Idea not totally original. Paraphrasing done. How much do you have to change in a story to ensure that there is no infringement of copyright?

There was once a very wealthy family that lived in the heart of town. They were rich and could afford almost anything, and the children of the family were given whatever toys they wished for. As his eldest son grew older, the father was worried that the boy would become spoilt and arrogant, so he decided to take his son on a trip to the country so that he could see how poor people lived, and would then better appreciate what they had. Father and son spent a week on the farm of what was considered a very poor family.

On their return journey, the father asked his son, “Did you enjoy your trip?”

To his surprise, his son replied, “I loved every minute of it!”

“So, tell me what you learnt from the trip,” the father inquired.

His son answered, “I saw that we have only one dog and they had four. Our pond takes up only half the space in our garden, while their creek reaches out to a shore so far away that we cannot see it. At night, our garden is lit up by artificial lamps, but they have the whole sky full of stars to chase away the darkness.

“Our small piece of land is fenced in and the land to our right and left belongs to our neighbours, but they are free to roam the fields and hills that are adjacent to their house. We rely on the servants who serve us, but they have the ability to tend to their own needs and still have time to serve others. We have to buy our food, but they can live off what they grow in their own farm. We have an alarm system installed in our property to protect us, but their neighbours are always on hand to help fend off danger.

“Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

F*** My Life

No, I'm not about to complain about my life. This post is about a website I recently stumbled upon:

http://www.fmylife.com

This is a site where various people can write about their disastrous lives. This is one of the examples:

Today, I called the campus police to give me a ride to the cafeteria since I am on crutches from knee surgery. I was only halfway into the car when the man started driving and ran over my foot. Now neither my right knee or my left foot work. FML

Some of the posts are actually quite humourous, and after you've read them you can choose to vote if you feel that "I agree, your life is f***ed" or "you deserved that one". I think the creators of this site forgot to create an option entitled "And you are complaining because?" Take the following story for example:

Today, I had a flat tire I called my boyfriend of over a year and he told me that sucks while he was sitting at home 10 mins away from me. Instead a stranger helped me. FML

Yes, missy, I can see why your life is so screwed up - you aren't even thankful that a total stranger has bothered to help you.

Hmm... ok fine, I guess this story rates as "you deserved that one", 'one' being in reference to missy's uncaring boyfriend.

Faith

I've read this story somewhere before, probably in an email, and I came across it again today while hunting for interesting stories =S.

This young woman brought her child into the Children's
Hospital for a routine check-up. On the records, the child's first name was
Urine (pronounced as Urin-ie). Not wanting to be rude, but wanting to know why
this woman would name her child this, the nurse asked her how Urine got her
name.

The woman explained, "Well, my baby was born premature and
had to stay in the special nursery. She was real sick and they didn't know if
she would make it. I couldn't decide what to name her, but the nurses said they
would pray for her. One day, I came in and the nurses had already named her.
There was this paper on her incubator that said 'Please save Urine', so I knew
they had named my baby."

http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.asp

Considering the site this article had made its way to, (and of course looking at the way the story is written), I guess the person who originally came up with it intended it to be a joke, making fun of people who name their children after 'cool' names or 'bombastic' sounding names that don't have real origins/proper meanings. However, this story tugs on my heart strings. Maybe I've become too sentimental. Hah.

In today's world, many of us have lost faith - in religion, in others, in ourselves. "Enchanted" is a Disney film made in 2007. After watching it, although it WAS, after all a kid's film without a complex plot, I thought that it was nice that there was finally a movie with the theme of 'believing'. Growing up in a fairy tale, the main character, Giselle, could hardly understand why New Yorkers of today could behave in such a cruel and selfish manner. Like all Walt Disney cartoons, a happy ever after ending ensued, but I didn't feel that it was a cheesy mundane ending. I left the theatre feeling that, even though the whole world may think you are mad for believing in the good of the world, underneath, all of us want to believe in this warm, fuzzy world that we grew up to realise doesn't exist, and sometimes, when fantasy allows us to, we don't really mind being carried away to this other land where dreams come true.

My friend amazed me when she commented that she thought it was a stupid show - because Giselle stayed in New York and did not go back to her original sweetheart. Maybe she is a believer in loving the first one you choose for life, and making it work no matter what the odds. Maybe she didn't really see that Prince Edward only 'loved' Giselle for her outer beauty, or perhaps that still counts as true love. We are all entitled to our own opinions.

Whatever it is, the story that I quoted above is to me, one that shows a human's willingness to believe and to turn to faith in times of need. I don't really know if I'd believe the nurses if they told me they would pray for my dying child. I've never been through such a situation in my life. But it appears that the mother in the story did. They prayed for the salvation of her child, and even bothered to give it a name. In her time of despair, she had found faith in humanity, and laugh as we may at her foolishness, she was the one who gained hope and rediscovered belief in the goodness of man.

Maybe Terry Prachett says it best in his book, Monstrous Regiment. In it, there is a fanatic soldier who believed whole-heartedly that their saviour, the Duchess, would intercede on their behalf and liberate them. In a conversation with the main character, Polly, she tells Polly, an unbeliever, that the Duchess is standing behind her. Polly turns around and says that there is no one there. And the girl is happy for Polly, because she turned around.