HER2 Support Group Forums - A good story for a good friend

One of my junior high school buddies send me the pps file he had received from another classmates. The slides tell a 'good' story in Chinese. So I translated it into English and put it here to share with you:

A Good Story for a good friend

Good Story

Just for you, my dear friend

<O:p</O:p
A man encountered a hungry tiger unexpectedly while wandering in the forest. The tiger roared and jumped at him as he was fleeing with all his might. But the tiger wouldn’t give up the chase.

The man kept on running and running, until finding himself cornered at the edge of a cliff.

While standing at the edge of the cliff, he thought to himself: “Instead of getting caught by the tiger, being torn apart and eaten alive, I’d be better off jump off the cliff – there might be a thread of hope.”

He jumped off the cliff and was caught by a tree with great luck. It’s a plum tree growing off the cliff and was loaded with fruit. While congratulating himself, he heard a thundering roar. Looking down toward the bottom of the cliff, he saw a fierce lion looking up at him. The roar of the lion made him tremble. But then he thought to himself: “Lion and tiger are both violent animals. It’ll be the same to be eaten by either one of them.”

Once he calmed down, he heard another noise. Turning around, he saw two rats – one is black and the other one white – gnawing the tree limbs.

He started to panic at first, but then he cooled down – thinking: “It’s better to fall to my death from the broken tree that was gnawed by the rats than to be gnawed by the lion.”

Once his emotion settled down, he started to feel a little hungry. Seeing that the plums are good to eat, he picked some and chewed on them. Never in his whole life had he eaten such delicious plums! Finding a space in the fork of the tree to rest, he thought to himself: “Sooner or later I’m going to die, be better off to take a good nap before I expire.” So he fell asleep soundly on the tree.

After waking up, he found both the black and the white rats vanished, so did the tiger and the lion. Tracing the tree branches, he carefully climbed up the cliff and was finally out of danger.

It so happened that while he was asleep, the hungry tiger jumped off the cliff after an impatient roar; both rats were scared away by the tiger’s roaring sound. The tiger and the lion then got into a vicious fight and both ran away after getting wounded.

Starting the moment when we are born, ‘Suffering’ chases after us just like the hungry tiger.
Like the vicious lion, ‘Death’ is awaiting at the end of the cliff.
The interchange of Day and Night, like the black and white rats, gnawed away with force the tree of life in which we take shelter temporarily.
One of these days, we will fall into the lion’s mouth.

Since we know the worst scenario in life is death, the only way out is to keep a pure heart, reduce our desires, add more childlike faith, enjoy the delicious fruit on the tree and rest peacefully.
One day, we all are going to be the ‘bad’ news from someone’s mouth.

The question is: Have we enjoyed every minute and every second of our life?

If you’ve just had a big clash with your ‘other half’ or family members over some tiny, insignificant stuff; if you are still steaming mad, please look up in the clear, blue sky and the white clouds floating by, you could be missing another beautiful day!

Thus, we ought to remind and encourage ourselves:
Keep good thoughts;
Walk on good paths;
Carry out good deeds;
Treasure the moment and
plant for good harvest.
<O:p</O:p
Though some friends don’t keep frequent contact, occasionally an e-mail is sent. It could be a humorous story, a warm piece of article, or some little game for you. It shows that he/she still cares about you, puts you in his/her heart, and treasures your mutual friendship.
Wish all the friends who have received this e-mail
Peace
Health
Happiness

An end reminder: It’s getting cooler, be sure to put on more clothes when going out.