The monk who sold his Ferrari
Have just read this book, which is how to achieve personal happiness (most of which went over my head!), there was one passage that I cannot get out of my mind -
"There was once a feeble old woman whose loving husband died. So she went to live with her son and his wife and daughter. Every day the woman's sight grew worse and her hearing grew worse. Some days her hands trembled so badly the peas on her plate rolled onto the floor and the soup ran from her cup. Her son and his wife couldn't help but be annoyed at the mess she made and one day they said enough was enough. So they set up a little table for the old woman in a corner next to the broom closet and made her eat all of her meals there, alone. She would look at them at mealtimes with tear-filled eyes from across the room, but they hardly talked to her while they ate, except to scold her for dropping a spoon or a fork.
One evening, just before dinner, the little girl was sitting on the floor playing with her building blocks. 'What are you making?' her father asked earnestly. 'I'm building a little table for you and mother' she said, 'so you can eat by yourselves in the corner someday when I get big.' The father and mother were moved to silence for what seemed like eternity. Then they started to weep. In that instant they became aware of the nature of their actions and the sadness they had caused. That night they led the old woman back to her rightful place at their big dinner table and from that day on she ate all her meals with them."
It really made me think that compassion is missing in so many people lives. Our time for old age will come. How did we treat our parents as they aged? T
"There was once a feeble old woman whose loving husband died. So she went to live with her son and his wife and daughter. Every day the woman's sight grew worse and her hearing grew worse. Some days her hands trembled so badly the peas on her plate rolled onto the floor and the soup ran from her cup. Her son and his wife couldn't help but be annoyed at the mess she made and one day they said enough was enough. So they set up a little table for the old woman in a corner next to the broom closet and made her eat all of her meals there, alone. She would look at them at mealtimes with tear-filled eyes from across the room, but they hardly talked to her while they ate, except to scold her for dropping a spoon or a fork.
One evening, just before dinner, the little girl was sitting on the floor playing with her building blocks. 'What are you making?' her father asked earnestly. 'I'm building a little table for you and mother' she said, 'so you can eat by yourselves in the corner someday when I get big.' The father and mother were moved to silence for what seemed like eternity. Then they started to weep. In that instant they became aware of the nature of their actions and the sadness they had caused. That night they led the old woman back to her rightful place at their big dinner table and from that day on she ate all her meals with them."
It really made me think that compassion is missing in so many people lives. Our time for old age will come. How did we treat our parents as they aged? T
posted by joladies at Saturday, October 06, 2007
2 Comments:
I've read this story so many times in different versions... It's just a great one... I couldn't help it, I just read every word again...
Although it's an old story but it has a moral that we should always keep in consideration.
Thanks for sharing.
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