Dear Members,
I think I shouldn't follow TOM PETTY's advice :
'I won't back down' :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YMh8orMNqc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
because I don't want to stand by the gate of hell !! I should practice 'Loving-kindness' more and more so I can go to heaven...well how about me..starting today
???
Starting today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljFBqAckdLY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
******************
I got this lovely story from my dear friend 'Antony'(BuddhaVihara), please let me share it with you all.
An Appointment to Remember
[by S.I. Kishor...true story]
John Blanchard stood up from the bench, straightened his Army uniform, and
studied the crowd of people making their way through Grand Central Station. He
looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn't, the girl with
the rose.
------
His interest in her had begun thirteen months before in a Florida library.
Taking a book off the shelf he found himself intrigued, not with the words of
the book, but with the notes penciled in the margin. The soft handwriting
reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind.
In the front of the book, he discovered the previous owner's name, Miss Hollis
Maynell. With time and effort he located her address. She now lived in New York
City.
He wrote her a letter introducing himself and inviting her to correspond. Soon
after he was shipped overseas for service in World War II.
During the next year and one month the two grew to know each other through the
mail. Each letter was a seed falling on a fertile heart. A romance was budding.
Blanchard requested a photograph, but she refused. She felt that if he really
cared, it wouldn't matter what she looked like.
When the day finally came for him to return from Europe, they scheduled their
first meeting - 7:00 PM at the Grand Central Station in New York. "You'll
recognize me," she wrote, "by the red rose I'll be wearing on my lapel."
So at 7:00 he was in the station looking for a girl whose heart he loved, but
whose face he'd never seen. I'll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened:
A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her blonde hair
lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. Her
lips and chin had a gentle firmness, and in her pale green suit she was like
springtime come alive. I started toward her, entirely forgetting to notice that
she was not wearing a rose. As I moved, a small, provocative smile curved her
lips. "Going my way, sailor?" she murmured.
Almost uncontrollably I made one step closer to her, and then I saw Hollis
Maynell. She was standing almost directly behind the girl. A woman well past 40,
she had graying hair tucked under a worn hat.. She was more than plump, her
thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. The girl in the green suit was
walking quickly away. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire
to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had
truly companioned me and upheld my own. And there she stood. Her pale, plump
face was gentle and sensible, her gray eyes had a warm and kindly twinkle. I did
not hesitate. My fingers gripped the small worn blue leather copy of the book
that was to identify me to her.
This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps
even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be
grateful. I squared my shoulders and saluted and held out the book to the woman,
even though while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment.
"I'm Lieutenant John Blanchard, and you must be Miss Maynell. I am so glad you
could meet me; may I take you to dinner?"
The woman's face broadened into a tolerant smile. "I don't know what this is
about, son," she answered,
"but the young lady in the green suit who just went
by, she begged me to wear this rose on my coat. And she said if you were to ask
me out to dinner, I should go and tell you that she is waiting for you in the
big restaurant across the street. She said it was some kind of test!"
It's not difficult to understand and admire Miss Maynell's wisdom.
The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive.
***********
Oh oh..no iphone/no email love story!!!
yawares
You've got some fine gems there. Enjoy them but do remember you can't take them with you, ok? (I know that you know that!) 
(Or from your meditation, you might get disenchanted with gemstones, and experience an even sweeter happiness. Either way there's sukha, only varying in degree and quality). 