HOW TO COMPLETE YOUR BOOK?

 

During the last twenty years, I must have met this man – a very intelligent man – at least twenty-scores times… And, every time I meet him, I am bound to hear from him about one thing: his book!

“I am writing a book – an inspiring Novel… It is almost ready,” he had told me this when I had met him for the first time. Yes, that was twenty years ago. Today, just an hour ago, I met him, once again… and, this man told me exactly the same thing: “… My book is almost ready!”

This man, now 70, is still writing his inspiring Novel. It is almost ready!

I have told you, that this man is incredibly intelligent and capable. Writing a book, for this man, should not take such a long time. So, every time I hear this man’s famous confession – the latest up-date on his book – I smile in my heart. “Why is the Novel not coming out? Why, for twenty years, it is ‘almost ready’?” I ask myself.

Honestly, I wonder, if this man has ever written even a line… let alone ‘it is almost ready’!

“Want to eat an elephant?” I had this poster of an elephant in my class. My students would be excited by the funny question. Then, they would come close to the poster and read the fine line at the bottom:

“Eat one spoon at a time!”

“That’s how you will be able

 to eat your elephants, my young friends,” 

I would remind them. 

“You will be able to complete your course…

 do well – brilliantly… 

Yes, only by eating your elephant 

one spoon at a time.” 

  

“Don’t wait to start. Start. If you postpone, the elephant will scare you,” I would drill in their heads. “The most auspicious time is ‘now’… Even the Mount Everest is conquered only this way – climbing one step at a time.” I would use that over-used proverb:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, at a time.”

I would emphasize, “You couldn’t have walked the way you now do… with out those baby steps that your had taken once!”

So, my students dream to come out in flying colors at the end of the year. I hold a hammer and tell them, on the very first day, “Forget those flying colors at the end… forget that grand, glorious flight… take the first flutter… take the baby step… eat the first spoon… climb the first step to your Mount Everest..."

The ‘intelligent man’ lacks this wayside intelligence. He is waiting for the right stars to appear, he is waiting for the heavens to open… 

The book is almost ready!

You must’ve heard this beautiful story when you were small. I want you to forget it for a while and lend me your ears.

The Sun was burning… it was a hot afternoon. The sea looked tamed… it was a low tide. There were thousands of star-fish on the hot sea-bed… And, a man was busy bending down, picking up a little star-fish, taking a few steps towards the receded sea… and hurling the tiny creature back into the sea… Then, this man would come back to the endless expanse of the sea-bed, bend down to pick the next star-fish, take those steps unto the sea, and hurl he would the little creature of the sea – yes, back where it belonged… Then, once again, he would return to the burning beach, bend down, pick up one more star-fish, walk forward to the sleeping waves… and gently offer the innocent fish to her mother’s home… And, this stranger would come back, all over again, to the overwhelmingly mighty sea-bed, bend down…

When this was going on, another stranger was left puzzled. “My friend, what do you think you are doing?” he couldn’t stop himself from asking, “The beach is so vast, and there are millions of those star-fishes out here… What difference does it make if you go on like this?”

The man bent down, once more, picked the next waiting star-fish, went forward to the silent sea, and lovingly tossed the creature back where it belonged. “It does a difference to this one, my friend,” he declared with a smile.

Then, this man came back to the blazing beach, bent down to pick one more star-fish, moved towards the ocean… and said “Goodbye, my dear… I love you from my heart!”

When this story was first told, it was told to teach me – how, I, an ordinary individual, could solve the overwhelming problems of this world… How, a simple stranger like me could make a difference in this gigantic world!

Today, I thought I would recount this fable to teach some one – maybe my friend, may be you… maybe myself – how to complete the book… which is ‘almost complete’!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pics.: Gloria Pinto