Tuesday, September 1, 2009

'A candle loses nothing if it is used to light another one'

A long time ago in China , a girl named Li-Li got married & went to
live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li
found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law at all.
Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by
many of her mother-in-law's habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li
constantly.
Days passed, and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never
stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse
was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to
her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and
unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great
distress.

Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and
dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it! Li-
Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs.
She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison
so that she could solve the problem once and for all.

Mr. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, 'Li-Li, I will help
you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I
tell you.'

Li-Li said, 'Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to
do 'Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes
with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, 'You can't use a quick-acting
poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause
people to become suspicious Therefore, I have given you a number of
herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body.
Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of these
herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspects
you, when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly
towards her. 'Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat
her like a queen.' Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and
hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law. Weeks
went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the
specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr.
Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her
temper! , obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own
mother.

After six months had passed, the whole household had changed.. Li-Li
had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she
almost never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an argument with her
mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and
easier to get along with.

The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to
love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and
relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever
find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a
real mother and daughter. Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what
was happening. One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his
help again She said, 'Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep the
poison from killing my mother-in-law. She's changed into such a nice
woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die
because of the poison I gave her.'

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. 'Li-Li, there's nothing to
worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were
vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and
your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the
love which you gave to her.'

HAVE YOU REALIZED that how you treat others is exactly how they will
treat you? There is a wise Chinese saying: 'The person who loves
others will also be loved in return.' God might be trying to work in
another person's life through you. Send this to your friends and
spread the love..

Remember, if you delete this mail nothing will happen. No one will
die or fall sick. But... if you send it to others you may change
their life. After all you have got nothing to lose but a lot to gain.

'A candle loses nothing if it is used to light another one'

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