THE BOON OF SAND AND STONE

Pic.: Chetna Shetty

When the clouds in my mind pass, I can see clearly this sight:

In life, the people who love me, care for me, kind to me and wish me well are many times more than the people who hate me, detest me, hurt me and wish ill for me… Similarly, people are loving and kind to me more often than they are unloving and unkind to me…

Today, if God came down and asked me to pick one boon which  I would need the most – to live life sanely, zestfully and peacefully -  I would, without thinking twice, ask for this one:

“God, when people are unloving, unkind, ungrateful and hurting, give me the wisdom and strength to write it on the soft-and-gentle sand… Yes, so that my feelings of hurt and pain would get washed away, soon, when the winds of love, forgiveness and compassion come by…

And, God, when people are loving, kind, grateful and empowering, give me the wisdom and strength to write it on the hard-and-enduring stone… Yes, so that it remains there, forever chiseled, even when the meanest of mean storm comes by!”

No matter how much I wish, that people around me – including my nearest and dearest ones – should not hurt me, they do.  And, no matter how much I sulk because of it, the truth remains, that they love me and care for me more often than they hurt me, and are unkind!

So, we need to ask God to give us the boon of sand and stone… Else, this life would be a desert… a wasteland!

On Saturday evening, in our Public-speaking session, 25-year-old Rohit shared with us the old story of Sand and Stone…

Once two close friends were travelling in a desert. An argument cropped up and one of them slapped hard the other. The friend who was slapped was shocked, hurt and angry… But, then, it was his close friend who had slapped… He went through the hurt feelings for a while, then bent down and wrote on the sand:

‘TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND HURT ME.’

Then, they moved on… Quite a distance later, they came across an oasis. Being thirsty and tired, they decided the quench their thirst and take bath, too. And, all of a sudden, the friend who was slapped began to drown. The other friend, who was alert and agile, swung into action and saved his helpless friend…

Naturally, the saved friend was overwhelmed with gratitude and love… After passing through this feeling of amazing grace in his heart, he bent down and chiseled on the hard stone next to him:

‘TODAY, MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE’.

Like these two best friends, we all are walking though our life, here… And, we know how our best friends – all our nearest and dearest ones – are…  Yes, we know, that they are loving, caring and kind to us more often than they are unloving, uncaring and unkind. Imagine, if we were to walk through our life doing the opposite… write about their goodness on the sand and chisel their harshness on the stone… what kind of life ours would be...

A real desert… a wasteland! 

GERALD D’CUNHA