"OF COURSE, I WANT TO GO TO HEAVEN... BUT, NOT NOW!"
Pic.: Chandrashekar Varier
‘Everybody
wants to go to heaven…
but, nobody
wants to die!”
When I did not see Varun* in my class today, I called him
up. He didn’t pick up my call. In a few minutes, I saw the message: “Sorry sir,
I failed to inform you… I am out of station.”
I, immediately, forwarded Varun’s message to
his mom… I was sure, there was more to it.
Varun’s mom called me back and spoke to me
for more than fifteen minutes… Yes, about her frustrations… How she was unable
to make him see the point… How he got influenced by his friends more than his
parents… How disorganized he was… How his priorities were all wrong… How
shallow was the motivation… How clueless was he about his goal… and, yes, how
insensitive he was towards his parents’ struggle and sacrifice… Yes, as a
mother of rebellious teenager, she was
bleeding…
And, on this side of Varun’s world, I, his
teacher, too, was bleeding… I struggled with the similar issues… Wondered why young
students like Varun did not see the point… Why they got more influenced by
their friends than me… Why their motivation was so low… Why they were so
clueless about their goals… and, yes, why they were so insensitive towards their
teachers’ pain and struggle!
But, then, in the end, it only leaves me
smiling… Every parent and every teacher was, once, a teenager like Varun… and,
I know how it was for their parents and teachers....
What parents like Varun’s mom and his teachers
like me promise him is a distant future… A heaven of hereafter. What Varun –
and all other Varuns – are interested in is the present happiness… a heaven of
here and now!
Once, a parish priest of a church started getting frequent
complaints, that many of his parish members spent lots of time and money in the
country liquor-joint. So, one night, the angry priest stormed into the bar and
was shocked to see so many of his faithful there, all blown!
“You shameless sinners,” the
priest blasted out, “get out of this hell… right now!”
Terrified, every one of them
obeyed the command of their priest.
“Now, listen to me carefully,”
the priest announced, “Those of you who want to go to heaven, line up on my
side.”
Every one of them threw himself
on the holy-spot… but not our Johnny!
“And you, Johnny,” father asked
in surprise, “You think, you don’t’want to go to heaven?”
“Of course father, I want to,” clarified
Johnny, unable to hold himself firmly on the ground, “But, NOT NOW!”
It seems, everyone – including the priest - went
to hell… except Johnny-the-Great!
Don’t tell me, right now, as I write this piece, Varun’s
mom and his teacher are blissful here in this heaven… and Varun and his four
friends are suffering in hell…
Yes, in that lovely farmhouse swimming-pool!
*Name Changed
GERALD D’CUNHA
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