Ever enjoyed a moment when something good happened to you quite by accident? You were looking for one thing and you stumbled onto something or someone even better than you were looking for? It happens to me all the time. It is happening with greater and greater frequency. The word is SERENDIPITY. Have you ever wondered where the word came from? My new friend Carl Farsai, a mechanical engineer for San Francisco Airport told me over lunch last week. He explained it was derived from a series of old persian fables he often heard as a boy. So I looked it up.
It means:
serendipity |ˌserənˈdipitē|
noun
the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way : a fortunate stroke of serendipity | a series of small serendipities. Lucky or consistently fortunate.
DERIVATIVES
serendipitous |-ˈdipitəs| adjective
serendipitously adverb
ORIGIN 1754: coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a Persian fairy tale in which the heroes, three princes, “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.” The stories always had a happy ending. It has become synonymous with good luck made from focused effort, study and persistence.
Digging a little deeper, I found the fable. If you want the entire research to http://livingheritage.org/three_princes.htm
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The Art of Parenthood
In practicing the art of parenthood an ounce of example is worth a ton of preachment. When we set an example of honesty, our children will be honest. When we encircle them with love they will become loving. When we practice tolerance they will become tolerant. When we meet life with laughter, they will develop a sense of humor. When we display genuine gratitude, they too will become grateful. Our children are watching every move we make. We provide the able example, the model imperative. What we ARE shouts louder than anything we can say.
I must ask myself a dozen times a day:
WHAT AM I MODELING?
IS IT OKAY?
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