I was walking in the
evening near the playground where all the kids from the neighborhood gather in the
evening and play. I have always seen the tall kid who seems to be much better
player than others on almost anything they play. However other thing I had
noted is that he usually screams at the kids not playing well and also mocks
them for their lack of skill. That day I saw this superstar kid sitting in a
corner away from the others and softly sobbing. When asked he told me that they
all stop playing when he goes there. He complained that it was unfair on their
part. So I thought I will tell him one of my stories. Below is a summary of
that story; you may like the story irrespective of the ‘age’ and ‘game’ you are in.
Once there was a farmer
who had a lot of compassion for the animals. He raised cows, Sheep, roosters
and ducks. He would always feed them good food and take good care of them. He
even knew a good deal of medicines to cure if God forbid one of them ever went
sick.
One day he thought that why only these animals, he should rather help all animals. So if he sees a sick rabbit in the fields he will bring it home and take care of it, some of these animals would never leave his house. So over a course of a few months his house became a small zoo with rabbits, Geese, Mice, doves and even a small antelope living in his house. The kids from village would come and play with the animals.
One night it rained
heavily and in the morning while going to his field he saw a small baby
porcupine lying half-conscious in a puddle. His compassionate heart went out
for the poor animal. He tried to look around for the Porcupines parents but they were washed away in the recent rains. So he brought the
porcupine home and nurtured it till it was healthy and started growing.
With the time and care it grew in
to an adult with shiny and strong Quills. The quills were intimidating by
themselves but the fear they caused was compounded by the anger that mister
Porcupine could not control. Very often it will be angry on trivial things
resulting in his quills rising on his back like a million pointed spears.
Soon the animals and the
little kids who used to come to farmers house to play with the animals go so
afraid of the Porcupine that no one would come near it. They all will wave from
a distance. Even farmer’s daughter will leave its food a little far always
afraid that it may harm her.
All this added to
Porcupines unrest and anger and one day having had enough of un-love; the
Porcupine stormed to the farmer and screamed “Bunny gets all the cuddling and the
hugs and I get the neglect. I need to be treated equally.”
The farmer looked at the
Porcupine with surprise and sorrow in his eyes; I wish I could help, he sighed.
They can’t cuddle you because you don’t have furry back to pat or cuddle; and
that is how you have been made by nature. So nothing can be done on that.
However if you could just control your anger and don’t shoot up those quills as
spears on everyone, that may help. You are different from those furry animals;
if only you could use those differences as your strength instead of comparing
and trying to be like the rabbits. The farmer concluded.
The porcupine understood
and immediately decided to drop its anger. Slowly and with effort, it was able
to control the anger and become very gentle. The kids started coming near it
and the rabbits started playing with it (from a safe distance). But the biggest
change came when the Porcupine understood the strength its quills bring. Now
the porcupine is officially the protector of all the animals and the little
kids who come to play in farmer’s house. They all tell how the Porcupine has
scared the fox away with a display of his sharp speared quills and his mock
anger (it doesn’t get angry anymore for real)
Farmer fondly tells the
story to everyone about the Porcupine who complained that the Bunny gets all
the cuddling and hugs while the porcupine gets none. And everyone laughs, even
the Porcupine.
Moral
of the Story:
If we could learn to use our strengths instead of comparing our weaknesses
against other’s strengths, or mocking at other's weaknesses; we can do a lot good to our surroundings but
above all we can do a lot good to ourselves!
