Stories of Kindness from Around the World

Two Signs, Different Results


--by harry, posted Feb 11, 2008
A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it."

Both signs told people the boy was blind. While the first sign simply said the boy was blind, the second sign pointed the fortunate ones to their positive possibilities.

Moral of the Story:  Be thankful for what you have.  Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently and positively. Invite the people towards good with wisdom.
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Readers Comments

heya wrote: My teacher showed me this story in class. When i had finished reading it, i went wow because this story is soo touching and heartfelt
Pancho Ramos wrote: Inspiring and touching. As the XIV Dalai Lama says:

"Identify and eradicate negative thoughts and cultivate positive states of mind."

"Today is a beautiful day and I can see it because your hearts are my eyes... Have a ONE-derful day! :-)"
Do wrote: What a beautiful story! I will remember the way to use the language that go into people's souls.
Jen wrote: Shouldn't we do more for the homeless and down troddin than simply toss our spare change?
Cin wrote: Sometime you got to stop, to smell the roses. Survival is tough enough without disability. It is a lovely story.
Fahrenheit wrote: i couldn't add anything to your post, MCTY. i feel like we live in a world where negativity towards the human race is becoming a sign of intelligence. it is true that cynicism is healthy, but cynicism without hope is not only useless, it is dangerous. you are blind if you don't see the ugly, but you are equally blind when you cannot see beauty. negativity is not enlightenment.
Burt Flaxton wrote: Love it, love, and love it.
Don wrote: some one else wrote that first sign in the first place
More Cynical Than You wrote: The pre-eminence of wit (I use that loosely) over intelligence and genuine concern or compassion, of cynicism over hope and decency, of torture and war over conscientious leadership, of lame one-liners to defend an inability to connect with others on the planet at this critical time is over. Thanks for writing on THEIR sign Rockette. It's a beautiful day and they're blind.
Rockette wrote: I think we can ascertain the blindness or sight existing in the hearts of our commentators by their words alone.

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