Stop to stoop

Stop to stoop

A village bred boy had dreams in his eyes and often saw himself climbing the corporate ladder of success. Bright as he was in studies, he finally graduated from a good college and got himself professionally updated with the changing demands in the corporate world. Though he was from a humble background, he had the zeal and caliber to reach academic heights.

Through such brilliance he got a well paying job and suddenly found himself in the thick of corporate maze. Therefore, brilliant that he was he successfully negotiated this maze and earned a fame and reputation for himself. As his position and fame rose so did his income and finally he was placed as the chief operating office in his company. Now he was at the pinnacle of his dreams and fantasies.

It was his childhood ambition to be able to prosper and have the good things in life. Since his income had risen manifold and he was able to buy the best in any kind of purchase. The humble boy with his humble background had promised himself a Rolls Royce if he ever found himself worthy of this car.

Now with his elevation he thought he had achieved the final frontiers of his ambition so to go along with this he went to the nearest car dealer and talked into buying a Rolls Royce. Having paid for the car he smartly drove this lovely bird onto the streets and was flowing with his emotions at high speed.

Oh! How he loved the sight of the car, the metallic colours, the sleek interiors, the robust body and an engine to boot. How he felt as if he was flying above the ground. How he fancied that he was driving over a street strewn with cheese. Not a bump anywhere and the smoothness reminded him of his cheeks after his morning shave.

As he flew through the countryside lost in his thoughts and having achieved his dream, he suddenly heard a loud thud somewhere at the rear of his car. He instantly applied the brakes and reversed the car to investigate the source of the thud. As he reached the source he saw a small boy standing over an upturned wheelchair with his paralyzed elder brother who had fallen off, the stone in his little hands evidently speaking of his crime.

He glanced to the rear of this car and found a dent that obviously came from the stone in the child’s hand. He ran over to the little boy picked him up and shook him violently demanding why he did what he did and spoiled the enthusiasm in him. The little boy answered that his brother had fallen off his perch and was too big for him to get him back on the chair. He tried to stop many passing cars by waving at them but none cared to stop. At last in desperation he adopted this new method where he threw the stone to force someone to help him out. All he wanted was to have his brother back on his wheel chair.

Our young man stopped and thought for a moment, threw his anger lifted the little boys brother and put him back in the chair and walked slowly back to his dented new car. On the drive home he wondered why this happened to him.  Was he driving too fast on the highway of life, had he overshot his speed limits, was he being waved down by the traffic cops, was this gods way of saying “son slow down”?

When we enter the fast lane of life we forget to see things that are grounded and rooted to the soil, the difficulties of millions, the toil of the suffering, the woes of the marginalized, the hopes and aspirations of the under privileged. Never travel too far away where the past seems like a mere speck on the horizon.

This is natures, and in that sense God’s way of stopping us in our fast paced track to help us realize our limitations, to look into the lives of the unfortunate majority, to dispense with our magnitude In favour of the distressed and bring succor through our acts of empathy and sympathy, through words of solace and acts of gratification.

Every time we are pegged back on our path of learning, striving for our daily bread, do not panic because that is god’s way of asking you to slow down. The creator taking care of his creation, therefore fret not, neither curse through clenched teeth for he loves you and harbors no ill will towards you. All he is doing is asking you to sometimes stoop so that you may see the lowly.

Robin Varghese

10^th July 2018