Miracle & Self-Confidence

Peng Shulin

Miracle & Self-Confidence

 

He survived against all the odds; now Peng Shulin has astounded doctors by learning to walk again.
When his body was cut in two by a lorry in 1995, it was a little short of a medical miracle that he lived.

 

It took a team of more than 20 doctors to save his life.
Skin was grafted from his head to seal his torso ?but the legless Mr Peng was left only 78cm (2ft 6in) tall.
Bedridden for years, doctors in China had little hope that he would ever be able to live anything like a normal life agan.



But recently, he began exercising his arms, building up the strength to carry out everyday chores such as washing his face and brushing his teeth.
Doctors at the China Rehabilitation Research Centre in Beijing found out about Mr Peng's plight late last year and devised a plan to get him up walking again.
They came up with an ingenious way to allow him to walk on his own, creating a sophisticated egg cup-like casing to hold his body with two bionic legs attached to it.
He has been taking his first steps around the centre with the aid of his specially adapted legs and a resized walking frame.
Mr Peng, who has to learn how to walk again, is said to be delighted with the device.

Become What You Want to Be - Follow Your Dreams

Let me tell you about a little girl who was born into a very poor family in a shack in the Backwoods of Tennessee. She was the 20^th of 22 children, prematurely born and frail. Her survival was doubtful. When she was four years old she had double pneumonia and scarlet fever - a deadly combination that left her with a paralyzed and useless left leg. She had to wear an iron leg brace. Yet she was fortunate in having a mother who encouraged her.

 

Well, this mother told her little girl, who was very bright, that despite the brace and leg, she could do whatever she wanted to do with her life. She told her that all she needed to do was to have faith, persistence, courage and indomitable spirit.

 

So at nine years of age, the little girl removed the leg brace, and she took the step the doctors told her she would never take normally. In four years, she developed a rhythmic stride, which was a medical wonder. Then this girl got the notion, the incredible notion that she would like to be the world's greatest woman runner. Now, what could she mean - be a runner with a leg like that?

 

At age 13, she entered a race. She came in last - way-way last. She entered every race in high school, and in every race, she came in last. Everyone begged her quit! However, one day, she came in next to last. Then there came a day when she won a race. From then on, Wilma Rudolph won every race that she entered.

 

Wilma went to Tennessee State University, where she met a coach named Ed Temple. Coach Temple saw the indomitable spirit of the girl, that she was a believer and that she had great natural talent. He trained her so well that she went to the Olympic Games.

 

There she was pitted against the greatest woman runner of the day, a German girl named Jutta Heine. Nobody had ever beaten Jutta. But in the 100-meter dash, Wilma Rudolph won. She beat Jutta again in the 200-meters. Now Wilma had two Olimpic gold medals.

 

Finally came the 400-meter relay. It would be Wilma against Jutta once again. The first two runners on Wilma's team made perfect handoffs with the baton. But when the third runner handed the baton to Wilma, she was so excited she dropped it, and Wilma saw Jutta taking off down the track. It was impossible that anybody could catch this fleet and nimble girl. But Wilma did just that! Wilma Rudolph had earned three Olympic gold medals.

Driving Topless in a Jeep

Today at the beginning of a business writing class, I asked attendees to introduce themselves by telling us something they enjoy. One woman announced:

 

"I enjoy driving around topless in my Jeep."

 

Was she serious? I stopped and stared, looking for hints from her. She gave no clue. After my awkward pause, I asked, "Did I hear you correctly?" She responded "Yes" and then explained:

 

"I enjoy driving around with the top down in my Jeep."

 

Ah. Now I understood. It was a case of a misplaced modifier: The Jeep was topless--not the woman.

 

Here is a topless revision, in the interests of propriety:

 

"I enjoy driving around in my topless Jeep."

 

Lesson: If you want to stop a conversation (and traffic), drive around topless. But if you want to communicate (and drive) safely, drive around in a topless Jeep.

 

Performence Evaluation and Effects

Have you heard the story of " The Washer man and the Foolish Donkey" ?    

To refresh your memory, and for the benefit of those who have not grown up listening to this moral story, it goes like this…

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog. One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson. The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly. Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.

Moral of the story " One must not engage in duties other than his own"

Now take a new look at the same  story…

The washer man ( J ) was a well educated man from a premier management institute. He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night. He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it. Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favorite pet. The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dogs duties as well. In the annual appraisal the dog managed a " meets requirement" . Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around. The donkey was rated as " star performer". The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards. Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a job rotation…