Stop The Child's Cry
The little child is a stranger to me, but he says for him I am no stranger. He keeps visiting me whenever I am alone with my own thoughts. But lately he has been complaining very frequently and troubles me a lot. I try to listen to him as I sympathize with him but there is really nothing much I can do for him. He does not understand that and continue to crib and moan to a point where I feel like scolding him harshly.
He says he has been missing the simple but real joy and pleasures of life for such a long time that he feels it is getting unbearable with each passing day. He says his life is very dull and tiring, very stressful and tense!
He recalls the days when he had bunked classes to go to a nearby date tree to throw stones and collect the falling dates. There used to be other boys who would compete with him in this, so one day he was so focused on catching a falling date that he failed to notice that the big stone was also falling down right behind it. The result was, the child successfully caught the falling date like an expert fielder while the stone fell right on his head, puncturing a hole with lots of bleeding. He was rushed to the hospital, ended up having three stitches, bed ridden for a month and oh, not to forget…he got some solid scolding and ear twisting from his dad. But still, he says it was so much fun!
He once told me of another incident when he was in the primary school. One day the teacher left their class for a short while and gave the students some class work to complete till he returned. He saw a cow had entered the school premises to graze. The child and his friend decided to chase the cow out of the premises and went out of the class running towards the cow. The poor cow was grazing away to her heart’s content oblivious of their approach. Both of them grabbed the tail of the cow and before chasing it out decided to have some fun. They started pulling the tail with full force. Sensing trouble the cow wanted to move out of the complex and started to pull away. But the boys would not relent and pulled her tail in the opposite direction with more force. This went on for about 2-3 minutes or so. Suddenly they both felt that someone else had joined the game. This person suddenly came, caught hold of their ears and then starting pulling hard. For a moment the scene was such that both the children were pulling the tail of the cow and the third person with both his hands was pulling their ears very hard. Finally, unable to bear the pain, they let go the cow’s tail and looked back to see to their horror that it was their class teacher. The entire class broke into a roar of laughter. His ear pained a lot but still, he says it was so much fun!
“Sadly such small but beautiful moments are missing in life these days,” the child signs, “I only recall them as fond memories knowing well that those days will never be back again!” And saying this, the child starts crying again. I felt sad for him but what can I do?
On another day, I had somehow managed to get little free time from my very busy, hectic life. I lied down on my bed to take some much needed rest but the irritating child appeared again from nowhere and started the cribbing and moaning, “Life is a mirage; man keeps chasing things in life and is never happy. He sets goal after goal in terms of power, money, status, comfort which makes him run on and on without stopping for a moment in life.” Not able to get the intended rest, I was irritated and furious! Why on earth he was talking all this? These lectures are nothing new and can be read in any philosophical or spiritual book. On the top of it, how does it affect him? After all he is a child who does not have to go through these struggles of life that he is talking about. Only adults like us with families and responsibilities understand what kind of stress we have to live with, to meet our own expectations, goals and commitments to our families.
I could not bear the nonsense from the child any more. I thundered at him, “Why the hell you keep coming to me to talk all these rubbish and waste my time? If you cannot have the little fun and simple pleasures of life, if you cannot spend time in nature, if you cannot sing with a loud voice like you did before, if you cannot play a game of football in muddy playground in a rainy day, if you cannot go fishing like you did before, if you cannot take a boat ride in the river or the creek, if you cannot go out with your friends and spend time gossiping in the evening then it is none of my problem. It is your life and these are all your sufferings. I am not here to try and solve your problems; I have nothing to do with your life. Why are you wasting my time and make me feel miserable? I cannot take this any more from you. Just Go Away!”
The child said angrily, “You fool; you seem to have lost all your senses! Look at me, look at me closely. Who am I? Are you able to make out? Yes, I am none other than ‘The Child In You’, the little child who lives in the heart of every adult person! Have mercy; let him enjoy the simple fun and pleasures of life! Do not strangulate the innocent and pure child inside you. He wants you to be happy but you do not understand him!”
It has been a while now and the innocent little child does not appear any more. But whenever I am alone not busy with work, I can hear him weeping sadly; I can hear his sobbing uncontrollably!
He says he has been missing the simple but real joy and pleasures of life for such a long time that he feels it is getting unbearable with each passing day. He says his life is very dull and tiring, very stressful and tense!
He recalls the days when he had bunked classes to go to a nearby date tree to throw stones and collect the falling dates. There used to be other boys who would compete with him in this, so one day he was so focused on catching a falling date that he failed to notice that the big stone was also falling down right behind it. The result was, the child successfully caught the falling date like an expert fielder while the stone fell right on his head, puncturing a hole with lots of bleeding. He was rushed to the hospital, ended up having three stitches, bed ridden for a month and oh, not to forget…he got some solid scolding and ear twisting from his dad. But still, he says it was so much fun!
He once told me of another incident when he was in the primary school. One day the teacher left their class for a short while and gave the students some class work to complete till he returned. He saw a cow had entered the school premises to graze. The child and his friend decided to chase the cow out of the premises and went out of the class running towards the cow. The poor cow was grazing away to her heart’s content oblivious of their approach. Both of them grabbed the tail of the cow and before chasing it out decided to have some fun. They started pulling the tail with full force. Sensing trouble the cow wanted to move out of the complex and started to pull away. But the boys would not relent and pulled her tail in the opposite direction with more force. This went on for about 2-3 minutes or so. Suddenly they both felt that someone else had joined the game. This person suddenly came, caught hold of their ears and then starting pulling hard. For a moment the scene was such that both the children were pulling the tail of the cow and the third person with both his hands was pulling their ears very hard. Finally, unable to bear the pain, they let go the cow’s tail and looked back to see to their horror that it was their class teacher. The entire class broke into a roar of laughter. His ear pained a lot but still, he says it was so much fun!
“Sadly such small but beautiful moments are missing in life these days,” the child signs, “I only recall them as fond memories knowing well that those days will never be back again!” And saying this, the child starts crying again. I felt sad for him but what can I do?
On another day, I had somehow managed to get little free time from my very busy, hectic life. I lied down on my bed to take some much needed rest but the irritating child appeared again from nowhere and started the cribbing and moaning, “Life is a mirage; man keeps chasing things in life and is never happy. He sets goal after goal in terms of power, money, status, comfort which makes him run on and on without stopping for a moment in life.” Not able to get the intended rest, I was irritated and furious! Why on earth he was talking all this? These lectures are nothing new and can be read in any philosophical or spiritual book. On the top of it, how does it affect him? After all he is a child who does not have to go through these struggles of life that he is talking about. Only adults like us with families and responsibilities understand what kind of stress we have to live with, to meet our own expectations, goals and commitments to our families.
I could not bear the nonsense from the child any more. I thundered at him, “Why the hell you keep coming to me to talk all these rubbish and waste my time? If you cannot have the little fun and simple pleasures of life, if you cannot spend time in nature, if you cannot sing with a loud voice like you did before, if you cannot play a game of football in muddy playground in a rainy day, if you cannot go fishing like you did before, if you cannot take a boat ride in the river or the creek, if you cannot go out with your friends and spend time gossiping in the evening then it is none of my problem. It is your life and these are all your sufferings. I am not here to try and solve your problems; I have nothing to do with your life. Why are you wasting my time and make me feel miserable? I cannot take this any more from you. Just Go Away!”
The child said angrily, “You fool; you seem to have lost all your senses! Look at me, look at me closely. Who am I? Are you able to make out? Yes, I am none other than ‘The Child In You’, the little child who lives in the heart of every adult person! Have mercy; let him enjoy the simple fun and pleasures of life! Do not strangulate the innocent and pure child inside you. He wants you to be happy but you do not understand him!”
It has been a while now and the innocent little child does not appear any more. But whenever I am alone not busy with work, I can hear him weeping sadly; I can hear his sobbing uncontrollably!
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