Miscellany and Trivia

FREE SPEECH, an inspirational reminder of what happened to Malala, clearly demonstrates how courageous she was, and still is. The power of one voice, an example for all of us, no matter where we are located on our blue planet. Stand up with courage, conviction and dignity.

Malala Yousafzai, now 28 years old, is an education activist,and producer of film and television

Malala Yousafzai and the Power of a Voice

The story of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist for female education, is a modern testament to the inspiring power of free speech. In a region dominated by the Taliban, where girls' education was forbidden, Malala began writing a blog for the BBC at age 11, documenting her experiences and speaking out publicly on behalf of girls and their right to learn.

Sweet Happiness, a happy kitchen, happy cooking

My grandmother was a school teacher, a very religious person, very humble, and always had a smile on her face. She really cared for people, poor, prisoners, the unhappy, children, etc. I remember her giving time and things to people she knew that had serious problems.

A poor man lived with his wife and six children in a very small one-room house. They were always getting in each other’s way and there was so little space they could hardly breathe!

Finally the man could stand it no more. He talked to his wife and asked her what to do. “Go see the rabbi,” she told him, and after arguing a while, he went.

Long ago lived a young man in Istanbul, Turkey. Because he was poor, he had only a single room, sparsely furnished with a few books and a small cot for a bed. One night the young man had a dream — a vision, really.

In it, he saw himself walking on a street in what he came to realize was the city of Cairo in Egypt, a place he had never been. He could clearly see the name of the street and the houses that lined the road.

There once was a very wealthy and curious king. This king had a huge boulder placed in the middle of a road. Then he hid nearby to see if anyone would try to remove the gigantic rock from the road.

The first people to pass by were some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers. Rather than moving it, they simply walked around it. A few loudly blamed the King for not maintaining the roads. Not one of them tried to move the boulder.

“A man walked to the top of a hill to talk to God.

The man asked, ‘God, what’s a million years to you?’ and God said, ‘A minute.’

Two friends were walking through the desert. At one stage in their journey, they had an argument and one friend slapped the other one in the face.

The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything he wrote in the sand, ‘Today my best friend slapped me in the face.’

Painting by Edmund Youngbauer, Die Jagd Nach Dem Gluck (Chasing After Happiness), late 19th century, oil on canvas mounted on fiberboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum

An old man lived in the village. The whole village was tired of him; he was always gloomy, he constantly complained and was always in a bad mood. The longer he lived, the viler he became and more poisonous were his words. People did their best to avoid him because his misfortune was contagious. He created the feeling of unhappiness in others.