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Ryokan was a zen teacher of repute. Oneday a fisherman saw him walking on the beach soon after a storm. The storm had washed up thousands of starfish on the shore, and they were beginning to dry up. Soon all of them would be dead. Ryokan was picking up starfish and throwing them into the sea.

The fisherman caught up with the teacher and said, ” Surely, you cannot hope to throw all these starfish back into the sea? They will die in their thousands here. I’ve seen it happen before. Your effort will make no difference.”

” It will will to this one,” said Ryokan, throwing back another starfish into the sea.

The great Zen teacher, Benzei had many pupils. One day, one of them was caught stealing by his fellow – students and they reported him to Benzei. but he took no action against the boy.

A few days later the same boy was agin caught stealing. And again Benzei did nothing. This angered the other students who drew up a petition asking for the dismissal of the thief.They threatened to leave in mass, if the boy was allowed to stay.

The teacher called a meeting of the students. When they had assembled he said to them: ” You are good boys who know what is right and what is wrong. If you leave you will have no trouble in joining some other school. but what about your brother who does not even know the difference between right and wrong? Who will teach him if I don’t. No ,I cannot ask him to fo even if it means losing all of you.”

Tears coursed down the cheeks of the boy who had stolen. He never stole again and in later life became renowned for his integrity.

One day a man was going to his sister’s house in another village when he ran into a gang of dacoits.

” Who are you?” asked the dacoit chief, glowering at him.

” I’m a school teacher,” said the man.

” A school teacher, eh? sneered the chief. ” and do you test your students regularly?”

” Yes, ” said the man.

” Well,” said the chief, ” it’s time somebody tested you!” He picked up a large pumpkin and gave it to the school teacher.

” Guess its weight,” he told the teacher. ” The exact weight, mind you ! We’ll weigh it afterwards. If you’re right, I’ll let you go unharmed. If you’re wrong you’ll get a hundred lashes with the whip!”

“This pumpkin weighs exactly as much as your head , sir,” said the teacher, quietly , and gave the pumpkin back to him.

As some of the dacoit’s men seemed keen to find out if the teacher was right and this they could do if the dacoit’s head was removed from his body, the chief laughed uproariously to show that it was all a joke and let the teacher go unharmed.

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Peter. He was a boy who woke up very late in the morning, bathed late and was late in having breakfast. Eventually, he reached school very late and got scolded by his teachers.
One day, a picnic was organized from the school and all the students were asked to assemble at school on the picnic day at 8:00 am. Moreover, the sir had warned Peter personally to be punctual. However, as usual, Peter woke up late and reached school only around 8:30 am. Peter became very disappointed and returned home crying. His mother tried to console him and said that it was because of his unpunctuality that he had to face such a day. From that day onwards, Peter became a very obedient boy and got up at 5:30 am every morning

“Cheater!” “Liar!” The crowd’s bellowing didn’t make the auditorium seem any more forgiving. No. they weren’t yelling at me. They were yelling at my best friend Leila. Someone had seen her stealing the test answers for the 7th grade final exam and she was caught red handed. “Suspension isn’t so bad” I kept telling myself.
BAM BAM BAM! The gavel pounding the podium pulled me from my thoughts. The hearing was about to begin.
“Ahem.” The principal cleared his throat and began.
“my gracious faculty, staff, and students, this young lady is a cheater!” he said, pointing to Leila. “She stole the test answers for a final exam. Now you all know what the consequence for that is,” he paused for dramatic effect,”suspension for a week! Now Leila, would you care to tell your school that has gathered here before you why you cheated?” Leila was ready for this. She answered confidently,” Principal Fergison, Toplin middle school, I honestly and truthfully tell you that I did steal the test answers, but someone else was with me.”
“Ah ha,” principal Fergison exclaimed,” and who would that be?”
“Kelly Mobston. Principal Fergison, Kelly was there with me. She hid when I was caught and didn’t come forward” all heads turned to me. I could feel my ears turning bright red and my face getting hot. I knew what she had said was true, but I didn’t know what I was going to do.
“Kelly, why don’t you come up here and tell us what happened.” Mr. Fergison said.
“You did it too! You have to turn yourself in!” I thought as I walked up to the stage. When I finally got up to the podium I said, “I didn’t do it.” The crowd gasped.
“That means,” Mr. F bellowed, “Leila is suspended for a week!” BAM! The pounding of the gavel ended the hearing.

I caught up to Leila when she was walking home.
“Leila, wait up!” I yelled after her. She turned around and glared at me, but kept walking. “Listen I’m sorry!” My voice cracked because I was about to cry.
“Sorry isn’t enough Kelly.” She said angrily. Her face was turned away from me, but I could imagine her expression. She was exasperated, angry, hurt, and sad all at the same time. “you lied! You cheated too but I’M the only one taking the fall. I can’t believe you did that. After all we’ve been together; after all I’ve done for you.
“You know I can’t think straight under pressure!” I was begging for forgiveness, but she looked like she wasn’t going to give any.
“Just once you could have tried to for ME!” she has stopped now and was yelling at me tears streaming down her face.
“I know how you feel!”I said, trying desperately to be empathetic.
“No you don’t! You don’t know how it feels to be suspended! You never break the slightest rule. And the one time you do something like that I’m the only one getting punished!” she was right. I’m a goody-to-shoes. I don’t like getting in trouble. I’m a people pleaser. But Leila, she was an adventurer. She loved taking risks, while I like to stay in my shell. A new person in town would have never thought we were best friends.
I stopped to contemplate and take in what she had said, and when I looked up again, she was gone.

I didn’t tell my parents what had happened. When they asked about my red blotchy face, I said that I had fallen in the hall.
I went to bed that night and slept terribly, dreaming of people glaring and shouting at Leila, and me being unable to stop them. I kept yelling “what’s the matter?” and “why are you yelling at her?” but the people just kept doing it as if I weren’t there. I eventually fell asleep at 4:13 am and slept soundly for 2 hours, until I had to wake up to go to school. I went through my morning classes in a daze.
I sat alone at lunch until Victoria and “the clones” came up to me. Who is Victoria? She is the sinister, plotting, manipulative girl that I used to be friends with. On the outside, she is the kind of popular everyone-wants-to-be-my-friend girl. But on the inside, she likes to publicly humiliate people. The clones are helpless wannabe’s that follow her around and wait on her hand and foot. They are clones of her. They dress the same, like the same stuff, and defend whatever Victoria says even if they know it’s wrong. So there they were, approaching me, with their high ponytails bobbing exactly like Victoria’s.
“Are you lonely?” Victoria asked innocently. DUH! I thought. Victoria is also queen of the obvious.
“Yea,” I answered, Leila is out for a week so I don’t know who to sit with”
“Come sit with us!” she said cheerfully. She acted like she didn’t even know about the hearing, but I’m sure she did. Victoria knows the dirt on everyone, and she likes to share it with everyone. I can’t believe I was EVER friends with her. Earlier this year she even told the guy I liked, Blake Star, all of my secrets. How much more nasty can you get?
So, there I was, trapped, surrounded. I couldn’t say no.
“Um….” I said. “I think I’d rather eat alone. Thanks for the invite though”.
“Well then, we’ll come sit over here.” She said, like that was the best idea she ever had. The clones murmured “yes” instantly and before I knew it I was surrounded by six evil creatures. It was obvious she wanted to pull me back into her tornado, but I was careful. Victoria has spun her tornado upon many people and they are oblivious to it. Later that same week, they become a clone. So I sat there silently eating. I didn’t know when to chime into their conversation about what makeup they were wearing to the ice cream social. After lunch I slipped into the bathroom and waited for a while, and then when to my electives. I walked in the halls alone.
The next day when the bell rang to switch classes Trevor came up to me. This was strange because guys rarely talked to me. He gave me a note. It read:
Meet me in room 104 after school. It’s important.
The last two remaining classes of the day flew by so quickly, that I barely got my homework written down. I knew Leila liked Trevor, and we had spent many a sleep over making plans to get him to like her. Everyone know Leila liked Trevor, apparently, except for him.
The last bell rang and I headed to room 104. I wanted to run, but I didn’t want to seem too eager. I was shocked when I opened the door. Inside the classroom, sitting on the desks were Trevor and Blake.
“Kelly, we have to tell you something,” Trevor blurted out.
“Yea”, Blake followed.
“I like Leila”, Trevor whispered. He put his hand next to his face as if that would make the conversation private from Blake. “But we’ve got a problem”.
Wow! Our plans worked! He liked Leila. I can’t wait to tell her! But, she probably won’t even talk to me, I thought. My heart sank.
“So here’s our plan “, Trevor said, pointing to the board.
“What plan?’ I said, now back in reality.
“Kelly, were you listening?”
“No.”
“Ok, well, I’ll say it again. You know how the four of us are making that good bye video for Mrs. Telivilly?”
“Yea.”
“Well you know how we are in charge of filming and you and Leila are in charge of editing?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Blake and I were talking about Leila one day, like about her faults and her advantages, and well, everything else about her.”
“So what’s the big deal?” I asked.
“The camera was on its tripod, facing right toward us” Trevor began.
“But it was on.” Blake finished.
“Now do you see our problem?” Trevor said.
“I don’t want Leila to find out like that. So, we made a plan.” Blake said, obviously proud of himself. They explained the plan to me. It was pretty complicated.
“I don’t know if I can do that.” I whispered.
“Yes you can, we know it.” Blake said.
The next day our plan went into action. The tapes had already been dropped off at the post office by the time Blake and Trevor realized the camera had been on. After school I went to the post office and waited for the mail trucks. The plan was to follow the dented mail truck to Leila’s house, then, I would pose as her to receive the tapes.
“Ouch!” I yelled. I was so dazed, going over the plan that I had run into the flag pole in front of the post office. Rubbing the bruise that was forming on my forehead, I went into the building.
“Hello young lady.” The heavy man behind the counter smiled at me. I walked confidently up to him.
“When do the mail trucks leave?” I asked.
“In about, um… in about, now.” The man answered calmly. I sped out of there yelling my thanks on the way out. It was true, by the time I got out of the huge post office, the mail trucks were two blocks away. I ran as fast as I could to catch up. I read the license plate number on my hand: H2K 418. That mail truck’s bumper was painted red. I ran after it for 14 blocks until it was right in front of Leila’s house. I walked up to the mailman.
“Are you Leila Logisty?” he said holding a package.
“Yea, sure, let’s go with that.” I said nervously.
“Are you sure?” he asked suspiciously, “Because it seems like you don’t know.”
“Oh, I have short term memory loss!” I exclaimed, surprised that I had thought of that on the spot.
“Oh, OK…, I guess.” I think the mail man still wasn’t sure about me, but he handed me the package and I signed for it.

They told me not to watch it. I tried not to, I really did. But my curiosity got the best of me. I slid the DVD player closed slowly. My finger shook as I pressed play. There sat Trevor and Blake in the old auditorium. They were, as they said, talking about Leila.
“She’s cute, funny and smart” Trevor said, staring off into space.
“Yea, you need to tell her though. I know she likes you” Blake said, waving a hand in front of Trevor’s face, attempting to snap him out of his daze. “She totally flirts with you man.” He said.
“I know, I know, but you’ve got a bigger problem.” Trevor said, smiling sinisterly. Blake’s face turned scarlet and he smiled uncomfortably. “Blake and Kelly sittin’ in a tree…”
“Shut up!” Blake said, now pacing across the stage. Click! The DVD split and went to people saying good bye to Mrs. Telivilly. I was unable to move. I opened the DVD player and hurried the DVD into my laptop. I watched it ten more times. Later, I wrote in my journal: I can’t believe Trevor like Leila, and Blake likes me. I guess I like him too. But as soon as Victoria hears about this, she will be all over him. She’ll be asking for his jacket, and flirting with him. But oh, well. Now I know.
Later, lying in bed the scene kept playing over and over in my head. I put the DVD in a case and marked it: DO NOT TOUCH IF YOU ARE NOT KELLY M, in red sharpie. Friday night was the school open house, and Blake Trevor planned that I would give them all the edited versions of all the tapes then. I marked the master tape with a red sharpie as well. It read: MRS TELIVILLY VIDEO.

The night had come. I had both of the videos in my tote bag, planning to dispose of one at school, and give the other to Blake and Trevor. Blake was pestering me throughout the uneventful presentation. “Where’s the video?” he would say, or “I need the video.”
“OK! I’ll give you my locker combination.” I said, exasperated.
“Thanks!” Blake said.
After what felt like a two hour presentation, Blake and Trevor hopped up and were waiting for me at the door before I could blink. When I got down there, I ended up having to run just to catch up with them. And is just my luck, Victoria’s posy was in the hall.

I woke up on a gurney in a blank hallway. There were two cream=colored doors at the end of the corridor. Rows of doors lined the hallway, and I was lengthwise in the hallway, completely blocking it. I checked my fingers, elbows and neck. Everything seemed to work all right. I lifted my right leg, bent my knees and wiggled my toes. Everything was fine. I proceeded to do the same thing with my left. I lifted my leg and bent the knee, or so I thought. It felt strange. I looked down at my blue-printed hospital gown and pulled it up just enough so I could see my knees. I bent both knees again, my right bent perfectly, but my left wouldn’t budge. I tried it over and over, but it was stuck straight.
“Can we see her now?” My mom used her worried-sick voice. The cream doors opened and my family came running in.
“Mom, I can’t breathe!” I said under the avalanche of my family’s hugging arms.
“Are you OK Kells?” My dad asked, using my toddler nickname.
“Am I?” I questioned. “What happened?”
“Honey, you don’t remember anything do you?” My mom frowned.
“No!” I exclaimed. “I mean, I know who you all are, but how did I get here? And why is my knee not working?”
“Kelly, the doctor said your knee cap shattered and you ripped a tendon.” I know my dad was trying to be sympathetic, but all I heard was the terrible news plain, like cardboard.
My conscience came up with the worst possible scenarios about how I had hurt it and then been knocked out. I narrowed it down to either I fell down stairs, or Victoria’s clan jumped me and hit me with their bedazzled purses until I was knocked out, then stomped on my leg. Both of which, were possible. I found out later that the second one was the closest, but not entirely true.
I had run into Victoria, trying to catch up with Blake and Trevor. I fell, hitting my head on the wall, and landing on the tile floor, directly on my knee cap. Then, Kailey (my locker partner), tripped over my leg, but twisting it as she did so. When my parents found me I was mangled. Victoria had left but Kailey stayed there, telling my parents what had happened. I was taken to the hospital, and here I was now.
“So what’s gonna happen to me?” I asked curiously. The doctor pushed his way in front of my parents to talk to me.
“You will need surgery to repair your patella, and then you will be in bed the next day. You’ll have a cast until your leg heals.” He told me this and then showed me my x-rays in an exam room.
“So, I can go to school on Monday?”
“Yes, you can, but if your parents say no, you can’t.” The doctor’s answer made me worry; my mom would most likely make me stay home.
“ Tomorrow.” The doctor said. I snapped my head around and was pulled from my thoughts.
“What’s tomorrow?” I asked.
“Your surgery.” He said.

“OK, Kelly, we’ll just have you lay down here and you’ll fall asleep with this mask on.” The doctor slid a plastic mask with an elastic strap on me. “Take deep breaths and count backwards form one hundred.” He said.
“99…98…97…” I counted backwards in my head and blacked out.
“Honey…?” I slowly stirred while the tender whispering voice broke the silence and cracked the blackness that was sleep. I started to wake up.
“Mommy…” I groaned sleepily, “five more minutes…”
“Oh honey, you’re at the hospital, remember? My mom said quietly.
“What?” I asked waking up further. Looking down at my leg it all came back to me; the fall, waking up in the hospital and counting backwards from 100.
“We’re going home in twenty minutes.” My mom whispered.
“OK.” I said. I got home with some difficulty. I had crutches and an orange and pink striped cast. My dad carried me straight up stairs, and I fell asleep before he even put me in my bed.
My mom gently shook me awake. “It’s dinner time. I brought yours up to you.”
“Thanks mom.” I said sleepily. I glanced at the clock: 6:30. Had I really slept that long? “Hey mom,” I said after I finished eating, “could you pass me that DVD case and my laptop”
“Sure” she said, getting them from my desk. “Anything else?” she asked.
“I’m good.” I said. I took a sip of my orange juice as she left the room. “Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, looking at my laptop.
“What?” My mom yelled, her voice muffled through the door.
“Nothing!” I answered quickly.
“OK, but call me if you need me.” She yelled from the staircase.
Once I could no longer hear my mom’s footsteps I looked back down at my laptop. Sitting on top of my green and orange laptop was a white DVD case. In red marker it read: MRS. TELIVILLY VIDEO. Blake had taken the wrong one. Rushing, he must have grabbed the first case he saw. Typical Blake. Don’t panic, I told myself, trying to stay calm. The ceremony is tomorrow, first thing. I’ll just switch the videos and it will be all good. It was a good plan, if only it had worked out that way.
I had trouble getting to my locker the next morning. Everyone said something to me. If it wasn’t “What happened?”, it was “Are you OK?”. Plus, I had to maneuver around the middle school halls on crutches. It is harder than it sounds. Naturally, I finally got to my locket when the tardy bell rang. I put my stuff away and headed for the auditorium. The doors were closed by the time I got there. I waited. I knew Blake and Trevor were going to be a little mad, but it wasn’t like Victoria was going to be angry. I guess I jinxed it. When Victoria came out she stuck her tongue out at me, and then her clones did the same simultaneously. Then Blake and Trevor got to the door. I braced myself for the worst. They walked by me and glared. Blake stopped.
“Was it that bad?” I asked sympathetically.
“Watch it again, you’ll see.” He said, still glaring.
When I got home I hobbled up stairs to my room to watch the DVD. I swiftly pushed the player closed on my laptop and waited impatiently for the window to come up. I fast forwarded through Blake and Trevor talking and stopped when I saw myself writing. “Tomorrow at school, Victoria…” I said on the screen. Then I remember, I talk as I write, I say each word. And just my luck, the camera on my computer was on! All night I thought about what I could do to say sorry.
When I got home from school the next day, after talking to Victoria, Blake and Trevor, I was devastated. They all said sorry doesn’t cut it. I had to try something else. I went to work that night in my room.
I got to school extra early, and headed to the office with my backpack. I knew what I was going to do. Everyone except me was assembled in the auditorium at 10:30 on Wednesday. I was at home. The projector was set up. When everyone was seated, the video played. I told the whole school, “Toplin Middle School, I did steal the test answers with Leila, I’m sorry that I lied. I turned myself in, and I’m especially sorry to Leila for not standing by you when you needed me. And Blake and Trevor, I did watch the video. I’m sorry, and I admit it, I like you too, Blake. And Victoria, it’s true that I think you are nasty to me sometimes, but you can also be nice, and I thank you for those times. Again, everyone, I’m sorry.”
The day went on, but at lunch everyone called to say they accepted my apology.

THURSDAY JUNE 2:
Dear Journal,
We’re all resolved. We’re almost as close as siblings. Leila, Trevor, Blake and I are going to the movies this weekend. I’m so excited. It’s nice being part of something. I’ll write again later. The phone is ringing and I think it’s Blake. Bye.

The Teacher had given a discourse on creative thinking. Afterwards his disciples approached him and asked him to set them a problem that required them to think creatively. The sage gave them a sieve and asked them to fill it with water at the sea, nearby. They were gone for a long time. Finally he went down to the beach to see what they were doing, and found them seated morosely around the sieve.
They scrambled to their feet when they saw him.
“You have set us an impossible task, sir,” said the oldest of the disciples. “It’s just not possible to fill a sieve with water.”

“Are you sure?” asked the Teacher, picking up the sieve. “Sometimes it helps to step back and view the problem from a different angle.”

He waded into the water and threw the sieve far out into the sea. It sank.
“There!” said the Teacher. “It’s full of water now.”

Mrs. Mary was a most kind and thoughtful woman. She spent a great deal of time visiting the poor. One morning she told her children about a family which she had visited the day before. There was a man sick in bed, his wife who took care of him, and could not go out to work, and their little boy. The little boy–his name was Bernard–had interested her very much.
“I wish you could see him,” she said to her own children, Jack, Harry, and Clara, “he is such a help to his mother. He wants very much to earn some money, but I don’t see what he can do.”
After their mother had left the room, the children sat thinking about little Bernard.
“I wish we could help him to earn money,” said little Clara.
“So do I, said Harry.
For some moments Jack said nothing, but, suddenly, he sprang to his feet and cried:
“I have an idea!”
The other children also jumped up all attention. When Jack had an idea, it was sure to be a good one.
“I tell you what we can do,” said Jack. “You know that big box of corn Uncle Sam sent us for popping? Well, we can pop it, and put it into paper bags, and Bernard can take it round to the houses and sell.”
When Mrs. Mary heard of Jack’s idea, she, too, thought it a good one.
Very soon the children were busy popping the corn, while their mother went out to buy the paper bags. When she came back, she brought Bernard with her.
In a short time, he started out on his new business, and, much sooner than could be expected, returned with an empty basket.
Tucked into one of his mittens were ten nickels. He had never earned so much money before in his life. When he found that it was all to be his, he was so delighted he could hardly speak, but his bright smiling face spoke for him. After he had run home to take the money to his mother, Jack said:
“We have corn enough left to send Bernard out ever so many times. May we do it again?”
“Yes, said Mrs. Mary, “you may send him every Saturday morning, if you will pop the corn for him yourselves. Jack, will you agree to take charge of the work?”
“Indeed I will,” replied Jack, and he kept his word. For many weeks, every Saturday morning, no matter what plan was on foot, no matter how good the coasting or skating, he saw that the corn was all popped, the paper bags filled, and arranged in the basket when Bernard arrived.
People began to watch for the “little pop-corn boy,” and every week he had at least fifty cents to take home, and often more. And all this was because of Jack’s bright idea, and the way he carried it out.