Dear readers,
We continue our journey of forgiveness this week, with another beautiful story about two friends and their journey.
Two friends were walking in a desert. They had very little water left. Soon they started to argue over who will get the last few sips. In the heat of their fight, one friend slapped the other in the face. The friend who was slapped felt hurt. But he said nothing. He wrote in the sand with a twig, ‘Today, my best friend slapped me in the face.’
They journeyed on, and soon came across an oasis. The two friends dove into the water for a quick bath. Suddenly, the friend, who had been slapped earlier, started drowning. His friend swam to his rescue and brought him back to the safety of the shore. Upon recovering from the freight, the friend who just got rescued carved on a stone, ‘Today, my best friend saved my life.’
Looking at that, the other friend asked, ‘When I slapped you, you wrote it in the sand. But when I saved you, you wrote it in stone. Why is that?’
The other friend replied, ‘When someone hurts you, write it in sand. Where the winds of forgiveness can erase it. But when something is done for us, out of love, engrave it in stone. Where the winds of forgetfulness cannot erase it.’
Let us allow ourselves the space to see clearly, in spite of our pain. That way, we can tend to our relationships with utmost love, care and deep understanding. This way we stand to win most of life’s battles while also learning to forbear from retaliating against them. Instead, we surmount them with utmost dignity and grace. Here’s wishing you a deep meaningful life, enriched with the sense to forgive the hurt and cherish the goodness that crosses your path.
Nisha Joshi is the Chief Editor and Teaching Fellow of the Discovery Program of Touching Lives. For her, life is a constant journey of learning, loving, diving into the unknown. She wants to spread the light of stories, poetry and music to the world