1000 + 1 Fortunes, Short Stories and Proverbs for Success

By Canute Kelly

No two human beings have the same fingerprint nor feel the same sensations in exactly the same way at exactly the same time, and yet we can relate to a lot of the same emotions in similar ways. I reflected on some of the things my grandmother would say to me, thought about scenes I have seen in movies and how knowledge and habits are passed down through generations, and it makes me think of how connected we are as human beings.
Some of the contents of things I have received from the papers in fortune cookies remind me of things my grandmother would say and sometimes take me back to pleasant memories from my childhood, and just like how a cookie is shared, I wanted to share the emotions the fortunes elicit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 5, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499079975

Canute Kelly

Migrating as a child to the United States of America at age fourteen has given the author a dual culture, and with the passing of time and cultures ever evolving, he realized the uniqueness of his story. He took with him his grandmother’s legacy, through her stories; his childhood experiences, and the opportunity of a new culture to forge a personality that is all his own. Time, place, and experiences all factor into a person’s reality. Moving from Jamaica to Miami made the tapestry of his life.

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THE JOURNEY

You may be wondering how someone from Jamaica might have a fascination with fortune and fortune cookies. Jamaica is a very pious country and has a lot of cultures and influences. It wasn’t until hindsight that I realized how the piety in Jamaicans may have been a result of colonialism; the heritage they have, Jamaicans got from England, the Catholic Church from the religious crusading of the early explorers. We are taught in school that Christopher Columbus sailed the seven seas; some of these explorations were thought to be for the endeavors of bringing civilization to the whole world and some for the spreading of religious beliefs and even may have been for the hope of finding The Fountain of Youth (1. Hope is the last to die).

The African heritage in Jamaica may be a contributing factor as well. African heritage and culture is passed down rhetorically. Stories and family history are shared through spoken words and I think that people love to hear a good story.

Beliefs and religion have shaped humanity for centuries. Some beliefs may be deemed superstitious in nature. However they are generated, we can’t dispute the fact that they are beliefs nonetheless. I will attempt to approach this book with the most unbiased approach possible, but at times my own beliefs may be revealed.

What prompted this curiosity and started this fondness for fortune cookies is probably my love for martial arts. I can remember that when I was growing up, there was always a fascination for martial arts movies. My brothers and sisters would also stay up late on Friday nights, sometimes until 2:00 a.m. just to watch shaolin temple movies. These were some of the earliest productions of Chinese martial arts films.

This was done, of course, unbeknownst to my parents. I can still see us now; we would get a towel or a blanket and use it to block the TV light from the door path so that our parents wouldn’t realize that the TV was still on, the volume would be completely down to a whisper, and we would try to read the lips of the Chinese actors. Okay, you got me; that was meant to give you a laugh. We would try our very best to contain our emotions just given out minimum mutterings. We had a strong appetite for other cultures and, I suppose, action movies. Jamaicans like martial art movies that they call kickers and American-style cowboy movies they call western.

I have come to realize that even in the culture of Jamaica, there are a lot of sayings that are passed down from generation to generation. There is a famous line that superstar reggae artist Bob Marley used in one of his most popular songs, I Shot the Sheriff. This line was probably said by his grandparents, and even someone who is familiar with the Bible may realize this is probably a derivative from the Bible. Jamaicans have a way of rewording things into everyday language.

That line is Every day, the bucket’s going to the well. One day, the bottom will fall out. Bob Marley didn’t say it like that, though. So just imagine an older Jamaican with a strong accent saying those words. 2. Every day de bucket a go a well one day de bottom ago drop out" and it would probably sound something like that. This parable said in response to someone getting messed with often, one day will respond with a lashing out. 3. The Bible says do unto others as you would have them do to you.

This book is in printed form and some of the nuances that are a part of these stories may be lost. There’s just something about hearing someone with an accent speaking that the printed word doesn’t always do justice. I consider myself a better storyteller than I am a writer. I still think I do a pretty good job of mimicking my grandparents. Even right now, it’s really easy for me to get into character and do a good impression of the body language and voice of my grandma. That said, in trying to do justice to these stories, an audio book may have to follow.

The format of this book is not clear, but my desire is to have the book serve a twofold purpose. I would like for it to be read for its stories and for it to bring some amount of entertainment to its readers, but I also would like for it to bring some inspiration from the Proverbs and fortune. My philosophy of fortune is that fortune can be molded and manipulated to become good or bad. 4. One is the captain of his destiny, the master of his own ship. So in reading the content of this book, whether or not the book will change you in a positive or negative way will all depend on how it is perceived and received and what actions are followed by the individual reader.

5. The journey of a million miles begins with a single step, and if this book is to have 1000 + 1 fortunes and stories and proverbs, it must begin with a single word. Great, now I only have 995 + 1 proverbs left to tell, but I must tell you that the proverbs of the journey of a million miles was not first learned from a fortune cookie. This fortune was first told to me by a karate instructor, and he wasn’t even Chinese. He was from Michigan, although the fortune he told me I later got in a cookie. So my decision for writing this book is attributed to the fact that I’m from the Caribbean and the closest thing there that resembles fortunes would be the proverbs or the sayings that grandparents would repeat. Thinking back on some of the things my dad and mom would say, it wasn’t until my grandma came and lived with us for a little bit that I realized where they got those sayings from. Again, I will attempt to be the most unbiased in presenting these collections but my own experiences and culture to which I was exposed will be evident in the contents of this book.

The world all over keep their wise and ancient sayings. Regardless of their origins, religious, generational, or cultural origins, some sayings are held very sacred in some cultures. History has taught us that wars have been waged against belief and misunderstanding of beliefs. I must put forth the disclaimer that this book is written just as an expression of my fondness for proverbs and fortune and should be viewed as such, "6. Everything should be taken with a grain of salt," that is to say one makes the choice of how he processes information.

It amazed me! What I am able to remember? It is a fortune that says 7. A short pencil is better than a long memory, and that is why I still keep a writing tablet and a pencil by my bedside table. Some ideas may pop into my head at different hours of the day and rather than hoping to remember them all, it is easier to make a little note. Some memories didn’t set themselves out to be long-term memories. They started out as acts of kindness and then became cherished memories and eventually made their way as your permanent long-term memories. With that said, I would like to recount a story from my childhood.

MY FIRST SODA POP

I can remember the first time I drank a full bottle of soda pop. I think I am able to calculate how old I was by knowing that I wasn’t in school yet. I didn’t even start pre-K yet. I remember starting school when I was three. It was a private school, like a daycare run by a church. My first soda pop was before I started this private school.

I remember a time before this that whenever I would be given something to drink, it would be in my little red sippy cup, which had an elevated spout with three holes, and directly opposite that, it had a single hole for ventilation. I remember having a lot of fun with this cup, and some not-so-fun memories too. Oh the days of drinking soda from a glass bottle. I hope that does not date me too much. Although I think soda in a glass bottle is a cultural thing, just recently I went to a Mexican restaurant, and the sodas there were in glass bottles.

There was one distinct time that I remember when a bottle of soda was shared between my sister and me. I got my portion in my sippy cup, and she was given the glass bottle. I endured a lot of taunting from my sister because of that. She would be singing like little girls do, holding the bottle gingerly with her pinkie finger in the air while saying Big girls drink from bottles. Babies sip from sippy cups. And another thing that we would also do is we would take our time drinking our soda, just relishing the moment. I was the younger sibling and sometimes I wouldn’t be playing my older siblings’ games. I would just be drinking away, me and my sippy cup just lost in the moment, my T-shirt would be soaking wet, and I would sometimes have drink everywhere.

Sometimes, just to be a good sport, the drinking process would last awhile. My mom would sometimes have to come back and ask Y’all not finished yet? And then she would stand there and watch us finish it off. The process of consuming these drinks and snacks didn’t just take long because we were kids but because we were savoring the moment. 8. Take time to smell the roses not just admire the beauty. That’s an original proverb. I don’t know if drinking that