THE BURDEN OF OUR HUMPS
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“Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump;
you may be freeing him from being a camel.”
―
So much is said about our uniqueness. Yes, by now, all of us agree on our
‘unique’ features – our gifts, talents and endowments. Often, someone keeps
drilling this fact – about our uniqueness - into our minds; and, often, we keep
drilling it into others’. A teacher like me does it to his students… almost till
they drop dead on being drilled so deep, every day!
Today, for example, I was trying to do the drilling work on this
16-year-old… That, he was a Commerce student and he had to be good at the basic
calculations. Well, from what I knew of this boy, he was certainly not a ‘special
child’… He was a normal child with his own special endowments… “Beta, you are a Commerce student,” I
kept drilling, “So, enjoy the calculations… Love the work you do… Show me some
enthusiasm… You charge me… I charge you… I charge you… You charge me…”
But, the young one only seemed puzzled!
Looking at his puzzled face, I remembered the story of a mother camel
and her child. I told the class this story:
THEN, WHY ARE WE HERE?
“One day, a mother and a baby camel
were lying around under a tree.
Then, the baby camel asked, ‘Mama, why
do we have humps?’
The mother camel gently answered, ‘My
child, we are desert animals. We have the humps to store water; so that, we can
survive with very little water.’
The baby camel thought for a moment,
and then asked, ‘Ok Mama. Tell me, why are our legs long and our feet rounded?’
The mother lovingly replied, ‘They are to
help us walk long in the desert.’
After a short pause, the baby asked
again, ‘Mama, why are our eyelashes long? Sometimes, they get in my way.’
The mother patiently explained, ‘Honey,
those long thick eyelashes protect our eyes from the desert sand when it blows hard
in the wind.’
The little camel was only puzzled after getting all these answers from
his mother. He expressed it, ‘I got it Mama... the hump is to store water when
we are in the desert, the legs are for walking through the desert, and these
eyelashes are to protect our eyes from the desert sand. But, then, why are we
here in the Zoo?'”
When I finished with the story, I could see a sparkle on my on baby camel’s
face… I had told him why we had huge humps, long legs and big eyelashes… But, I
had not told him why we were in the ‘Zoo’…
I had to find it for myself… My baby has to do it for himself, you see!
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: tripadvisor.com
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