WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 93

The Wooden Bowl

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year grandson. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor and he always seemed to spill the milk.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. "We must do something about Grandfather," said the son. "I've had enough of his noisy eating and the mess".
So they set a small table in the corner where the grandfather ate alone using a wooden bowl so he wouldn’t break it. When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, "What are you making?" Just as sweetly, the boy responded, "Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when you get old." The four year old smiled and went back to work.

The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 92

Damned Devotee

by Anthony de Mello

The devotee knelt to be initiated into discipleship. The spiritual teacher whispered the sacred words (a mantra) into his ear, warning him not to reveal it to anyone.

"What will happen if I do?" asked the devotee.

Said the guru, "Anyone you reveal the mantra to will be liberated from the bondage of ignorance and suffering, but you yourself will be excluded from discipleship and suffer damnation."

No sooner had he heard those words, than the devotee rushed to the marketplace, collected a large crowd around him, and repeated the sacred mantra for all to hear.

The disciples later reported this to the spiritual teacher and demanded that the man be expelled from the monastery for his disobedience.

He only smiled and said, "He has no need of anything I can teach. His action has shown him to be a guru in his own right."

Around the peninsula

Scoil Mhuire formal 2010 Teachers and committee

Scoil Mhuire formal

iCare Moulin Rouge night

Current Board of Directors for Buncrana Credit Union

Past Board of Directors Credit Union Buncrana

Past Board of Directors Credit Union Buncrana

Staff of the Buncrana Credit Union at the 2010 AGM

Crana College Buncrana - Teachers

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 91

One Cottage Burning

Years ago, a fishing fleet went out from a small harbour on the east coast of Newfoundland. In the afternoon there came a great storm. When night settled down, not a single vessel of all the fleet had found its way into the port.

All night long, wives, mothers, children and sweethearts paced up and down the beach, wringing their hands and calling on God to save their loved ones. To add to the horror of the situation, one of the cottages caught fire. Since the men were all away, it was impossible to save the home.

When the morning broke, to the joy of all, the entire fleet found safe harbour in the bay. But there was one face with a picture of despair - the wife of the man whose home had been destroyed. Meeting her husband as he landed, she cried, Oh, husband, we are ruined! Our home and all it contained was destroyed by fire!"

But the man exclaimed, "Thank God for the fire! It was the light of our burning cottage that guided the whole fleet into port."

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 90

Dust if you must

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better to paint a picture, or write a letter, bake a cake, or plant a seed.

Ponder the difference between want and need.

Dust if you must, but there is not much time, with rivers to swim and mountains to climb! Music to hear, and books to read friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain, this day will not come round again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind, old age will come and it's not kind. And when you go, and go you must, you, yourself, will make more dust

Burt Geneology

The Burt page on The Donegal Genealogy Resources website has recently been updated to include extensive details of Burt Cemetery.

A large number of headstone inscriptions, including photographs, family links and also some links to the 1911 Census have been added.

Every effort has been made to catalogue and identify as many graves as possible in the Burt Graveyard, in an effort to help preserve the identities and locations of the people buried there for future generations and also to enable emigrants from Burt to find and see their family graves.

Check out the site....

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 89

ORANGES

A man was selling oranges in the middle of a road. He was illiterate, so he never read newspapers. He put some signs along the road and spent the whole day praising the flavour of his wares.

Everyone bought from him and the man thrived. With the money he placed more signs on the road and began to sell more fruit. Business was growing fast when one day his son - who was educated and had studied in a big city asked him:

"Father, don't you know that the world is going through very hard times? The economy of the country is in an awful state!"

Worried by this, the man reduced the number of signs and began to sell fruit of inferior quality because it was cheaper. Sales slumped immediately.

"My son is right," he thought. "Times are very hard."