Indian Institute of Students

We all have a tendency to believe in "Murphy's Law": that everything we do will turn out wrong. Jean Claude has an interesting story about precisely that feeling.  A man was quietly eating his breakfast. Suddenly, the piece of bread that he had just spread with butter fell to the ground. Imagine his surprise when he looked down and saw that it had landed buttered side up! The man thought he had witnessed a miracle. Excited, he went to tell his friends what happened, and they were all amazed; because when a piece of bread falls on the floor, it nearly always lands buttered side down, making a mess of everything.  'Perhaps you're a saint', said one friend, 'and this is a sign from God' Soon the whole village knew, and they all started discussing the incident: How was it that, against all expectations, the man's slice of bread had fallen buttered side up? Since no one could come up with a credible answer, they went to see a teacher who...

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked: "Are you writing a story about what we've done? Is it a story about me?" His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson: "I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is the pencil I am using. I hope you'll be like this pencil when you grow up" Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn't seem very special. 'But it's just like any other pencil I've seen!' 'That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities, which, if you can manage to hold onto 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 not forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call this hand God, and he always guides us according to his will. 'Second quality: now and then, I have to stop and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil ...