Learning to Run

One of My Favorite
Inspirational Stories about Running
© 2004 Nathaniel Bronner


The two-year old likes to run.

It warms my heart when I see his funny movements as he runs. It also scares me because young children have a tendency to fall very easily.

I was out shopping with my sons when the two-year old started to run.

He fell.

If you are a parent, you completely understand the phrase,"it hurts you more than it does them." There is something that pains worse than physical torment to see your little one hurt. He skinned his knee and elbow. He cried for a few minutes and finally with the soothing of Daddy, quieted down.

We are like my two-year old.

There are so many areas of life where we must run: some by choice, some by the force of circumstances. There are so many new things. There are so many times when our steps are unsure and we are not experienced runners.

The older I get, the more I understand how a Divine Father can let us go through some things and fall. I was tempted to stop my son when I saw him run. I knew that sooner or later, if not that day then one day, he would fall.

I also knew that if he was to ever learn how to run, he must fall, and often I had to watch him do it.

There are so many areas of life where we must run: some by choice, some by the force of circumstances.

I fell in business several times before I was able to run.

I fell in relationships several times before I had sense enough to stop looking for perfection and know that we all have faults.

Even your second child is reared differently from the first because you learn some things from falling with that first one.

I fell off of my bicycle.
I fell off of my motorcycle.
I fell on skates (roller and ice).
I even choked a few times while learning to swim.

We often fall when learning to run the things of life.

Too often bruises stop us from ever trying to run again. We are afraid that we will slip and get hurt. We are afraid of the pain.

My son runs much better now. I still wince when I see him run on a hard surface but he won't stop running.

At only two, he has one of the keys of life.

He won't stop running just because he fell.

Your bruises will heal, you will get up, and the path will still be there.

Though at times you may not think it so, The Divine Father is still watching over you.

He just knows that he has to let you fall, If you are ever to learn to run.



Nathaniel Bronner is the founder and main writer for MountainWings.com - the world’s largest inspirational email. He also operates one of the most popular inspirational movie websites, CryofTheSpirit.com. Take 5 minutes today and be inspired!

Change...

http://www.cryofthespirit.com/change.html

One Good Day Coming Up!

1st day of the work week and i already feel wasted. let me tell you how my life went over the weekend...

il start by telling you that my day usually starts at 7pm, RP time. yes, i work at night. around that time i wake up, brush myself off from slumber and convince myself to go to work. yes, nowadays it takes a lot of pushing and dragging myself to work. i guess everybody feels like that on some days. this week, i feel exactly just like that.ok, so we're going far from my weekend story let me begin...

last saturday i went home at 3pm after spending 17 hours in the office infront of my computer, beside my telephone and watching over me was the fax machine. that day was my girl buddy's birthday. i promised her i would go to her li'l shindig at her place after sleeping from work. it happened that i was not able to get that sleep and i needed to go directly to her place after work which was about an hour from my workplace. (by the way, we happen to work for the same company but we don't have the same work hours. well, we used to but then i got somewhere else, a notch higher than her. hehehe! peace out gurl friend)

i realize im one of the lucky ones. then i complain no
more...

i went to her place right after work, ate her sumptuous dishes and slept on her bed while waiting for our friends to arrive. that was 4pm. i woke up at 9pm. shared some stories and went home. i slept all day sunday and attended our company party come night time. went home the following day @4am. i spent the whole weekend basically with the same group of people. and last night (same day i went home from the party), at 10pm, iam back here again. sitting infront of my PC... doing my job. sometimes it sucks... but then it's my life. and i'm happy and thankful i have a job. life is so hard nowadays that even those who graduate with honors and from respected schools are having a hard time landing on a good paying job. then i realize im one of the lucky ones. then i complain no more... i can greet the dawn, GOOD MORNING. then i feel fine...

The Best of Friends

"The love of two people starts in the discovery that they can be the best of friends"
- i heard this over the radio on my way to work tonight

Love in Aphrodite's Eyes

Love is when someone hurts you and you get mad but you don't yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings.

Love makes you smile when you're tired.

Love is hugging.

Love is kissing.

Love is saying no.

Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.

You shouldn't say "I Love You" unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.Ü

Cocoons and Butterflies...

After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul.

And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security.

And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises.

And you begin to accept defeats with your head up and eyes wide open with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child.

And you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans.

After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.

So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong and you really do have worth...

Patricia's Winning Piece

This is a good read.
Be proud.

Pinay wins it big in London

By Alfred Yuson
The Philippine Star 05/16/2004


Patricia Evangelista, a 19-year-old, Mass Communications sophomore of
University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman, did the country proud Friday
night by besting 59 other student contestants from 37 countries in the 2004
International Public Speaking competition conducted by the English Speaking
Union (ESU) in London.

She triumphed over a field of exactly 60 speakers from all over the
English-speaking world, including the United States, United Kingdom and
Australia, reported Maranan.


The board of judges' decision was unanimous, according to contest
chairman Brian Hanharan of the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC).


PATRICIA'S SHORT SPEECH WORTH READING....
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLONDE AND BLUE EYES

When I was little, I wanted what many Filipino children all over the country wanted. I wanted to be blond, blue-eyed, and white.

I thought -- if I just wished hard enough and was good enough, I'd wake up on Christmas morning with snow outside my window and freckles across my nose!

More than four centuries under western domination does that to you. I have sixteen cousins. In a couple of years, there will just be five of us left in the Philippines, the rest will have gone abroad in search of "greener pastures." It's not just an anomaly; it's a trend; the Filipino diaspora. Today, about eight million Filipinos are scattered around the world.

There are those who disapprove of Filipinos who choose to leave. I used to. Maybe this is a natural reaction of someone who was left behind, smiling for family pictures that get emptier with each succeeding year. Desertion, I called it. My country is a land that has perpetually fought for the freedom to be itself. Our heroes offered their lives in the struggle against the Spanish, the Japanese, the Americans. To pack up and deny that identity is tantamount to spitting on that sacrifice.

Or is it? I don't think so, not anymore. True, there is no denying this phenomenon, aided by the fact that what was once the other side of the world is now a twelve-hour plane ride away. But this is a borderless world, where no individual can claim to be purely from where he is now. My mother is of Chinese descent, my father is a quarter Spanish, and I call myself a pure Filipino-a hybrid of sorts resulting from a combination of cultures.

"Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are"

Each square mile anywhere in the world is made up of people of different ethnicities, with national identities and individual personalities. Because of this, each square mile is already a microcosm of the world. In as much as this blessed spot that is England is the world, so is my neighbourhood back home.

Seen this way, the Filipino Diaspora, or any sort of dispersal of populations, is not as ominous as so many claim. It must be understood. I come from a Third World country, one that is still trying mightily to get back on its feet after many years of dictatorship. But we shall make it,given more time. Especially now, when we have thousands of eager young minds who graduate from college every year. They have skills. They need jobs. We cannot absorb them all.

A borderless world presents a bigger opportunity, yet one that is not so much abandonment but an extension of identity. Even as we take, we give back. We are the 40,000 skilled nurses who support the UK's National Health Service. We are the quarter-of-a-million seafarers manning most of the world's commercial ships. We are your software engineers in Ireland, your construction workers in the Middle East,your doctors and caregivers in North America, and, your musical artists in London's West End.

Nationalism isn't bound by time or place. People from other nations migrate to create new nations, yet still remain essentially who they are. British society is itself an example of a multi-cultural nation, a melting pot of races, religions, arts and cultures. We are, indeed, in a borderless world!

Leaving sometimes isn't a matter of choice. It's coming back that is. The Hobbits of the shire travelled all over Middle-Earth, but they chose to come home, richer in every sense of the word. We call people like these balikbayans or the 'returnees' -- those who followed their dream, yet choose to return and share their mature talents and good fortune.

In a few years, I may take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way. But I will come home. A borderless world doesn't preclude the idea of a home. I'm a Filipino, and I'll always be one. It isn't about just geography; it isn't about boundaries. It's about giving back to the country that shaped me.

And that's going to be more important to me than seeing snow outside my windows on a bright Christmas morning.

Mabuhay and Thank you.