Let’s be like trees in nature

The other day, my daughter broke her footwear on her way back home.

They were two of them walking back home together. My daughter’s friend’s house comes first, and my daughter has to walk further to reach home. When they reached her friend’s house, her friend gave her a pair of shoes from her household.

This seems to be the right thing to do, helping a friend in need. The only difference here was that the one she gave my daughter was torn too, but less in comparison to the one she was wearing. My daughter accepted it as she had no choice and there was quite a bit of walking back home. The sole was half withered away from the shoes, and she was limping because of this. I asked her why did she borough a broken one and embarrassingly said that, this was all that offered to her and she had to walk back home. There were a lot of ifs and buts and she did what she did as per the given circumstances.

The very next day, her (my daughter) friend’s mother asked her to bring along the footwear they had loaned out to her. This is when she was leaving home. In a hurry, she packed the footwear in a small bag and handed it over to her friend.

Later in the day, there were a series of heated messages sent out by my daughter’s friend’s mother on my wife’s mobile addressing my daughter. She seemed very upset that my daughter gave back the footwear broken. My daughter tried to explain that it was already broken when she received it and that she could get it repaired for her. The lady wouldn’t listen, and she was crossing all the limits by then. She had highlighted the upbringing to our parenting to what not. My daughter added that she would have repaired it otherwise as well, but she was in a hurry to leave home and she was asked to bring it along. Anyhow, finally she offered to get it repaired or buy her a new one. This was blatantly denied by the woman.

All this made me think, “What’s wrong with the world we are living in?” Is it me who is looking at it from a different lens, or is it that each and everyone has their own lenses? Why do we jump to conclusions, pass judgement on everything around us, and become impatient to hear things out?Do we ever think of the implications, ripples, and repercussions our actions are going to cause in the lives of those around us?

Are we not here to make this a better place for all of us to live? The more we get negatively affected by what is going on in the world and give in to the pressure, the more we lose our ability to discern, be prudent, be kind and create a conducive environment for our children to grow up to become better human beings.

I hope and pray that my daughter, the girl, and her mother may not be scarred by this otherwise insignificant incident in their lives.

This is applicable to governments, nations, and communities as well. Let’s not give it up without a fight, to be a better person.

Let’s be like trees in nature, always giving rather than taking.

See you soon…