100 Moral Stories 30
after a month, the holy man said to the boy “My dear child, will you stop asking for sweets which
your father cannot afford to give you?”
From then on, the boy stopped asking for sweets.
The boy’s father asked the saint, “Why did you not ask
my son to give up asking for sweets when we came to
you a month ago?” The saint replied, “How could I ask a
boy to give up sweets when I loved sweets myself. In the
last month I gave up eating sweets.” A person’s example
is much more powerful than just his words. When we ask
someone to do something, we must do it ourselves also. We should not ask others to do what we do
not do ourselves.
Always make sure that your actions and your words are same.
YOU'RE FAR MORE PRECIOUS THAN DIAMONDS AND PEARLS
“If memory serves me correctly, I was wearing a little white tank top and a
short black skirt. I had been raised Orthodox Muslim, so I had never before
worn such revealing clothing while in my father’s presence. When we finally
arrived, the chauffer escorted my younger sister, Laila, and me up to my
father's suite.
As usual, he was hiding behind the door waiting to scare us. We exchanged
many hugs and kisses as we could possibly give in one day. My father took a
good look at us. Then he sat me down on his lap and said something that I
will never forget.
He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “Hana, everything that God
made valuable in the world is covered and hard to get to. Where do you find
diamonds? Deep down in the ground covered and protected. Where do you
find pearls? Deep down at the bottom of the ocean covered up and protected in a beautiful shell.
Where do you find gold? Way down in the mine, covered over with layers and layers of rock.
You’ve got to work hard to get to them.”
He looked at me with serious eyes. “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds
and pearls, and you should be covered too.”
Source: More Than A Hero: Muhammad Ali’s Life Lessons Through His Daughter’s Eyes.
THE ONE-EYED DOE
A Doe had the misfortune to lose one of her eyes, and could not see any one
approaching her on that side. So to avoid any danger she always used to feed on
a high cliff near the sea, with her sound eye looking towards the land. By this
means she could see whenever the hunters approached her on land, and often
escaped by this means. But the hunters found out that she was blind of one eye,
and hiring a boat rowed under the cliff where she used to feed and shot her from
the sea. “Ah,” cried she with her dying voice.
“You cannot escape your fate.”
