The Coffee a Wonderful Story!

He met her at someone's wedding. He requested her to have coffee with him, she was surprised but due to being polite, she promised. They sat in a nice coffee shop, he was too nervous to say anything, she felt uncomfortable, and she thought to herself, "Please, let me go home..."

Suddenly he asked the waiter, "Would you please give me some salt? I'd like to put it in my coffee." Everybody stared at him, so strange! His face turned red but still, he put the salt in his coffee and drank it. She asked him curiously, "Why you have this hobby?" He replied, "When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea, I liked playing in the sea, I could feel the taste of the sea, just like the taste of the salty coffee. Now every time I have the salty coffee, I always think of my childhood, think of my hometown, I miss my hometown so much, I miss my parents who are still living there." While saying that tears filled his eyes. She was deeply touched. That's his true feeling, from the bottom of his heart. A man who can tell out his homesickness, he must be a man who loves home, cares about home, has responsibility of home... Then she also started to speak, spoke about her faraway hometown, her childhood, her family.

That was a really nice talk, also a beautiful beginning of their story. They continued to meet. She found that actually he was a man who meets all her demands; he had tolerance, was kind hearted, warm, careful. He was such a good person but she almost missed him! Thanks to his salty coffee! Then the story was just like every beautiful love story, the princess married to the prince, and then they were living the happy life... And, every time she made coffee for him, she put some salt in the coffee, as she knew that's the way he liked it.

After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said, "My dearest, please forgive me, forgive my whole life's lie. This was the only lie I said to you---the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time, actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt. It was hard for me to change so I just went ahead. I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I tried to tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I have promised not to lie to you for anything... Now I'm dying, I afraid of nothing so I tell you the truth, I don't like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste... But I have had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry for anything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my whole life. If I can live for the second time, still want to know you and have you for my whole life, even though I have to drink the salty coffee again."

Her tears made the letter totally wet. Someday,someone asked her,"What's the taste of salty coffee?" She replied, "It's sweet."

Its a little bit unrealistic story but the moral and the message of the story is wonderful :)

Critical Thinking! A useful way to success.

Critical thinking is a type of clear, reasoned thinking. Critical thinking means making clear, reasoned judgement. While in the process of critical thinking, ideas should be reasoned and well thought out/judged. The National Council for Excellence in Critical Thinking defines critical thinking as the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and action.

Major critical thinking skills includes observation, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and meta-cognition. It includes:

• Evidence through reality
• Context skills to isolate the problem from context
• Relevant criteria for making the judgment well
• Applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment
• Applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the problem and the question at hand

Having the ability to think critically is an important skill that many people lack. Critical Thinking is the best way to solve problems since it requires looking at an issue from several standpoints before reaching a final decision. In history, both Socrates and Buddha preached about the important role that critical thinking plays in an individual’s ability to reasonably reflect on an issue and subsequently decide what to do or believe.

Critical thinkers must take the contexts of every situation into account and think on a multi-level platform in order to come to just conclusions. Home-schoolers have an advantage for learning critical thinking skills because they can largely make their own curriculum and incorporate critical thinking lessons into it—as every educational system should do. Learning how to recite information from textbooks is not going to help a person achieve long-term success. Only when an individual is able to make educated choices on complex matters can they truly be considered intelligent and competent.

The Critical Thinking Community is dedicated to enhancing critical thinking. The Center for Critical Thinking and Moral Critique and the Foundation for Critical Thinking are two sister educational non-profit organizations associated with the critical thinking community. These organizations work closely together to promote educational reform and essential change in education and society through the cultivation of fair-minded critical thinking. Mostly, the organizations promote asking discussion-inducing questions in learning environments.

Hope Has Wings!

“I’m of no use. I can’t even support my family well enough. Oh Lord! Please have mercy!” Rudra heard his father weeping from the other room. He was the only child of his parents. His father was a farmer, his mother – a homemaker. It had been a tough time for the family as the monsoon hadn’t been fair enough and their whole ranch had been destroyed. 

“Don’t worry dear. Everything will be fine one day. Just have hope!” His mum was consoling his dad. Though the lingering poverty, his parents made sure that Rudra was able to get good education. Rudra felt terribly bad that he wasn’t able to pay off for his parent’s sacrifice.  He desperately wanted to help. He lay down on the floor, trying to get some sleep.

The next morning Rudra woke up at the crow of the rooster and saw his father engrossed in painting – something he loved to do and did regularly. It was a kind of get-away from his tensions. “It’s long for your school to start. Get some good sleep!” said an astonished father. Just then something struck Rudra. He went and sat besides his dad and held one of the several paintings that his dad had already made he said “Dad, do you know you’re the best artist we’ve got in the village! Couldn’t we use your talent to fetch us some money?”

“What are you talking about, son?”

“The town fair is up in the next week. I can frame up all the paintings and we could sell them!”

“But who would buy these rustic paintings? They aren’t modern enough!”

“Trust me dad. They’re more than marvellous!”

Seeing the sparkle of hope and excitement in his eyes his father eventually agreed.

Rudra worked day and night the entire week framing all the paintings. Finally the day arrived. Rudra and his dad bid bye to his mum and set off for the town.

It was a three day fair. Although the first day witnessed a low response; something special happened the next day. While Rudra was busy attracting buyers far away; his father was at the stall when his paintings caught the eye of a well established builder.

“How can I help you, Sir?”

“I have been searching for some great paintings for the past few months for my upcoming project and seeing your paintings I’m just awestruck! Every bit of your art screams perfection! I would like to sign a contract with you for all my future projects should you continue delivering these awesome pieces. ”

Not being able to believe what he just heard Rudra’s father simply said, “I’d be honoured, Sir!”

He was more than indebted to his son for having believed in his talent more than he did. Soon the days turned and the family lived a happy and satisfied life.

Moral: We all have got that spark within us. The only need is to recognize and believe it.