Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Story: An Act of Kindness

A four year old boy was in the market with his six year old sister. Suddenly the boy found that his sister was lagging behind. He stopped and looked back. His sister was standing in front of a toy shop and was watching something with great interest. The boy went back to her and asked, "Do you want something?" The sister pointed at the doll. The boy held her hand and like a responsible elder brother, gave that doll to her and the sister was very happy.

The shopkeeper was watching everything and was getting amused at the matured behavior of the boy. Now the boy went to the counter and asked the shopkeeper, "What is the cost of this doll, Sir!" The shopkeeper was a cool man and had experienced the odds of life. So he asked the boy affectionately, "Well, what can you pay?" The boy took out all the shells he had collected from the sea shore from his pocked and gave them to the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper started counting them as if he were counting currency. The little boy asked him worriedly, "Is it less?" The shopkeeper said, "No, No… these are more than the cost. So I will return the remaining." Saying so, he kept only 4 shells with him and returned the rest. The boy happily kept those shells back in his pocket and went away with his sister.

A servant in that shop got very surprised watching all these. He asked his master, "Sir! You gave away such a costly doll just for four shells?!" The shopkeeper said with a smile, "Well, for us these are mere shells. But for that boy, these shells are very precious. And at this age he does not understand what money is, but when he grows up, he definitely will. And when he remembers that he purchased a doll with shells instead of money, he will remember me and think that world is full of Good people. My simple act of Kindness could make him one such."

No comments:

Post a Comment