SOMETHING THAT REALLY HIT ME……….
It was early in the morning that day. We i.e. my mother and I were bidding my maternal uncle goodbye. He was scheduled to catch the 8.30 flight to Bangalore. We were just waiting for a taxi to turn up when a jogger passed by from the front of our house. As is my dog Snoopy’s custom, he kept staring at that jogger. For some unknown reason even we were staring at that jogger. That jogger looked at us and then turned his attention to Snoopy. The jogger’s face burst into a smile and he waved a friendly hand at Snoopy. Snoopy too gave a few enthusiastic barks. The jogger gave a short laugh and went his way.
So you might be wondering what is the point of this……..well, its true that there is nothing extraordinary about this. Even I, at that time did not find this incident to be of any special importance. Actually it’s what my uncle said after observing this that really hit me on the head. He said, “Look, that man greeted Snoopy knowing that he will get a better response from a dog.”
Isn’t it very true? Otherwise why would a man not greet another man but a dog? And this is not just the one time. I have to admit that Snoopy is more popular than anybody in our family. He attracts scores of people- children, teenagers, the elders, my colony people and so many strangers that it totally amazes me.
Before I used to frown with impatience looking at how people really pamper their dogs. But now the reason is becoming clearer to me. Unknowingly even I do the same with my dog, knowing that however he reacts, it will be true and sincere.
After my uncle went, I went to my room and remembered what many people had told me and I had come to believe, that man is a social animal. Now it seems like the biggest irony to me………………….
Note: let me assure you, this isn’t a tale I have made up. It actually happened with me. I hope after reading this you will realize that we have some serious thinking and reviewing to do.
- the hobbit
1 comment:
Hi Sukanyaa...
A bit too ong a comment, but u may want to read a story similar to ur experience..
Regards
Vasuki
Who Packed My Parachute......
Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam . After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.
One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk . You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied.
Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.
The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."
Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform, a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said, "Good morning, how are you?" or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't even know.
"Now," Plumb asks his audience, "who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory --- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.
Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.
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