People have a lot of memories from their school time.Good memories, bad ones and even memories that just don't inspire any feelings. Some of them just fade away as time passes but some remain with you till your heart beats.I have a memory, an incident, a story to tell that remains with me after years of leaving my school. A very valuable lesson that i learnt from one of my very loving teachers. It makes me want to move on..to live..to see something good in everything bad that life throws at my face..It helped me in depths of my despair..it helped me in loss and pain and angiush and anxiety..It helped me understand , to a certain extent the mysteries of life..the enigma that is grief...
I was in the seventh standard. 12 years old. My sole objective in life was to come first in class and knock off the Science Olympiad.! To my mind, back then, only science mattered and nothing else..to me, moral science classes were a waste of time. I believed that no one could be taught morals and i was , even back then a big time rationalist. So Moral science class , which happened once a week was when i had bad head aches and stomach aches and had to go to the sick room or the not-so-sport savvy me, developed a sudden interest in sports and games and ran off to basketball practice (in-spite of constant rejection of my plea to be taken on board the school team). My intentions were rarely questioned and i was never caught. One day, we got a new Moral Science teacher. I wasn't able to bunk classes that day and was caught in class. Sr. Marcella walked in with a graceful smile and greeted us warmly.There was something about her..something so warm, so tender and so blessed that i was instantly caught up in her words. She told us a story that first day of her class. i never looked at sorrow and grief and life the same way again.I don't know if this story will help a second person like it helped me. But i sure wish it does and so, here we go.!
"One day, God called a meeting of all the people in the world, all His son's and daughters. Everyone assembled in a beautiful garden in heaven to see God and talk to Him.God, in His regal attire, crown sparkling on His head, His benevolent eyes shining with the limitless and unconditional love for His creation, sat on His throne in the garden,smiling.! People began to tell God their grievances, their complaints, their sorrows.They asked Him why he made them suffer..why He made the world a cruel place..why He put them to tests. God listened for a long time and then raised His hand and rose to speak.He pointed towards a HUGE tree with a zillion branches nearby. He then asked his children to bundle every single one of their sorrows, losses, unhappiness and grief and hang them on the branches of the tree and go back to God. People were perplexed. However, they put all their sorrows together and tied them up on the zillion branches of the tree and walked back to God.God then asked them to go back to the tree and pick any one bundle of sorrows for themselves.It could be any one. Any one bundle of grief which they were prepared to endure in life.People rushed back to the tree ,happily hoping to find a bundle of sorrows which they could endure. Every single one of God's children were sure that any bundle of sorrows other than their own would be endurable. They began to choose from sorrows. They went through all the sorrows of the world, one after another and kept on looking. After what seemed like an eternity, God's children came back with the sorrows they had chosen. There was a certain light of wisdom in their beings. No complaints were heard any longer. They were all very peaceful and calm. God asked them what they had found. Surprisingly every single one had finally chosen his or her OWN bundle of sorrows.!!
God smiled kindly and told his creation: "I gave suffering to you.I also gave you the power to fight your sorrows..to overcome them...to mitigate them..I gave each one of you, burdens which you were capable of carrying, not one ounce more.! You are my creation, very unique, very special and very very powerful..when i created you, i put a small fraction of my power into you and so each of you are God's in your own sphere..just like nothing is impossible to me, nothing is impossible to you..i gave you weapons of wisdom which are far more powerful than your grief and suffering.Go home and live your lives peacefully,with contentment. Love, live and rejoice and my children, the world will be yours."
I do not know how many in my class of 50 still remember this little story..It might sound inconsequential and trivial. But to me,it was the answer..the answer to every question i had asked God in my life. The answer to the questions of every atheist and skeptic.It introduced wisdom in my very scientific world.!I remember my teacher with love and gratitude today. For through a simple story, she gave me the will to live..she showed me the way to acceptance and happiness..She lit a small candle that day, a frail flame..but it still lights my way and sheds a warm glow in the world which is so full of darkness..thank you teacher.. God bless you.!
I was in the seventh standard. 12 years old. My sole objective in life was to come first in class and knock off the Science Olympiad.! To my mind, back then, only science mattered and nothing else..to me, moral science classes were a waste of time. I believed that no one could be taught morals and i was , even back then a big time rationalist. So Moral science class , which happened once a week was when i had bad head aches and stomach aches and had to go to the sick room or the not-so-sport savvy me, developed a sudden interest in sports and games and ran off to basketball practice (in-spite of constant rejection of my plea to be taken on board the school team). My intentions were rarely questioned and i was never caught. One day, we got a new Moral Science teacher. I wasn't able to bunk classes that day and was caught in class. Sr. Marcella walked in with a graceful smile and greeted us warmly.There was something about her..something so warm, so tender and so blessed that i was instantly caught up in her words. She told us a story that first day of her class. i never looked at sorrow and grief and life the same way again.I don't know if this story will help a second person like it helped me. But i sure wish it does and so, here we go.!
"One day, God called a meeting of all the people in the world, all His son's and daughters. Everyone assembled in a beautiful garden in heaven to see God and talk to Him.God, in His regal attire, crown sparkling on His head, His benevolent eyes shining with the limitless and unconditional love for His creation, sat on His throne in the garden,smiling.! People began to tell God their grievances, their complaints, their sorrows.They asked Him why he made them suffer..why He made the world a cruel place..why He put them to tests. God listened for a long time and then raised His hand and rose to speak.He pointed towards a HUGE tree with a zillion branches nearby. He then asked his children to bundle every single one of their sorrows, losses, unhappiness and grief and hang them on the branches of the tree and go back to God. People were perplexed. However, they put all their sorrows together and tied them up on the zillion branches of the tree and walked back to God.God then asked them to go back to the tree and pick any one bundle of sorrows for themselves.It could be any one. Any one bundle of grief which they were prepared to endure in life.People rushed back to the tree ,happily hoping to find a bundle of sorrows which they could endure. Every single one of God's children were sure that any bundle of sorrows other than their own would be endurable. They began to choose from sorrows. They went through all the sorrows of the world, one after another and kept on looking. After what seemed like an eternity, God's children came back with the sorrows they had chosen. There was a certain light of wisdom in their beings. No complaints were heard any longer. They were all very peaceful and calm. God asked them what they had found. Surprisingly every single one had finally chosen his or her OWN bundle of sorrows.!!
God smiled kindly and told his creation: "I gave suffering to you.I also gave you the power to fight your sorrows..to overcome them...to mitigate them..I gave each one of you, burdens which you were capable of carrying, not one ounce more.! You are my creation, very unique, very special and very very powerful..when i created you, i put a small fraction of my power into you and so each of you are God's in your own sphere..just like nothing is impossible to me, nothing is impossible to you..i gave you weapons of wisdom which are far more powerful than your grief and suffering.Go home and live your lives peacefully,with contentment. Love, live and rejoice and my children, the world will be yours."
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