Inspiring Stories for Purposeful Living has taken me over thirty-five years to write, compile and edit. I have found
the business of collecting good stories a relentless and difficult task. It was like looking for pearls. Oysters form pearls. These lie on the seabed. From time to time a grain of sand finds its way between the folds of the oyster's muscle and irritates the flesh. To protect itself the flesh coats the grain of sand with a layer of smooth cement. This process is a continuous one. When a diver emerges from the muddy seabed with a basket full of oysters he doesn’t know what to expect. As the shells are tightly closed, it is difficult to determine which is empty and which contains a pearl. Each holds some promise. Quite frequently, however, the biggest and most attractive ones turn out to be useless. Imagine the excitement of the fisherman as he takes his knife and begins to open the oysters one by one. But it is often extremely frustrating experience. Time and time again his hopes are dashed. The vast majority of oysters turn out to be empty. These he simply throws back into the sea, where they sink to the muddy seabed once more. Only one in a thousand contains a valuable pearl. When he finds one such pearl, his face lights up. He quickly forgets his initial disappointments, and suddenly his life is transformed.
In my search for stories, I have come across thousands of them, most of them useless, without having the punch to hit the target. The stories you ‘ll read in this book will take you by the hand, to your mind and go right through the heart and show you how much you can achieve in life.