How to Find a True Gem!

This story sent to me by one of my dear friend. I stated it as it is:

I MUST WARN you, reader; before you begin. These words are ancient jewels mined
from the quarry of my life. Read them only if you dare treasure them. For it would be better to
never know, than to know and not obey.
The hand which writes them is now old, wrinkled from the sun and labor. But the mind
which guides them is wise; wise from years
wise from failures
wise from heartache.
I am Asmara, merchant of fine stones.

I am a seller of stones. I travel from city to city. I buy jewels from the diggers in one land
and sell them to the buyers in another I have weathered nights on stormy waters. I have walked
days through desert heat. I have dined with kings. I have drunk with paupers. My hands have
held the finest rubies and stroked the deepest furs. But I would trade it all for the one jewel I
never knew.

It was not for lack of opportunity that I never held it. There was a chance in Madrid when
I was young. No, it was not for lack of opportunity. It was for lack of wisdom. The jewel was in
my hand, but I exchanged it for an imitation. And now I fear my days will end without my ever
knowing the beauty of the precious stone.
I have never known true love.
I have known embraces. I have seen beauty. But I have never known love.
If only I'd learned to recognize love as I have learned to recognize stones.
My father taught me about stones. He was a jewel cutter. He would seat me at a table
before a dozen emeralds. "One is true," he would tell me. "The others are false. Find the true
jewel."

I would ponder—studying one after the other. Finally I would choose. I was always
wrong."The secret, "he would say," is not on the surface of the stone; it is inside the stone. A
true jewel has a glow. Deep within the gem there is a flame. The surface can always be polished
to shine, but with time the sparkle fades. However, the stone that shines from within will never
fade."

With the years, my eyes learned to spot true stones. I am never fooled. The stones I
purchase are authentic. The gems I sell are true. I have learned to see the light within.
If only I'd learned the same about love.

But I've been foolish, dear reader, and I've been fooled.
I've spent my life in places I shouldn't have been, looking for someone with sparkling
eyes, beautiful hair, a dazzling smile, and fancy clothes. I've searched for a woman with outer
beauty, but no true value. And now I am left with emptiness.

Once I almost found her. Many years ago in Madrid, I met the daughter of a farmer. Her
ways were simple. Her love was pure. Her eyes were honest. But her looks were plain. She would
have loved me. She would have held me through every season. Within her was a glow of devotion
the like of which I've never seen since.

But I continued looking for someone whose beauty would outshine the rest.
How many times since have I longed for that farm girl's kind heart, her sweet smile, her
faithfulness? If only I'd known that true beauty is found inside, not outside. If only I'd known,
how many tears would I have saved?

I'd trade in a moment a thousand rare gems for the true heart of one who would have
loved me.

Dear reader, heed my warning. Look closely at the stones before you open your purse.
True love glows from within and grows stronger with the passage of time.
Heed my caution. Look for the purest gem. Look deep within the heart to find the greatest
beauty of all. And when you find that gem, hold onto her and never let her go.
For in her you have been granted a treasure worth far more than rubies.
Seek beauty and miss love.
But seek love and find both.

The Fall of a Literary Giant

Aleksander Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008) was considered to be a man who never been afraid for critical truth under pressing might of the Communist super power. In his speech at the Noble prize for literature he quoted a Russian proverb and said, "One word of truth shall outweigh the whole world." He was marked as a man who fearlessly pursue truth and critiqued the political regimes of Soviet Union. He outlived the Soviet Union for more than 17 years, which imprisoned, ostracized and exiled him for many years. His death on August 3, 2008 marks the last of Soviet Union great literary giants.

His first publication called “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962) brought the life of a prison camp inmate and it made his mark with the literary giants like Tolstoy, Dostoyevski and Chekov. He wrote critical novels of the totalitarian duress in “The First Circle” (1968) to which he got the Nobel Prize and “The Cancer Ward”(1968). He wrote historical novels like “The Gulag Archipelago” (1973-1978) describing the first hand experiences of horror and life of Soviet labor camp.

His literary tradition was considered as “Prophetic Russian literary tradition,” who saw his role to be an Old Testament prophet to expose and denounce the Kremlin and the West . The key feature in Solzhenitsyn’s literature is the Orthodox Christian frame of reference and traditional Christian values and beliefs.

He defined the role of the author or artist as that of truth-teller against lies in the prevailing culture. Note his words in the Noble lecture:

"One artist sees himself as the creator of an independent spiritual world; he hoists onto his shoulders the task of creating this world, of peopling it and of bearing the all-embracing responsibility for it; but he crumples beneath it, for a mortal genius is not capable of bearing such a burden. Just as man in general, having declared himself the centre of existence, has not succeeded in creating a balanced spiritual system. And if misfortune overtakes him, he casts the blame upon the age-long disharmony of the world, upon the complexity of today's ruptured soul, or upon the stupidity of the public.

Another artist, recognizing a higher power above, gladly works as a humble apprentice beneath God's heaven; then, however, his responsbility for everything that is written or drawn, for the souls which perceive his work, is more exacting than ever. But, in return, it is not he who has created this world, not he who directs it, there is no doubt as to its foundations; the artist has merely to be more keenly aware than others of the harmony of the world, of the beauty and ugliness of the human contribution to it, and to communicate this acutely to his fellow-men. And in misfortune, and even at the depths of existence - in destitution, in prison, in sickness - his sense of stable harmony never deserts him."[1]

He was a firm believer of authors or artists should not partake in falsehood and not to support and propagate false conduct:

". . . the simple step of a simple courageous man is not to partake in falsehood, not to support false actions! Let THAT enter the world, let it even reign in the world - but not with my help. But writers and artists can achieve more: they can CONQUER FALSEHOOD! In the struggle with falsehood art always did win and it always does win! " [2]

That was the his important contribution to the 20th century literature.

After 1964, his works were band and soon after the publishing of “Gulag” 1974, he was expelled from Soviet Union. Later he was allowed to return back to Russia. However soon after his return he did wham criticisms on the Mikhail Gorbachyov to Vladimir Putin regimes. Some argue that west has used Solzhenitsyn in the cold war times to embrace the Soviets by giving a Noble prize, just after his 7 years of literary success. Yet his contribution and effort towards the 20th century literary world is unfathomable.

The New York Times states his extreme measures to published “Gulag”:

“Publishers in Paris and New York had secretly received the manuscript on microfilm. But wanting the book to appear first in the Soviet Union, Mr. Solzhenitsyn asked them to put off publishing it. Then, in September 1973, he changed his mind. He had learned that the Soviet spy agency, the KBG, had unearthed a buried copy of the book after interrogating his typist, Elizaveta Voronyanskaya, and that she had hung herself soon afterward.

He went on the offensive. With his approval, the book was speedily published in Paris, in Russian, just after Christmas. The Soviet government counterattacked with a spate of articles, including one in Pravda, the state-run newspaper, headlined “The Path of a Traitor.” He and his family were followed, and he received death threats.

On Feb. 12, 1974, he was arrested. The next day, he was told that he was being deprived of his citizenship and deported.”

Dr. Alebert Mohler wrote,

“He was a man of massive courage and literary ability -- a central character of the twentieth century. He was a moralist to the core, affirming human dignity against Communist oppression and Stalin's murder of millions. Even so, he carried on an affair with the woman who became his second wife and the mother of his sons. He seemed ungrateful to America, but he also saw what many Americans, blinded by historical optimism, could not or would not see in the weakness of the West.

He returned to Russia a prophet, but also a man who seemed strangely out of his times. In his case, a great life of the twentieth century lingered awkwardly into the twenty-first. Nevertheless, his great courage and his literary achievement remain a tribute to the human spirit. Even more, Solzhenitsyn's moral vision serves as a reminder that Christianity alone provides an adequate grounding for human dignity.

When asked once about the force of his writings, Solzhenitsyn explained: 'The secret is that when you've been pitched head first into hell you just write about it.' The world was changed because he did just that.”

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[1] http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-lecture.html

[2] Ibid.