CARRYING OUR OWN LANTERNS
The TY B’Com results are just out. A young-girl, who has
done extremely well, called me to break the good news. Understandably, she was
on top of the world!
Before we ended the
conversation, I asked her, “So, what is the plan?”
“Sir, I will be
working for a couple of years for experience,” she told me; “I will do my MBA
after that.” Then, she added a line, which has made me write this post, today.
She said, “Sir, first-hand knowledge is, always, first-hand… Our own!”
“Wow, how true,
dear!” I exclaimed in my mind, “How I wish many thought the way you did!”
Two days ago, I had recounted
a popular-story: the blind-man carrying
a lantern in the night.
This story has been
told by many, in different versions, to convey a different message each time.
One such version, immediately, came to my mind.
Once a blind-man had been to
another town to visit his friend. Late that evening, when the blind-man was
ready to leave, his friend lit a lantern and handed it over to the blind-man,
saying, “My friend, soon it will be dark outside; please carry this lantern
along.”
The
blind-man was amused. “I am a blind-man, my dear friend,” he laughed at the
suggestion of his friend, “for me, a night and a day are both same.”
“This
lamp is not for you,” the friend explained, “this is for others to see a
blind-man walking in the darkness.”
“That
makes a lot of sense,” the blind-man agreed, “I will carry the lamp with me to
wade safely through the darkness.”
Thus,
that night, the blind-man, holding in his hand the lantern given by his friend,
was on his way home. Along the way, a passerby saw the blind-man with lantern
in his hand and asked curiously, “Tell me O stranger, what good can that
lantern serve you in this darkness?”
The
blind-man had a ready logic packed and parceled by his friend while leaving.
So, he quickly replied, “This lantern is for you so see a blind man walking in
the darkness.”
“But,
my dear stranger,” the passerby pointed, “the light is long out of your
lantern!”
I love this version of the old tale…
Today, when this young-girl
was telling me that she needed to light and carry her own lantern along her
journey through the outside darkness, I knew how sensible she was…
Others’ lanterns are,
always, others’…
They can serve us only so much, and so far…
We need to light and
carry our own lanterns…
We need to open our
eyes!
GERLAD D’CUNHA
Pic.: Gloria Pinto
Comments
.. Vivek