WHAT WILL YOU DO WITH THAT 'POUND OF FLESH', SIR?
Pic.: Ashish Srivastava
“To forgive is
to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”
“Mr. D’Cunha, I am not a Jesus Christ!” I still remember
how, ten years ago, this highly-educated lady, who lived in a large apartment
with her highly-educated husband and son, had blasted on my face, angrily.
For over six years, this lady and a couple of her friends
were engaged in a bitter conflict with another group. It was purely an
ego-battle, as all conflicts are. I had taken an initiative, along with some
others, to prevail upon this group. While the other group was willing to
reconcile, this lady and her friends weren’t. They were adamant, and not
willing to compromise...
Life may be too short... But, it did not seem to be so,
for them. To err may be human... But, they believed in revenge. Like Shylock
did (in the play ‘Merchant of Venice’), they would never rest until they got
their enemy’s pound of flesh!
“What will you do with that pound of flesh, sir?” some
sensible soul had tried to prevail upon the hell-bent Shylock.
“Catch fish, my friend,” the merciless moneylender had
reacted without even blinking his eyes, “if nothing else, I would catch fish with my enemy’s
flesh!”
So, it is over sixteen years, now. The lady is a senior
citizen, today. But, she is unwilling to climb-down!
It is the choice she has made for herself.... So, “SO BE
IT”!
None
of us here, on this earth, is a Jesus Christ. Imitation of Christ – ‘Showing
the other cheek’... ‘Walking the extra-mile’... ‘Giving your loin, too’... And,
loving our enemies... forgiving them... blessing them... Yes, all these seem
too dumb and too out-of-the-world ideas... Too Impractical... Too idealistic.
So, what appeals to us easily, is the other side of the spectrum: An
eye-for-an-eye... Blood-for-blood!
When I look back at that episode, and when I replay the
blunt words of that lady, I feel really sorry for her. I feel like going back and
telling her, all over again: “Ma’am, yes you and I are not Jesus Christs. And,
that’s precisely why we should learn to let-go. For, we do not have the
strength to carry so much of a load in our hearts... We are mortals; we need to
unburden!”
Like several other lessons in life, I think, the lesson
called ‘Letting-go’ - which comes from our deepest thirst to live in freedom,
peace and harmony – should be learnt by all of us, early in life...
Else, as in the case of Shylock, some sensible soul will,
surely, ask us: “Of what use is your PdD, sir?”
Yes, of what use is my ‘phata hua dhol’?
GERALD D’CUNHA
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-- Hitesh Kapoor