The Story of a pencial

(Contributed by Ms. Margaret Tiburtius)

Small things in our life can teach big lessons and as I read this
story by Paulo Coelho in his book “Like the flowing river” I thought
I should share this story with a larger audience.
The title of the story is “The story of a pencil”
“A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point
he asked ‘Are you writing a story about what we have done?
Is this a story about me’ His grand mother stopped writing her
letter and said to the grandson ‘I am writing about you actually
but more important than the words is the pencil I am using. I hope
you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’
Intrigued the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s like any other pencil I’ve ever seen.’

‘It depends on how you look at things. The pencil has five qualities,
which if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person
who is always at peace with the world.’

First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never
forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that the
hand of God, and He always guides us according to his will.

Second quality: now and then I have to stop writing and use a
sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little but afterwards,
he is much sharper. So you too must learn to bear pains and sorrows,
because they will make you a better person.’

Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out
mistakes. This means that correcting something we did, is not
necessarily a bad thing, it helps us to keep on the road to justice.

Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not the wooden
exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what
is happening inside you.’

Finally the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the
same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave
a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.”

I would like to add up one more quality to the pencil which is very
important in today’s world. A pencil can write in any medium.
When the space programme was launched the Americans were
wondering how to develop a special ink that will write in the
vacuum of space. But the Russians used a pencil. The graphite is
unaffected by vacuum, heat or cold.
So also, if we want to contribute in a positive manner in our lives,
we should be able to adapt ourselves to varying environments.