Michael R. is an accounting clerk at Frost Bank and works there in a second story office.
 
Several weeks ago, he watched a mother duck choose the concrete awning outside his window as the unlikely place to build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid ten eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks, and Monday afternoon all of her ten ducklings hatched. Michael worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching.
 
Tuesday morning, Michael watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off. Office work came to a standstill as everyone gathered to watch.
 
The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. In disbelief Michael watched as the first fuzzy newborn trustingly toddled to the edge and astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below.
 
Michael couldn't stand to watch this risky effort nine more times!  He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs to the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling, near its mother, was resting in a stupor after the near-fatal fall.  Michael stood out of sight under the awning -planter, ready to help.  As the second one took the plunge, Michael jumped forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the concrete.  Safe and sound, he set it down it by its momma and the other stunned sibling, still recovering from that painful leap.
 
The momma must have sensed that Michael was trying to help her babies.  One by one the babies continued to jump.  Each time Michael hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free fall.  At the scene the busy downtown sidewalk traffic came to a standstill.  Time after time, Michael was able to catch the remaining eight and set them by their approving mother.
 
At this point Michael realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had two full blocks to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs and past pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the San Antonio River, site of the famed "River Walk."  The on looking office secretaries and several San Antonio police officers joined in.  An empty copy-paper box was brought to collect the babies.  They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, and loaded them in the container.
 
Michael held the box low enough for the mom to see her Brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the San Antonio River. The mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight, all the way. As they reached the river, the mother took over and passed him, jumping in the river and quacking loudly.  At the water's edge, Michael tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water and to the waiting mother after their adventurous ride.  All ten darling ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up snugly to momma.  Michael said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank bookkeeper, and proudly quacking.  At last, all present and accounted for: "We're all together again.  We're here! We're here!"  And here's a family portrait before they head outward to further adventures ....
 
Like all of us in the big times of our life, they never could have made it alone without lots of helping hands.
 

A little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was making supper, and handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mother dried her hands on her apron, she read it, and this is what it said:

For cutting the grass: £5.00
For cleaning up my room this week: £1.00
For going to the shop for you: £0.50
Baby-sitting my younger brother while you went shopping: £0.25
Taking out the rubbish: £1.00
For getting a good report: £5.00
For cleaning up and raking the garden: £2.00
Total owed: £14.75

Well, his mother looked at him standing there, and the boy could see the memories flashing through her mind. She picked up the pen, turned over the paper he had written on, and this is what she wrote:

For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge
For all the nights that I've sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge
For all the trying times, and all the tears that you've caused through the years: No Charge
For all the nights that were filled with dread, and for the worries I knew were ahead: No Charge
For the toys, food, clothes, and even wiping your nose: No Charge
Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love is: No Charge

When the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight at his mother and said, "Mum, I sure do love you."
And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL"
 
You will never how much your parents are worth until you become a parent.
IF your parents are alive and close to you, give them a big kiss and ask them for forgiveness.
IF they are far away, call them.
IF they have passed away, pray for them.

Click the image below to watch inspirational Aish Chanukah Video

The story below is related to our Dvar Torah for this week.
 
There was a remarkable story involving Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner.  There was a bochur (student) learning in his yeshiva (college) who was struggling badly with his studies. As a result he was severely lacking in self-confidence and found himself in a downward spiral that placed him in great danger of drifting away from observance.
 
Rabbi Hutner was giving a Gemara shiur (lecture in Talmud) and this Bochur asked a seemingly ordinary kasha (question).
 
Rabbi Hutner responded as if he had asked a tremendous question and throughout the shiur repeated it several times with great admiration.
 
Receiving such adulation from a Gadol (great person) gave a tremendous boost of self-confidence to the boy. As a result, after this one occasion he had the confidence to stem his downward spiral and experienced an incredible turnaround in his confidence, learning and general observance.
 
The boys relatives described Rabbi Hutner’s achievement as no less than "techias hameisim - the revival of the dead".
 
By showing this young man that he was able to learn, Rabbi Hutner was able to give him the boost that saved his Yiddishkeit.