The Story of the Pencil

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At
one point, he asked:
' Are you writing a story about what we've done? Is it a
story about me?'
His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to
her grandson:
' I am writing about you, actually, but more important
than the words is the pencil I'm using. I hope you will be
like this pencil when you grow up.'
Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn't seem
very special.
' But it's just like any other pencil I've ever seen!'
' That depends on how you look at things. It has five
qualitites which, if you manage to hang on to them, will
make you a person who is always at peace with world.
' First quality: you are capable of great things, but you
must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps.
We call that hand God, and He always guides us accord-
ing to His will.
' Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing
and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little,
but afterwards, he's much sharper. So you, too, must learn
to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make
you a better person.
' Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an
eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting
something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps
to keep us on the road to justice.
' Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencl is not its
wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay
attention to what is happening inside you.
' Finally, the pencil's fifth quality: it always leaves a
mark. In just the same way, you should know that every-
thing you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be con-
scious of that in your every action.'