Monday, December 18, 2006
Forbearance
Hello,
When kids deface our house walls.
When mischievous kids deface our house walls what do we do; what is our usual response ? Scold them or smile at them, confront their parents, do the same to their house, inform the police or take legal action against them ? In other words, how should we deal with the problem ?
There were once two naughty boys who ran out of ways to appease their restless spirits. And because they had no birds to target at they rained their shots against the end wall of a row of terraced houses. They did not used stones or pebbles; they used a kind of unripe fruit. There was a fruit called buah lukan in Bahasa Melayu, a sour and acerbic fruit shaped like the grape and about that size; unpleasant to eat even when it was ripe. This fruit was very fitting and suitable for use with the catapult.
What these two boys did was to shoot at this wall and draw a picture of a bird with the stains of the fruit juice. Their skill was not very good and at the end of the session there were clear wet spots all over the wall. The owner did not know about it, but when he did, the sight that met his eyes was very likely to enrage even the mildest of temperament. The whole wall was covered with spattered dark brown spots, this resulted when the fruit juice dried, indelible and permanent. But the owner did not raise a raucous nor make a noise about it. Quietly he repainted the wall, and that was the end of the matter.
Somehow, some boys could not see the seriousness of their mischief. Some days later they repeated their target practice. It was hard to understand, but they really messed up the newly repainted wall again. One would not be wrong to think that they were inviting trouble.
But there was no trouble. The owner simply repainted the wall again. He did not say anything at all about the whole matter. He simply repaired the damage. Some may say that he had great forbearance, while others can say that he could not know the culprits.
But this man really knew something that many wise men did not. Because his wall remained clean after that. And there was no unpleasantness nor scar, or strained relationship or enmity with his neighbours or the kids; and there was peace, just as normal. What a really novel price for peace, enduring peace !
Understanding and forbearance are great attributes for peace.
Have a nice day,
Ronald
When kids deface our house walls.
When mischievous kids deface our house walls what do we do; what is our usual response ? Scold them or smile at them, confront their parents, do the same to their house, inform the police or take legal action against them ? In other words, how should we deal with the problem ?
There were once two naughty boys who ran out of ways to appease their restless spirits. And because they had no birds to target at they rained their shots against the end wall of a row of terraced houses. They did not used stones or pebbles; they used a kind of unripe fruit. There was a fruit called buah lukan in Bahasa Melayu, a sour and acerbic fruit shaped like the grape and about that size; unpleasant to eat even when it was ripe. This fruit was very fitting and suitable for use with the catapult.
What these two boys did was to shoot at this wall and draw a picture of a bird with the stains of the fruit juice. Their skill was not very good and at the end of the session there were clear wet spots all over the wall. The owner did not know about it, but when he did, the sight that met his eyes was very likely to enrage even the mildest of temperament. The whole wall was covered with spattered dark brown spots, this resulted when the fruit juice dried, indelible and permanent. But the owner did not raise a raucous nor make a noise about it. Quietly he repainted the wall, and that was the end of the matter.
Somehow, some boys could not see the seriousness of their mischief. Some days later they repeated their target practice. It was hard to understand, but they really messed up the newly repainted wall again. One would not be wrong to think that they were inviting trouble.
But there was no trouble. The owner simply repainted the wall again. He did not say anything at all about the whole matter. He simply repaired the damage. Some may say that he had great forbearance, while others can say that he could not know the culprits.
But this man really knew something that many wise men did not. Because his wall remained clean after that. And there was no unpleasantness nor scar, or strained relationship or enmity with his neighbours or the kids; and there was peace, just as normal. What a really novel price for peace, enduring peace !
Understanding and forbearance are great attributes for peace.
Have a nice day,
Ronald
# posted by chunmu @ 12:38 AM 
