A tug between good and bad and remainder.
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Since my youth, I have been inclined to relate causes and consequences to worldly affairs. In my neighbourhood, an illiterate lady was sympathetic to her closest ones and always prepared herself to support them, though she was practically independent. She had a deep concern for the growing kids in the vicinity in terms of food, shelter, and medicine, who were in dire need of them for survival.
More surprisingly, she had a concern for others who were suffering in any way. I remember one unique story. She at once became sympathetic to a family who were not able to construct their huts in the absence of an approach road. She allowed that family to go through her piece of outdoor space. A hut was constructed using the passage of that lady to reach the hut.
The matter progressed, and both families started living side by side. It was a peaceful coexistence.
Within thirty years, the next generation took command. Financial conditions improved, and comfortable living became the order of the day. The family in the hut was now thinking differently and more confidently. They felt the need to own up to the approach road.
Power was dominant over the words of sympathy and, in a true sense, togetherness. The game of money has been on top. The approach road became the bone of contention. Forces were applied to win the game. Trust between the two families was converted into a tug of war.
A person like me started to read the whole episode that began about thirty years ago. How a sympathetic and humanitarian view of that old lady put her offspring in trouble. How the social pressure was creating more fractures in the dispute.
In simple words, the good deeds of that old lady have had bitter consequences in a short time. How to conclude the episode to take away a lifelong lesson. Confusion is undeniable. How to open the knots in the matter. People were divided in arriving at conclusions for their gains.
I realized that a deep thought may provide some clarity. Instantly, I concluded that this was not one episode. One bona fide episode has been followed by another mala fide episode. Studies suggest that it is happening in all cultures and eras, but we have no time to dissect it. We club many things together and don’t know what the resolution is.
Worldly affairs are not so simple. Let us accept. There is a test of our financial, mental, and moral strengths in all happenings. Everything is not to be decided based on what we see. Something is different inside that we fail to see. The true story is inside. A coconut is hard on the outside but loaded with water on the inside.
In the above story, nothing was wrong on the part of the old lady. Rather, it was a courageous deed. It was to help others live in their own houses. It was an act of empathy. Everything gets distorted and disturbed when money is allowed to twist the whole narrative. It is an instance of losing trust in one another. Trust is more powerful than money, but we easily forget it.
Believing that all good steps will yield good results needs a review. It is our job to do something good today and let the coming days decide the consequences. In the event of a bad ending, start afresh and construct something good over it. This is the trend we need to pursue. We don’t know the obstructions in roughness until it is turned into smoothness.
When someone says that the old lady was the creator of the dispute, I feel bad. I get upset. I argue with them. I explain the matter from separate perspectives and highlight the courage of that lady.
Offspring are suffering because of the bad intentions of people who were given genuine support at a time of distress, which the new generation is ignoring knowingly.
To my mind, the old lady has shown what empathy is, and the men in that hut are shallow thinkers.
