A ROCK DOESN'T BLEED

If you kick a rock, it won't bleed; but, your foot will. How angry you are, how frustrated, how justified... the rock will not understand. You better take your anger and frustration in some other way, try to justify in a saner way. A rock is a rock... It has no blood, no life. You better understand.

I thought this way, just a few nights ago. A young couple, who stayed on the third floor of one of our buildings, was kicking the lift angrily, and frantically. I happened to pass by the scene.

"What happened?" I asked them. Being the Chairman had given me that licence... at least to encounter gently an agitated member.

"What happened?" the couple countered. "For fifteen minutes, we have been stranded here; they do this all the time," the young lady shouted.

"Who? What they do?" I asked.

"They don't close the lift door properly," the man replied.

"But, sir, the lift is down... and the complaint has been lodged...Any moment, the technician is expected," I informed.

"No, it was working just a while ago; it is the same old habit of keeping the door open," the lady argued.

I myself had followed up with the lift people, and hence, I knew I was simply arguing with this annoyed couple. "Let's have some patience," I said gently.

"What patience, sir? We have come from office, after a hard day's work... and, we have to face this," the lady yelled.

"I understand ma'am. But, the lift won't. You think, by kicking it, you can bring it down?" I registered my displeasure and disapproval in a more assertive way.

Luckily, they did not flare up. Instead, both of them began to climb the stairs. I heard them grumbling, though... till they reached their door on the third floor.

"It is just the third floor... and, you are young. Bloody, you must be ashamed," I shouted in my mind. I thought of taking to their house at least half-a-dozen senior citizens from our society who gracefully manage their lives in spite of frequent breakdowns of lifts. "They don't grumble the way you do... They don't kick, okay?" I argued in silence.

But, then, if I swear in silence, who will listen? A rock is a rock... It has no blood, no life.

The technician had set right the lift within fifteen minutes from the time the couple stopped kicking. Their feet must have been hurt badly, that night.

GERALD D'CUNHA

Comments

Girish Dhameja said…
This reminds me an incident that when i use to come home from my office i always use to yell to keep the fan on as soon as i enter. One day there was a power failure and i was thinking to whom should i yell. I stopped yelling from that day onwards. Life indeed is a book. The more we read the more we learn.
Thx.
Gerald D'Cunha said…
Hi Girish,

Thanks for the prompt feedback.

That means, even the fan cannot bleed!

Let's take heart.

Gerry

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