DETATCHMENT

Pic.: Manoj Nair

When I was small, I used to hear the Father in my church telling us this story about Jesus. A rich man, once, asks Jesus: “I have been obeying all the Commandments. What more should I do to enter the Kingdom of God?”

Jesus looks at the man for a while and replies: “Leave behind all your wealth and come with me.”

The man becomes sad and walks away.

Jesus, then, tells the crowd: “It’s as difficult for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God as it is for a camel to walk through the eye of a needle.”

The story was very interesting. But, I never fully understood the message, till very recently.

There was this man, who had, long back, borrowed some money from me in his difficult days. Then, many years passed by; he kept breaking his promises. He would promise me, and, when the day came, he would fail, yet again. I would get angry, mad… often, scream and shout in others’ presence. But, it had no effect. It would disturb me… I didn’t know how to deal with the situation… My mind was searching for a way out…

Then, one day, in one of the Workshops I had attended, the speaker made this impromptu comment to drive home the point, that, ‘we had the power to choose our happiness’. He asked the audience, “What will you do with your debtor, who keeps dodging you on and on, and you fail in every attempt to recover your money?”

No one seemed to agree with what the speaker said: “You have the choice to write off the debt, if peace is dearer to you!”

But, I agreed…

I wrote off my debt, then and there!

GERALD D”CUNHA

P.S.:

In 1990, THE DAWN CLUB had published a small book by the title – ‘The Zest’. It had carried some eighteen short and medium-sized passages written by me. The book instantly became one of our very popular books; and, eventually, it was reprinted several times.

We guess, one of the main reasons for its popularity was that it spoke to the reader in ‘first person’… He felt as though he was talking to himself… a soliloquy. Yes, the reader could instantly connect to the voice in the book… and, the message simply seeped into his heart!

The above passage – ‘DETACHMENT’ – is a popular passage from the book.