WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

A young man wished to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked at him and said, "Son, go stand out in that field. I'm going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter."

The young man stood in the field awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out came the biggest, meanest looking bull he had ever seen.. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through.

The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one he thought. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through.

The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull, he said to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to grab..... But alas..... The bull had no tail.

Moral: Life is full of opportunities. Always grab the first one.

THE RED ROSE AND THE CACTUS

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. Many kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, What a beautiful flower. I wish I was that lovely. Another tree said, Dear pine, do not be sad, we can not have everything.

The rose turned its head and remarked, It seems that I am the most beautiful plant in this forest. A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, Why do you say that In this forest there are many beautiful plants. You are just one of them. The red rose replied, I see everyone looking at me and admiring me. Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, Look at that ugly plant full of thorns! The pine tree said, Red rose, what kind of talk is this Who can say what beauty is You have thorns too.

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You can not compare my thorns to that of the cactus.

What a proud flower, thought the trees. The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like This plant is useless How sorry I am to be his neighbor.

The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, We weren't created without a purpose. Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water and no rain fall. The red rose began to wilt. One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed. This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus. Does it not hurt when they make holes asked the rose.

Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer, replied the pine. The rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, The cactus has water Yes you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help.

The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help. The cactus kindly agreed and the birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose's roots. Thus the rose learned a lesson and never judged anyone by their appearance again.

Moral: We should always be willing to learn rather than carry our egos.