A SECOND CHANCE

The sun glaring through the window woke me up. I got out of bed and got dressed. I proceeded into the kitchen where I ate cold cereal for breakfast, just like every morning for the past 3 years. It was time to go to work. I stepped outside and walked at a leisurely pace down Madison Ave. It was the best time of year for my line of work: the summer when all of the tourists came to New York. I got to the city square, and as usual, the very same cliques were there, and in numbers today. 'It looks to be a very good day,' I thought as I smiled to myself. I saw a white man in his late 30's. Guessed he looked kind of lost. 'Perfect,' I thought to myself. 'Time to work.' I calmly and confidently stepped up to the man.

"Hello, sir. Can I help you?"

"Yes. I am looking for the Madison Hotel."

"Yes, yes... Oh, okay. Go three blocks down, and take a right. It will be on your left. You can't miss it"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Have a good day sir."

I walked away with not only a smile on my face, but with the man's wallet in my pocket. I opened it up to see 48 dollars, a Discover, and a MasterCard. A couple of hours and 4 wallets later, I decided to get lunch. So far, I had acquired 6 credit cards, 726 dollars, and several patent leather, hand-made Italian billfolds. I decided to go to my favorite place a little bistro called daVinci's. They have the best pizza. But then, I saw the man. He was about 6 feet tall, with a dark chocolate complexion. He was actually walking in circles - even an amateur could easily recognize that he was lost. Perfect.

I cautiously approached him, like a lion stalking his pray.

"Hello, sir. Can I help you?"

"Yes. Do you, by any chance, know where the movie theater is?"

"Ah, yes. No problem. Go down 52nd Ave. and take a left. It'll be right there. You can't miss it."

"Thank you, so much."

"No problem, sir. My pleasure."

I was practically bouncing up the street as I opened up the mans wallet. I found three hundred dollars and three credit cards. I glanced at the name on one of the cards. 'Mr. Johnson,' I thought. 'Thank you very much, Mr. Johnson.' I arrived at the restaurant feeling very good indeed. After my 4-course meal Italian feast, I privately made a toast to Mr. Johnson. 'May he increase his own happiness like he has mine.' I decided I was done for the day, and started on my way home. Little did I know, something was about to happen that would change my life forever. On my way back, I passed through a small alley. As I got to the end of the small alley I saw him, I saw my gracious benefactor. A little white girl had fallen down, and Mr. Johnson was kindly helping her up. The mother saw what was going on, and started to scream and yell for help. The mother started to hit Mr. Johnson with her bag and continued to scream. Mr. Johnson tried to explain to her that he was just trying to help, but she would not listen, and incessantly panicked. A few men heard the noise, and came barreling out of a house carrying a couple of bats. The 3 men, who were all white and each about 5 or 6 feet, started yelling at Mr. Johnson. One of the white men hit Mr. Johnson across the face. They all started punching him and hitting him with the bats. They just would not stop. They kept swearing at him, and spitting on him. I wanted to scream: "Stop! Stop! What are you doing?" But I could not. I just stood there, frozen, and was unable to say anything. He was only trying to help - only trying to help a little girl up off of the street. Then, one of the white men pulled out a knife and proceeded to stab Mr. Johnson several times. Then, the 3 white men ran away, dropping the bats as they ran. There, he was the man I had stole from, laying dead in his own pool of blood - alone in a dark alley. It was unfair I had stole from this man when he was looking for my help, and because of this, he is dead. Then it hit me: I killed him. He probably came looking for me when he was killed. I was responsible. I heard the sirens and I ran. I just ran. I realized that I had not only stole his wallet - I had stolen his life. Tears streamed down my face as I ran. God had given me a second chance to realize what I had done. Yes, God had given me a second chance, and Mr. Johnson had paid for it.

The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York. It stood as the world's tallest building for more than forty years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972. Following the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City and New York State.

The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate.[4] It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[3][5][6] In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.[7]

The Empire State Building is the second tallest skyscraper in the Americas (surpassed only by the Sears Tower) and the 9th tallest in the World. It is also the 4th tallest freestanding structure in the Americas and the 12th
tallest in the world

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Forgiving others is the best attitude to take

A Nice story with a good moral. Please go through.

A kindergarten teacher has decided to let her class play a game.

The teacher told each child in the class to bring along a plastic bag containing a few potatoes.

Each potato will be given a name of a person that the child hates,

So the number of potatoes that a child will put in his/her plastic bag will depend on the number of people he/she hates.

So when the day came, every child brought some potatoes with the name of the people he/she hated. Some had 2 potatoes; some 3 while some up to 5 potatoes. The teacher then told the children to carry with them the potatoes in the plastic bag wherever they go (even to the toilet) for 1 week.

Days after days passed by, and the children started to complain due to the unpleasant smell let out by the rotten potatoes. Besides, those having 5 potatoes also had to carry heavier bags. After 1 week, the children were relieved because the game had finally ended....

The teacher asked: "How did you feel while carrying the potatoes with you for 1 week?". The children let out their frustrations and started complaining of the trouble that they had to go through having to carry the heavy and smelly potatoes wherever they go.

Then the teacher told them the hidden meaning behind the game. The teacher said: "This is exactly the situation when you carry your hatred for somebody inside your heart. The stench of hatred will contaminate your heart and you will carry it with you wherever you go. If you cannot tolerate the smell of rotten potatoes for just 1 week, can you imagine what is it like to have the stench of hatred in your heart for your lifetime???"

Moral of the story: Throw away any hatred for anyone from your heart so that you will not carry sins for a lifetime. Forgiving others is the best attitude to take!

True love is not loving a perfect person but loving an imperfect person perfectly!!

fropki group

sometime we don't do anything for ourselves

A turtle family went on a picnic.. The turtles, being naturally slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their .Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place. During the second year of their journey they found it. For about six months theycleaned up the area, unpacked the picnic basket, and completed the ks.
Then they discovered the had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home.

Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned. The family consented and the little turtle left.

Three years passed-- and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...six years.. Then in the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to eat and began to unwrap a sandwich.
At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, "SEE I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."

The Moral Is...

Some of us waste our lives waiting for people to live up to our expectations of them. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we don't do anything ourselves.

The secret of success

A young man asked Socrates the secret of success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning. They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him into the river. When the water got up to their neck, Socrates took the young man by surprise and swiftly ducked him into the water.

The boy struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until the boy started turning blue. Socrates pulled the boy’s head out of the water and the first thing the young man did was to gasp and take a deep breath of air.

Socrates asked him, "what did you want the most when you were there?" The boy replied, "Air". Socrates said, "That is the secret of success! When you want success as badly as you wanted the air, then you will get it!" There is no other secret.

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be careful of what you say

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit

When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead

The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their migh

The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead

Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die
He jumped even harder and finally made it out

When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time

This story teaches two lessons

There is power of life and death in the tongue

An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day

A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them

So, be careful of what you say

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Penicillin

His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer

One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved

"I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life

"No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family hovel

"Is that your son?" the nobleman asked. "Yes," the farmer replied proudly

"I'll make you a deal. Let me take him and give him a good education

If the lad is anything like his father, he'll grow to a man you can be proud of

And that he did

In time, Farmer Fleming's son graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London , and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin

Years afterward, the nobleman's son was stricken with pneumonia

What saved him? Penicillin

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Today, I ate meal with God

Knowing that reaching God needs along distance to be passed, a little boy wanted to meet God. For that reason, he packed some sandwiches and sodas into his suitcase and without letting others know, moved on. Passing some alleys, he arrived at a park, spotting an old man feeding the birds. He came up to the old man and sat next to him on the park bench. The old man looked like he had been starving, the child hungry too. Therefore, the little boy opened his suitcase and gave him a sandwich and soda. The old man got the meal and gave the boy a smile. It made the child happy and both started eating. They spend all the afternoon feeding the birds and having fun without conversing with each other. When the sky darkened, the little boy knew he should go back to home now, after taking some steps, he returned and hugged the old man tightly. The old man kissed him kindly, and dedicated a smile to him.

When the boy got back to home at night, his mother asked him worriedly: where have you been up to now?

The boy who seemed happy, answered: before God

The old man also got home. His old wife asked him shockingly: why are you so happy?

He responded: today was the best day of my lifetime ever. Today, at park, I ate meal with God!