Welcome to the Heart of Europe

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Ever have days when you feel unappreciated or like you're not making a difference in the world? For those of us with no job description other than “mom", those days may number 364 out of the year (Thank God for Mother's Day). Tasks of cleaning up, keeping order and helping others often appear seemingly endless, but we have to start somewhere, and, as the following story illustrates, our actions can make a difference - at least to some.

The Starfish

Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

Kids Art featuring Squid, Crab, Sponge & Starfish.

Anybody read this?

Don't we all want to be somebody? Or, as the US Army slogan urged, "Be all you can be"? Why is it so difficult for committees and organizations to find volunteers? Is it really that everyone is already comfortable and takes the attitude that if it needs to be done, someone else will do it? When hesitating and wondering whether or not you should step up and take on certain tasks, it may help to remember a quote from English philosopher Edmund Burke: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men to do nothing." Or maybe we are more familiar with the Nike ad, "Just do it!" The following lines also illustrate what goes through our minds, and what does (or doesn't) happen, when something needs to be done:

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Bakesale Volunteer: Anybody eat this?

Too Busy

Are we too busy to find time for you and me
Because we're always in front of the computer or the TV?

Too busy to gaze in awe at stars up in heaven,
Yet rarely miss the nightly news at eleven?

Are we too busy to dash off a hand-written note
Yet always read all the e-mails everyone wrote?

Too busy to help the neighbour next door
Because we need to look up old friends on Facebook once more?

Are we too busy to notice whether our child sports a smile or a frown
Yet react immediately when our Internet connection goes down?

Too busy to stay connected to family and friends in our lives,
Yet find time every week for Desperate Housewives?

Are we too busy for a kind word to a clerk at the shop,
Yet come home to spend hours with our lap top?

In the days to come may we all be less busy
And take lots of time for really living!

PS: Hope posting this online worked somehow.
No time, have to leave home and go to work now.


Go to the next page to read about Strength.