Gold Box

"The story goes that a man punished his 3-year-old son
for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper.

Money was tight and he became even more upset when the child pasted the
gold paper so as to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little boy brought the gift box to his father the
next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

The father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger
flared again when he found the box was empty. He spoke to him in a
harsh manner, "Don't you know, young man, when you give someone a present
there's supposed to be something inside the package?"

The little boy looked up at him with tears in his eyes and said, "Oh,
Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was full."

The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around
his little boy, and he begged him to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later and it
is told that the father kept that gold box by his bed for all the years of
his life. And whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems
he would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love
of the child who had put it there."

- Author Unknown

The window (author unknown)

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake, the man had said. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Lovers walked arm in arm amid flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t hear the band - he could see it. In his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.


The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

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"The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way."

Unknown

The "Afghan Girl"

Some of you may already know this photo:

It was made famous in 1985 by journalist Steve McCurry when it featured on the cover of that June's National Geographic edition.

The picture, taken in Pakistan in a refugee camp, shows a girl that originated from Afghanistan which orphaned by the Soviet bombings, was forced (along with her siblings) to cross the border into Pakistan.

The identity of the approximately 13-year-old girl was unknown at the time, the girl usually being referred to simply as the "Afghan girl".

Quickly becoming a symbol of both the Afghan conflict and the condition of refugees worldwide, the green-eyed "Afghan girl" remained unknown for almost fifteen years, despite efforts to find her, up to 2002, when a team of journalists at the National Geographic finally traced her back to a remote place in her native country.
Although a lot of women claimed to be her when inquired by the reporters, Sharbat Gula was identified, with help from biometric technology that compared her iris pattern to that of the "Afghan girl", as the girl in the photograph.

The woman had returned to her home country and had three girls, which she hoped would receive the education she never got.

Here is a comparison photo of the 13-year-old Sharbat Gula and her older self (in her early thirties, she was born ca. 1972 and the picture was taken in 2002):

Here is a link to the whole article that appeared in National Geographic in June, 1985.

Just let me say that that look from the original photo (the top of the post) is easily one of the most impressive looks I've ever seen.