Marvelous Tales #8 - "Life Lessons from the Nature"

Raj was young and very handsome too. Born with a silver spoon, he was raised in sheer affluence and luxury. He was the only son to his affectionate parents. When he grew up, he got a job to envy for and a girl friend with a Miss Universe title to her credit. He was having a time of his life. But suddenly a tragedy struck. His home was devastated in an earthquake engulfing the life of both his parents. All the property he would have otherwise inherited turned into mere rubble. At the time of this incident, he was in a different continent on the other side of the globe on some very important business assignment. When he heard the news, he couldn’t believe it. He immediately left the business meeting in between and took the very next flight available to return back to his place without uttering a word to his boss. Boss got very angry as it made a huge loss to his company. So he immediately dismissed Raj from his job forfeiting all his emoluments.

When Raj returned, he cried his heart out seeing the debris instead of his beautiful, sweet home. Everything had turned into dust. He couldn’t even find the dead bodies of his loving parents. Not knowing what to do now, he went to his girl friend’s place and asked her for some help and support. But he soon realized that his girl friend was not in love with him but she loved his wealth. And when all wealth was gone, she wasn’t interested in him anymore. Shocked and shattered, he walked away in complete despair.

He didn’t know where he was going to or what he was looking for. Lost in every way, he just kept walking mile after mile. At dusk, he got too tired and hungry to walk any further. So he sat aside the road. He thought that this world has ended for him and he too won’t survive any longer. Weak, tired and thirsty, Raj was almost unconscious now. Fortunately, a poor old lady who was passing by spotted him and offered him some water from her bottle. Quenching some thirst, Raj thanked the old lady for her gesture. In a short conversation which ensued, the lady came to know that he isn’t aware of this area and it was his first time here. She offered him some food and a shelter for the night if he can come to her house which was a little down in the valley a couple of miles ahead. Raj was pleasantly surprised to find such a helping & selfless stranger. He followed her to her home. He found that she was living all alone with hardly any other house in sight in the whole vale. She prepared the dinner and they both had it together. It was a very simple meal but Raj told her that it was the tastiest meal he ever had in his whole life. The wise old lady explained him that it’s not the food but his intense hunger which makes the food tasty. Raj realized that she was very right. He had never gone so hungry anytime before.

Raj did not want to trouble her anymore. So he told her that he would leave early morning and quickly fell asleep. Extremely tired as he was, he had the most rejuvenating sleep ever. He got up early at dawn and saw the old lady was busy in her chores. He came out of the house but couldn’t find his way up the vale as it was completely covered in mist. He wandered for some time only to return back to her home. He was puzzled by the problems of the world. He then narrated everything to that old lady and asked her advice. The old lady said, you will find your way out of all your problems if you follow the laws of the Nature. You can’t find the way out of this vale until the cover of this blinding mist is lifted. You can’t help it but you’ll have to wait until the Sun rises. Time heals everything; you just need to be patient with it. As the Sun rises above the horizon and sunshine gets brighter, this dark cover of mist will vanish in thin air. Similarly, when you recognize the sunshine in you, the light of your soul will engulf all the darkness surrounding you right now. Time and knowledge heals everything. There is no problem in this world without a solution. So don’t worry about it. You will overcome all.

These words of wisdom had a magical effect on Raj. He could now easily relate his existence with the existence of the whole. All worries and pain soon vanished like the morning mist.

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[This story was created as an entry to the Marvelous Tales Contest where a tale needs to be spun around two words. The two words given for this were Mist & Vale. All pictures in this post are from Pixabay]