The Other Seven Wonders of the World

I read this before and thought it excellent. So now it is your turn to think and ponder how you perceive life.

A group of students was asked to list what they thought were the present “Seven Wonders of the World.” Though there were some disagreements, the following received the most votes:

1. Egypt’s Great Pyramids
2. Taj Mahal
3. Grand Canyon
4. Panama Canal
5. Empire State Building
6. St. Peter’s Basilica
7. China’s Great Wall

While gathering the votes, the teacher noted that one student had not finished her paper yet. So she asked the girl if she was having trouble with her list.  

The girl replied, “Yes, a little. I couldn’t quite make up my mind because there are so many.

“The teacher said, “Well, tell us what you have, and maybe we can help.

“The girl hesitated, then read, “I think the ‘Seven Wonders of the World’ are:
1. To see
2. To hear
3. To touch
4. To taste
5. To feel
6. To laugh
7. And to love.

“The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop. The things we overlook as simple and ordinary and that we take for granted are truly wondrous! A gentle reminder — that the most precious things in life cannot be built by hand or bought by man.

It kind of reminds me of the saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.”  We rush through life looking for and wanting “things”, often the bigger and brighter and most eye-catching “things”.  We fail to stop and smell the roses, to enjoy the simple and often free things life has to offer.

President Woodrow Wilson phrased it eloquently: “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forgot the errand.”

A good friend said to me recently, “And I don’t mean to be negative, but I am kinda giving up on believing in things, including trying to be happy. I’d rather just do what I am doing and wait for time to pass.”

I ache inside every time I think about what he said. Whether we do anything meaningful with our lives or not, time will pass. It is one of the many things we cannot control. However, we can control what we do with our time in each moment.

Bad things do happen to good people as well as not-so-good people. It is how we respond to what happens that we can control if we choose and that makes all the difference.

When someone asks you what is the most import thing in your life, respond with one word, “Me”. 

Cherish you first and you will be better able to cherish others. Help you first and you will be better able to help others. Be happy in the moment and happiness will follow you.

Add value to the lives of others by allowing them to experience your love and your knowledge and you will experience unending joy and abundance in return. 

This entry was posted on 6. March 2010 at 9:25 am and is filed under Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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