DAD, YOU ARE WRONG

A father had two sons… One good, one bad.

The good son was asked: “What made you so good?”

“My father,” he replied.

“How?”

“My father was an evil man… He had all the vices in the world… He drank the whole day, abused and assaulted us and our mother… We were frightened of him. So, I decided not to become like him.”

The bad son was asked the same question: “What made you so bad?”

“My father,” was the reply.

“Why?”

“Because, he was an evil man… He had all the vices in the world… He drank the whole day, abused and assaulted us and our mother… We were frightened of him. So, he made me what I am today!”

I was first introduced to this familiar story in Shiv Khera’s famous book, “YOU CAN WIN’.

Yes, we have the power to ‘choose’. Period…

The world doesn’t make us… We make ourselves. Thereby, we make our own world…

16-year-old Utsav Miitra wrote the following story for our latest book - ‘I AM GOOD, THE WORLD IS GOOD’… “Jaisi Drishti, Waisi Shristi’.

It’s a powerful story of a father and his son, which will bring home the truth: “We may inherit our scripts from our parents. But, we have the right and the duty – and, above all the ‘choice’ - to rewrite our own.

DAD, YOU ARE WRONG

- Utsav Mitra (16)

We have, often, heard of children carrying their parents’ traits. Some traits may include height and intelligence, while some even carry their parents’ professions. Like, a doctor’s child becoming a doctor, an engineer’s child becoming an engineer etc… Even a small-time blacksmith to a jeweller, we have seen such children who take up their father’s profession. But, is it necessary for an evil person’s child to become influenced with toxic thoughts like his parents’?

Here is a little story:

On March 10, 1957, a Saudi national, who was among the wealthiest non-royal persons in the country, had a son born to him. Yes, you can imagine the fortune the man had acquired from his successful construction business to be among the wealthiest persons in an oil-rich state. The son received the best education money could afford in those days. The boy was described as a very hard-working student with interests in poetry and literature when he was pursuing a degree in economics and, some say, civil engineering. He, also, like any other students of his age, had interest in football and was an avid fan of the English club Arsenal F.C. Everyone thought, that after receiving the best education in expensive schools, the boy would start working in his father’s successful and promising business just like his brothers. But, destiny had a different plan for him. Straight after graduating from college in 1979, he joined the Afghan Mujahedeen, a terrorist group, which was against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Yes, this man was none other than the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York and the person responsible for the deaths of thousands - Osama Bin Laden!

This means, that, even if you receive the best education, but, if your mind has impure and toxic beliefs of your own, no one can help you from being the most hated man on earth.

Here is another story:

Omar Bin Laden, the son of Osama, was born in the hostile environment around his father’s terrorist empire. He described his father as a very strict but warm person. In April 2001, just before 9/11, he broke off contact with his father after he was asked to pick up a rifle at an arms meeting he accompanied his father to. According to Omar, his father never forced him to join Al Qaida but told him, that he was the son chosen to carry on his father’s profession. He grew up with his father and around his terrorist life. But, he refused to be like his father and even said to the media, “As the son of Bin Laden, I am truly sorry for all the terrible things which have happened and the grief that lingers in many hearts.”

This proves, that his heart was not filled with the impure and toxic beliefs his father’s mind was filled with, but good thoughts which repelled him from the ugly life his father led.

In the end, I would like to say, that there are only two categories of people in this world - good people and bad people. It is upon us to decide which category we should belong to.

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Anil Bedi