting his employer's food by having a hot spatula pressed against his face.

But the daily indignities of staff are known only to the victims, and it is these experiences that film director Prashant Nair portrays in his film Delhi in a Day. A satire on Delhi's nouveaux riches, the film lampoons their conspicuous consumption, endless socialising, narcissism, social one-upmanship - and mistreatment of staff.

Prashant Nair. Director Prashant Nair. 

''My characters do charity work and engage in philanthropic activities but the moment they get home, they can't treat the staff with civility or dignity,'' said Nair, 35, an engineering graduate who turned to making films a few years ago.
In his first feature film, Nair has chosen not to portray the worst crimes committed against domestic help. Depicting brutality would have worked against his intention to use humour and to generate debate among Indians about mistreatment of servants. Also, too dark a film might have run the risk of being rejected outright by Indians.

Delhi in a Day shows a rich, loudmouth socialite who leads a frou-frou lifestyle with her wealthy businessman husband in a mansion in south Delhi. A semi-alcoholic cook, butler, two drivers, and a maid minister to their needs. The socialite routinely calls them ''idiots'' or waves them away in front of guests.

The event that serves as a catalyst to expose how the rich view servants is the visit by a British friend who comes to India seeking spiritual inspiration and finds only the family's rank materialism. His money is stolen. The family assumes automatically that one of the servants is the thief. They are given 24 hours to replace it - or else.

While choosing a location, Nair looked at about 40 sprawling farmhouses in south Delhi. ''In every one, the servants' quarters were pathetic,'' he said. As a French-Indian director, Nair brings a dual perspective: he is an outsider who has lived all over the world with his diplomat parents before settling in Paris but is also an insider who was born in India and used to spend childhood summers in Delhi.

In these holidays, Nair saw a far greater contempt for poor Indians than any shown by the white Mississippi women towards their black maids in the film The Help, with which his film has been compared.

''I used to see children kicking elderly staff. Once I saw a servant being slapped in front of 80 to 90 people for forgetting something. My aim is to get people to … realise that such behaviour needs to change,'' he said.

The film is not the first to portray this lack of humanity. In 2008, Mumbai director Raja Menon, in his film Shortchanged, showed how when a driver tries to borrow money - the equivalent of what a family would spend on a pizza - from the tenants in the building where he works, they brush him off without a thought that he needs it for his son's medical treatment.

But Delhi in a Day focuses on the routine and casual cruelties meted out to servants every day. ''I don't see things getting better. If anything, the younger generation are even more selfish and materialistic,'' Nair said.