**~~aNd tHiS tOo sHaLl pAsS aWaY~~**

 

 

There was a man, who was so filled with despondency that he decided to commit suicide. He started his long walk across the city towards the bridge, which was to be his jumping-off place. However, he promised himself that if he met one smiling, happy, friendly-looking person on the way, he would turn back from his harsh errand.

 

Oddly, the story ends without answering the question as to whether or not he could save his life. The tale however poses a question; one of those haunting personal questions; which pop into the mind now and then. If that man had met you, would he have turned back and taken up his life with a measure of courage? Well, would he? The smile, that is really genuine, is something that springs from within. It will not only enhance our appearance but will enrich our lives and also the lives of those with whom we come into contact.

 

You will never know whose life will be ignited with your smile! Or else, well........you might be creating a crack in the world out side.

I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.

~William Blake

 

Our problems with anger and our problems in relationships go hand in hand. Some of us have held back our anger, which led to resentment of our loved ones. Some of us have indulged our anger and become abusive. Some of us have been so frightened of anger that we closed off the dialogue in our relationships when angry feelings came out.

 

Sometimes we get angry, but hold it inside because we think it's wrong to feel it. If anger builds inside us, it expands like a balloon ready to burst. If not released, it can make us depressed, or even physically ill. When we give ourselves permission to feel anger, we are better able to get rid of it in a healthy way.

 

Indira Ghandi said, "You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."

When we let go of our anger we can honestly embrace each other with open arms. Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind.

 

How easy it is to speak without thinking and hurt other’s feeling,

especially when we are living in today’s busy, stressful world.

Anne kreer’s poem ‘hasty words’ gives us something to think about.

You have said a thoughtless word,

Although you didn’t really mean it.

What can you do to take it back,

How best can you redeem it?

Just say “I m sorry, let’s be friends”,

That’s the best way

To make amends.

 

Do you remember Arunathadi Roy? The author has these beautiful lines in her Bookers Prize winning book, God of small things, “Do you know what careless words do? They make others love you a little less.”

 

Brenda was almost halfway to the top of the tremendous granite cliff. She was standing on a ledge where she was taking a breather during this, her first rock climb. As she rested there, the safety rope snapped against her eye and knocked out her contact lens .

'Great', she thought. 'Here I am on a rock ledge, hundreds of feet from the bottom and hundreds of feet to the top of this cliff, and now my sight is blurry.'
She looked and looked, hoping that somehow it had landed on the ledge. But it just wasn't there.

She felt the panic rising in her, so she began praying. She prayed for calm, and she prayed that she may find her contact lens.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but it was not to be found. Although she was calm now that she was at the top, she was saddened because she could not clearly see across the range of mountains. She thought of the bible verse 'The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth.'

She thought, 'Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is. Please help me.'

Later, when they had hiked down the trail to the bottom of the cliff they met another party of climbers just starting up the face of the cliff. One of them shouted out, 'Hey, you guys! Anybody lose a contact lens?'

Well, that would be startling enough, but you know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving slowly across a twig on the face of the rock, carrying it!

The story doesn't end there. Brenda's father is a cartoonist. When she told him the incredible story of the ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew a cartoon of an ant lugging that contact lens with the caption, 'Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You.'

I think it would do all of us some good to say, 'God, I don't know why You want me to carry this load. I can see no good in it and it's awfully heavy. But, if You want me to carry it, I will.'