Joseph Addison wrote: “What sculpture is to a block of marble, Education is to the soul”. There is the story of a child who was studying in the primary section of a school. She had to pass through a park to reach her school. One day, in the Park, she saw a sculptor working on a huge rock chipping away parts with a chisel and a hammer.
Out of curiosity, the child asked the sculptor: “What are you doing to the rock?” The sculptor replied: “You will see after a few days”. Everyday, the child used to stop in front of the rock to watch the progress. It was still a rock with some parts removed by the sculptor. After about a fortnight, when the child was watching the rock, she saw the figure of Mahatma Gandhi emerging slowly out of it. She asked the sculptor: “How did you know that Mahatma Gandhi was inside the rock?” The sculptor smiled and replied: “Well, by removing the unwanted parts. My child that is what you are doing through education in the school. You remove the unwanted parts and keep the genuine you”.
There are other teachers in life apart from the ones in the school. The parent is a teacher teaching us what we should preserve and what we should discard. My own father used to say: “Honesty pays because when you are honest, you don’t have to remember what you said in the past. If you are dishonest, you have to remember many false things and reinforce it by repeating it”. Growing up children, sometimes become teachers. My brother used to read out passages from the newspapers, like a taxi driver returning the purse of the passenger who forgot to take it while getting down from the taxi. On another occasion, he read out an item about a vegetable vendor, who went to the home of a customer at night and returned some money as the customer had given the vendor a 500 rupee note instead of a 100 rupee note. There are people in this world who adhere to values and stick to them, come what may.
My friend narrated a story of a boy staying in a hill station who quarreled with his mother and shouted: “I hate you; I hate you”. He ran out of the house, which was opposite a hill. He went on shouting “I hate you”. An echo came from the hill “I hate you”. The boy got frightened, ran home and told the mother: “There is someone behind the Hill shouting “I hate you”. The mother understood, smiled and said: “Now go out to the same spot and shout “I love you”. Back came the reply “I love you”. Later the mother explained that there was no one behind the Hill; it was only an echo. She said: “That is life, my son. Whatever you say or do, there will be an echo, a rebound and a return”. James A. Garfield wrote: “There are men and women who make the world better just by being the kind of people they are. They have the gift of kindness or courage or integrity. It really matters very little, whether they are doing a business or bringing up a family. They teach the truth by living it”. There was that little boy studying in the school and it was Teachers-Parents meet. His mother who was otherwise beautiful had a scar on the right side of the face. The boy was embarrassed what other parents and the teachers would think of his mother. After a dialogue with the teacher, the mother came out accompanied by the teacher. The teacher asked the mother: “You look lovely but how did you get that scar on your face?” The mother replied: “Some years ago when my son was smaller, there was a fire in the room where he was sleeping. I happened to notice it and as I was rescuing him, a leap of flame hit my face, but I was otherwise unhurt. That left a scar but I don’t mind it”. The boy was ashamed and ran to the mother, and cried. We live only once in this world. That one life makes the difference because we made that difference by doing good noble act. It is upto us to make the difference or get into the groove or rut which will make no difference to anyone or the world we live in.
Ultimately, the man or woman who lives a purposeful life makes the difference altering his own life and those who come in contact with him. It also makes a vast difference separating the evolved human from unevolved animal. The human being can think, use discrimination, distinguish right from wrong and that makes all the difference living in this world.
