Thursday, December 02, 2004

chicken soup for the soul - from email

Sometimes we spend time asking who is responsible or who to blame, whether in a relationship, in a job or with the people we know. We miss out some warmth in human relationship to give each other support. Treasure what you have. Just a little story for you~

A boy was born to a couple after eleven years of marriage. They were a loving couple and the boy was the apple of their eyes. When the boy was around two years old, one morning the husband saw a medicine bottle open.

He was late for work so he asked the wife to cap the bottle and keep it in the cupboard. The mother, preoccupied in the kitchen totally forgot the matter. The boy saw the bottle and playfully went to the bottle and, fascinated with its colour, drank it all. It happened to be a poisonous medicine meant for adults in small dosages.

When the child collapsed, the mother hurried him to the hospital, where he died. The mother was stunned. She was terrified how to face her husband. When the distraught father came to the hospital and saw the dead child, he looked at his wife and uttered just four words.

QUESTIONS :
1. What were the four words?
2. What is the implication of this story?

ANSWER :
The husband just said "I Love You Darling" .
The husband's totally unexpected reaction is proactive behaviour. The child is dead. He can never be brought back to life. There is no point in finding fault with the mother. Besides, if only he have taken time to keep the bottle away, this will not happen. No point to blame. She had also lost her only child.

What she needed at that moment was consolation and sympathy from the husband. That is what he gave her. If everyone can look at life with this kind of perspective, there would be much fewer problems in the world. "A journey of a thousand miles begins with but with a single step."
Take off all your envies, jealousies, unforgiveness, selfishness, and fears AND you will find things are actually not as difficult as you think."