15 Incredible Yet Weird Story Lessons About Wisdom
Aesop's Fables, life lessons, and other tales of wisdom have captured the
minds of people throughout centuries. These stories show that humans are never
too old, or too smart, to learn something new if they are just willing to open
their eyes and hearts to what life is showing them. Some of the stories may seem
to be too incredible to be true, but that's why they are so amazing. Life has
lessons waiting in the most unexpected of places.
1) Wisdom Lessons of
Love
Storiesofwisdom.com is a website that is dedicated to people sharing their real
life stories of what life has taught them. One story on the site was sent in by
a woman who described how her father showed the family what real love was. The
woman's younger brother scribbled in their father's brand new hymnbook with a
pen and was caught by their father. The woman was sure the father would dole out
some harsh punishment, as was the brother since he cowered when the father
entered the room. Her father, a clergyman, valued books and held them in high
regard. Instead of punishment, though, the father taught a lesson. He sat down
next to the boy and took the hymnbook, the pen, and wrote in the book himself
next to the marks the boy had made. His words said "John's work, 1959, age 2.
How many times have I looked into your beautiful face and into your warm, alert
eyes looking up at me and thanked God for the one who has now scribbled in my
new hymnal. You have made the book sacred, as have your brothers and sister to
so much of my life."
The writer said that over the years she and her family experienced what all
families do: triumph, tragedy, success, and heartbreak, and through it all her
father's lesson of understanding, love, and patience was always remembered. He
taught them that love beats anger, and that people are more important than
objects.
While this may seem like an incredible act of self-control, Aesop's fables
show that even animals are capable of love. He once wrote a little story about a
lion that fell in love with a beautiful maiden and asked her parents for the
maiden's hand in marriage. The parents were shocked, of course, and worried the
lion would hurt their daughter. They asked the lion to remove his teeth and
claws, which he did out of love, because the moral of the story is that love can
tame even the wildest of beasts. That is obviously a stretch, but recent and
documented stories show wild animals having compassion for humans. For instance,
Binti the gorilla is a zoo animal that recently made headlines when a young
child fell in the gorilla cage. Binti, a mother herself, grabbed the child and
cradled it in her arms, even fending off other gorillas, until zookeepers could
arrive to help.
2) Wisdom Lessons on
Kindness
On the same website, StoriesofWisdom.com, someone submitted the story of Edie, a
Korean orphan who was adopted by an American family. Edie was very small for her
age, and was bullied in school by three girls who threatened to beat up Edie.
The girls were given a warning by the principal and Edie learned a lesson from
her own mother. The night Edie was bullied her mother told her the girls were
known to be troublemakers and had anger issues. She told Edie something bad must
have happened to them to cause such problems and asked Edie if she could be kind
to the girls and befriend them, even though they wanted to harm her. Edie said
she's try, and the very next day at school Edie began trying to be their friend.
It took weeks, but Edie kept trying. Finally the girls agreed to be friends with
Edie, and she asked the teacher if she could sit next to them in class. It was
then Edie realized the girls were having trouble learning their lessons, and
that's why they were disruptive in school. Edie tutored them and the girls
became productive members of class by the end of the school year, showing what
kindness can do.
While this may seem like a strange move, it's really not. Thanks to increased
numbers of bullying reports and suicides, Random Acts of Kindness (a website and
social movement) was born to help people less fortunate or that may need a
smile. The concept is that you do something nice for a complete stranger, just
because you can. Stories from all over the world have flooded in about people
buying coffee for the less fortunate, buying groceries for the people in line
behind them at the store, or even paying off huge debts at hospitals and other
businesses. This movement has become so popular that generations of people are
participating to make the lives of others better every day with a little extra
kindness.
3) Everyday Life
Lessons
Everydaylifelessons.com is a site dedicated to people sharing their life lessons
with others. Some of the things listed there are quotes like "Injuries can be
forgiven, but you'll never forget the pain." One of Aesop's fables deals with
this exact lesson. In his story a boy accidentally steps on the tail of a snake
and the snake bit the boy. The boy died and his father got an ax and cut off
part of the snake's tail. The snake exacted revenge by killing the farmer's
cattle. The farmer made peace with the snake, both agreeing not to forget what
they lost (the son or the tail), but also not to harm one another further. The
website Paidtoexist.com is much like the life lesson's website and allows people
to post lessons they've learned in life. One person said "Money can’t make me
happy, but self-sufficiency gives me the freedom to share myself creatively,
without worrying about how I’m going to pay the bills." Another of Aesop's
fables, "The Miser and His Gold," talks about this lesson. A miser buries his
gold and lives frugally. A man watches where the miser buries it and takes it.
The miser confronts the man and demands his money back, but the man refuses and
asks the miser what he'd do with it. The miser says he wants to look at his gold
daily. The man then tells the miser he can just look at the empty hole in the
ground, because if he won't spend the money it has the same amount of value as
the hole.
4) Wisdom Lessons
From Birds
Birds have taught us many, many lessons. They show us that if we try hard
enough, we can reach our goals, for one. A bird is born not knowing how to fly,
but they must fly in order to survive. Flight can be a scary thing for an animal
that has never tried, or so it would seem, but birds don't hesitate. They know
when they're ready and jump out of their nests to soar. On the
storiesofwisdom.com site an ancient folktale was posted about an eagle who
thought it was a chicken. When the eagle was still in an egg, the egg was
accidentally rolled into a chicken house. The egg hatched there and the eagle
was raised as a funny-looking chicken, but deep down he knew he was not like the
other chickens and had the urge to soar with other eagles. His fellow chickens
made fun of him, but one day the eagle tried it and proved he could fly like an
eagle.
While this may seem like a fable, there are actual versions of this that do
take place in the animal kingdom. Many times nature has shown us unlikely
animals that beat the odds. For instance, a movie was recently released about a
real life dolphin that lost its fin. It still wanted to swim, though, and a
child came up with the idea to give the dolphin a prosthetic. Veterinarians were
able to do so and the dolphin swam like she used to. Other people throughout
history have also learned from birds. Henry Van Dyke once said "Use what talents
you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those
that sang best." William Blake wrote "No bird soars too high if he soars with
his own wings."
5) Wisdom Lessons
From Dogs
An author on beliefnet.com, has written a lively piece on lessons her dog has
taught her in life. Many of them are sweet stories of the dog's mischievousness
and how it has taught her something, but then there was this little gem. The
author tells a story of how she walked into her living room to find her dog
curled up on the couch with her cat, whom he'd just been wrestling with. The
owner of the animals was sure the two hated one another by the way they went at
it, but here they were sleeping soundly, foreheads touching. She noted that dogs
and cats are supposed to be lifelong enemies, but her two were more like "frenemies"
and had found a way to work out their differences and get along when it suited
them. This taught the author that your friends can be your enemies, and vice
versa. Finding the common ground is what matters and it is possible to keep the
peace. An article on Huffington Post says that dogs can teach us many life
lessons, including that naps are good, people should not waste food, people
should do things they enjoy more often, and that people should not keep quiet if
their instincts are telling them something is wrong.
6) Wisdom Lessons
From Cats
If dogs can teach lessons, surely cats can as well. The Internet is full of cat
pictures and videos to make people laugh, but cats can do more. They can also
teach lessons. Just ask the author over at ThoughtCatalog.com who says she has
learned very important lessons from her cat, like how cuddling is a nice way to
wake up, drinking tap water won’t kill you, people should sit in the sun more
often, if you must hiss at someone, mean it, and have a place in your home for
quiet, alone time. The author says her cat has also taught her to appreciate the
package a gift comes in and not just the gift, sometimes your presence is all
another person needs, and that it's ok to like some people and not others.
On the Yoga Site: Yoga Walls and Wonderment, the author has many blogs about
lessons her cats have taught her. One such story is about how she learned to let
go of the leash for her cat (gave him more freedom) and learned to trust him,
and in turn trust herself. The author says this taught her how to let go of the
emotional leash she had to painful baggage in her past, which in turn made her a
happier person.
7) Wisdom Lessons
From Kids
Any parent will tell you that teaching kids is not half as much fun as learning
from them, and kids do teach some amazing lessons. There are whole websites
dedicated to the art of being a parent and each one will have some story or
another on how children taught their parents a lesson. On the site
MarcandAngel.com, the parents talk about what their kids taught them. One lesson
was that you should live spontaneously. Kids don't generally plan things. They
take life in stride and figure it out as they go along and adults should try
this more often. It's a true sense of freedom that also teaches one what they
are capable of. Another lesson these two learned is that being under qualified
doesn't mean you can't do the task. Kids test the waters. They don't care if
they've never done something before, because they are always willing to try to
do something new. More adults should learn to live life so boldly.
An article on Huffington Post said that kids can teach lessons that aren't
just about mental well-being. The site said kids can also teach how to handle
physical ailments (napping, drinking water, eating good food, and getting lots
of play time), mental woes (color, watch a movie, snuggle, and cry), and how to
be happier in general (laugh, play, run, and throw caution to the wind).
8) Wisdom Lessons
From the Elderly
The elderly have always taught younger generations something. There's always a
life lesson or quote they're willing to give out. It's no wonder there are
sayings like "you are wise beyond your years" and "gray with wisdom." Recently,
the New York Times posted an article on a fantastic book written by Karl
Pillemar that asks older people what wisdom they would share with younger
people. The book, entitled "30 Lessons for Living" shares thoughts on love,
marriage, careers, and children, among other things. In the book, one
89-year-old woman talks about how she stayed in her marriage even when her
husband was affected by his military service. She says young people give up on
love too easily these days. Others advised that marriage is about friendship,
communication, compromise, and commitment.
On the topic of careers, an 83-year-old former athlete said, “The most
important thing is to be involved in a profession that you absolutely love, and
that you look forward to going to work to every day.” On aging, one person said,
“Each decade, each age, has opportunities that weren’t actually there in the
previous time.” And on parenting many people chimed in, but the most important
lesson any of the elderly had to offer on this subject was to spend time with
children, even if it means sacrificing what you want to do for them.
9) Wisdom Lessons On
and From Family
Familylife.com has many ways to learn from and teach families. One thing the
author, Sabrina Beasley, says to do is to teach at Thanksgiving and Christmas
time, as it's already a season of giving and people are in the mood to open
their hearts and minds. Beasley says to get rid of luxuries for one week, like
television, dessert, or other treats. She said this shows people what they have
and how they shouldn't take it for granted. Author Susan Orlins posted an
article to Huffington Post that discussed the lessons she's learned from her
family. Some of those included giving without expecting to receive and that the
best gifts in life mostly come free. That's why family life says that donating
personal items can help those in need and give the giver a gift, as well. It
also teaches children that material objects are not the most important thing in
life. While all of this seems cliché, it's really not as odd and over-inflated
as it sounds. Living simply and giving to others is actually a way to decrease
stress and rid yourself of depression. So, in essence, giving to others and
living a simple life is a gift of life for you.
10) Wisdom Lessons
From Friends
Orlins also says she has learned lessons from friends. She says she "learned
that you can scribble your entire will on a single sheet of yellow paper," "that
the beauty of something hand-crafted is in its imperfections," "that all the
cliches about impossible dreams coming true, are true," and that sharing your
desserts is good for both parties. Now if those seem like no-brainers, another
author from Huffington Post will show you that these lessons come at a time you
least expect them, like an all you can eat lunch. Laura Jane Williams learned
several things at one such lunch she attended, even if she knew some of them
beforehand. They really stuck out to her at this lunch, though. One was a lesson
in team work with friends. Williams says "you can't do it alone" and to prove
her point she recalls taking too many pieces of fudge from the dessert table and
instantly knew she had taken on too much. She panicked, then recruited help. She
helped her lunch friend finish cake, and the lunch friend helped top off the
fudge. Both women were happy and Williams learned that asking for help (even
with food) is not a bad thing and it gets both parties much farther and a lot
faster.
11) Odd Wisdom
Lessons From Out Of The Blue
Oilstick.com recently listed an entire page of life lessons that are odd, but
true. Among them were things like "when weeding, the best way to make sure you
are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it; if it comes out
of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant," and "the easiest way to find
something lost around the house is to buy a replacement," or "Get the last word
in: Apologize," and finally "in the 60's, people took acid to make the world
weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal." While
these may seem like a joke, they are surprisingly true. MarcandAngel.com lists a
few life lessons that aren't so weird, but definitely have been learned by
living. On their website, the couple says things like "If you’re smiling right
now, you’re doing something right," "No matter how it turns out, it always ends
up just the way it should be. Either you succeed or you learn something.
Win-Win," and "Complaining is like slapping yourself for slapping yourself. It
doesn’t solve the problem, it just hurts you more." These and other odd stories
of life lessons from out of nowhere inspire people. For instance, a recent story
about three kidnapped girls found in a home in Ohio after a decade of being
missing inspired people to not judge a book by its cover. The girls' rescuers
were an immigrant that didn't speak English and a black man that wasn't wealthy
or educated.
12) Wisdom Lessons
From Strangers
There is a whole blog dedicated to this very subject in which the author
chronicles her adventures in life by learning lessons from complete strangers.
In one post she talks about holding the hands of strangers as she prays in
Sunday service. The author says she's held a lot of hands over the years, at
funerals, church, and fundraising events. She said there's a magic when holding
another's hand, and she sees it when she holds the hand of someone she doesn't
know. The author says the lesson she derives from this is that humans need
interaction with other humans and a simple touch can make someone perk up. It
can also be a gateway into meeting new people and that strangers don't have to
be strangers for long. In fact, in many classroom stranger safety lessons taught
to children, the lessons revolve around finding the good guys in the crowd when
you need help and knowing how to properly interact with strangers. These lessons
teach us that just because we don't know someone doesn't mean they are bad
people or they won't help us should we need help.
13) Wisdom Lessons
on Patience
If you want to learn patience, become a parent, go to the post office at
Christmas time, and drive through rush hour traffic. If you're really brave you
can combine all three for the mega test of your patience. There is
something behind learning patience in everyday life lessons and situations,
though. The popular science site says that some stress isn't bad, and the more
people get accustomed to low doses of stress the more people can handle stress,
work through it, and even manage depression. Patience is critical in keeping the
peace at work, home, and in public and each day little things (like being stuck
in line at the post office with a slow worker aggravating you while your child
does the pee-pee dance next to you) can actually be beneficial to your health.
14) Wisdom Lessons
From Frogs
You may not think a frog can teach you a lesson, but Aesop did, Disney does, and
scientists do as well. Disney's "The Princess and the Frog " teaches not to judge
a book by its cover, and Aesop has many tales about how frogs can be wise.
Scientists may take the win on this category, though, as they have evidence to
back up why they are right. According to scientists around the world, if a frog
dies because of ecological issues, it's a sign humans are polluting the Earth.
Additionally, frogs can teach people about teamwork, especially in parenting.
Most frogs divide up the role of parenting, which gives them each free time to
get a bite to eat, swim in the pond, and live a little.
15) Wisdom Lessons
From Nature
Aesop used nature as a common theme, and it's easy to see why. Nature is
strange, unpredictable, and wise. It teaches people one of the most important
lessons in life: no matter how strong you think you are, there is always a force
stronger. In 2005, coverage of hurricane Katrina had just started in June. The
storm wasn't going to hit land. The path quickly changed and the devastation
that followed taught people about helping others, kindness, and being ready for
anything life can throw at you. Recently, a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma showed
thousands of people giving selflessly to help those affected. Another lesson
learned was to not give up hope and when you think all is lost, it might not be.
An elderly lady was being interviewed for a local TV station when her dog, that
she thought was lost, was found under the rubble of her home still alive. The
video made national headlines and became an instant tear jerker.
Final Thoughts
Cats, dogs, birds, frogs, nature, kids, and the elderly all have a way of
teaching life lessons. These little bits of wisdom add to the lives of people
and make them stronger, better, and smarter. They help shape people who can come
at any time, from anywhere, as long as people are willing to listen to them.
Some may seem odd, but they are unique and true to each individual who
experiences them.
Learning
How to Overcome Test Anxiety
15 Incredible Yet Weird Story Lessons About Wisdom
Myths and Realities on Bilingualism
The Benefits of Being Bilingual
Learning Disabilities: Types and Signs
The Role of Listening in Language Learning
Helping Your Child Develop a Love for Writing
How to Teach Your Kids to Read
The Influence of Music on Children’s Learning
Teachers
5 Reasons to Use Norm Referenced Tests in the Classroom
5 Ways to Use Criterion Referenced Test in the Classroom
Photo Memoir: Writing Assignment
Top 5 Things to Know About Your ESL Students’ Backgrounds
Group Work in College ESL Classrooms
How to Teach Business English in ESL Setting
Benefits of Using Graphic Organizers in the Classroom
How to Use Storytelling in Language Teaching
How to Correct Student Essays
The Most Common Problems in ESL Classrooms
Tips on Teaching ESL Students Vocabulary
Praise: A Great Motivator for Student Achievement
Peer Feedback is a Great Tool in Writing Classes
 |
" teaches not to judge
a book by its cover, and Aesop has many tales about how frogs can be wise.
Scientists may take the win on this category, though, as they have evidence to
back up why they are right. According to scientists around the world, if a frog
dies because of ecological issues, it's a sign humans are polluting the Earth.
Additionally, frogs can teach people about teamwork, especially in parenting.
Most frogs divide up the role of parenting, which gives them each free time to
get a bite to eat, swim in the pond, and live a little.
