Gerald D'Cunha

  “The greatest gift you can give your child is not material possession; it’s the gift of discipline.” Unknown   I have been teaching teenaged students for decades. Broadly speaking, I get to see two kinds of parents of these young students of mine… The first kind - I would say, the majority - shield their young ones fiercely… They defend their young ones’ behaviour and actions, even when correction is required. These parents are touchy, overprotective about their young children. The second kind - I would say, the minority – don’t shield their young ones where correction is required. They are firm when it comes to discipline. For, they know the old truth: The best time to shape a tree is when it is a sapling… Once hardened, it is impossible to shape the tree. One of these mothers, who firmly believes in shaping her teenager before he gets ‘hardened’, has been very, very consistent in her approach… She knows her only son like the back of her hand. She knows when ...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty H ow to use our knowledge is, in deed, more important than how to gain it! O nce, Mulla Nasrudin had proceeded on a long journey to another town. As advised, he had carried with him a fine sword and a spear for his safety. When it was dark, a robber, armed barely with a stick in his hand, attacked Mulla and sped away, robbing him of all his belongings, including his fine sword and spear! On reaching the town he had journeyed to, Mulla began to narrate to everyone his misfortune. But, whoever heard Mulla’s tragic story, were left amused. “Mulla, how in the world could a thief, with just a stick in his hand, rob you off when your hands were armed with such a fine sword and a spear?” “That’s exactly the problem... and, I am trying to explain it to each one of you,” Nasrudin said vehemently, “Tell me, how could I fight that thief when my hands already had so much to carry?” “You don’t understand,” Mulla justified! W ell, as it is sai...

Pic.: Neerja Panchal    I think, one of the surest roadblocks on our way to peace is our incessant habit of justifying our actions. We know, very well, that our justifications do not change our realities. Still, we keep on justifying our actions… till the point our hearts are completely depleted of peace… Our arguments stem from this… When consumed by the obsession to win an argument, at any cost, there is no way we can see the reality, that such winning, invariably, comes at the expense of our peace… How can we win without defeating – or suppressing - the other person? Most of the time, we allow ourselves to falsely believe that we have won - scored a point - over another person… But, actually, we have only used our powers of position, our authority, just to shut the other person up… If shouting, screaming, bullying, threatening and blackmailing have brought in us the feeling of winning, then, it is time we did a quick reality c...