A Thought....

A delightful short story by Kurt vonnegut. I'd read this years ago in an anthology and thanks to India uncut, I get to relish it, amidst a searing headache, boredom and in between finding never ending bugs in a software application.

A cursory visit to Nick's place leads me to 'Dilbert's blog' with plenty of good posts. And this one's the first post I read(the comments are more entertaining).

Gyan on a rainy Evening. Amidst continuos channel-hopping, the remote stops for a few moments at a particular programme -- a nursery rhyme in which a mother sparrow advises its young one not to play with a young crow. The baby-sparrow asks why and the mother says that if goes out to play with the crows, he too will become black and ugly like them.

The young sparrow replies--"In that case, I must go out with him because there's a fair chance that by playing with me, he'll become white and soft, just like me."

I'm not the baby sparrow yet. I can't make anyone white but I should try not to get eclipsed by the darkness of others. It takes a master to accomodate others and allow his own influence to remove their negativities. I'm not a master, not even in my dreams.

The book I'm browsing through says that a wise man knows how to keep away people who cause nothing but mental irritation. And everything I've learnt until now tells me that your true mettle is tested in how you accomodate unfavourable people, how well you accept the shortcomings of others and allow them to grow instead of keeping them away. What's the meeting point of these two diverse approaches?

I think these two aren't opposites, but different stages in your journey. From an ordinary person who's affected by others, you grow into a wise man who knows how to keep these others away. Then you become a master who can accomodate everyone--saint or sinner-- and like an alchemist, transform them by awakening the true spirit lying dormant within.

Mastery is far away. My next destination should be wisdom--avoiding mental irritation. And the irritation these days is sometimes more from within than from without.