Whenever I miss something in life I rarely feel for it. Be it a good second hand bike within my budget, a job opportunity, a trip that I miss to attend or matter of fact by L1-B visa rejection. I always remember a story which my school teacher told us during the daily prayer.
None of my school batch mates will forget Mr Livingston. The days with him in the English classes, Chemistry classes and mainly when he comes for exam invigilation. We at Doveton have to gather in our assemble hall every morning for prayer. This is only for guys from class 7 till 12. We start with a hymn, followed by bible reading by one of the staffs and then prayers to the holy god. Few teachers not only read the bible but also tell us some moral stories from the bible. One such was carved deep into my heart.
I don’t remember what class I was studying then. As like any other day we gathered for prayer in our assembly hall. That day was Mr Livingston's turn to facilitate the prayer gatherings. He told us a story and it goes like this....
There were two good friends, in their mid-20s, Ram and Sam. They both joined as forest rangers in a tribal village. As days went they got to know about various pros and cons in their job. Ram, was keen not to indulge into any illegal activities. Whereas, Sam made effective use of all opportunities came on his way.
They both were once on a regular patrol deep into the forest but unfortunately met an accident. Sam escaped with very minor scratches but Ram lost is little finger from his left hand. While he was recovering from this, every day argues with God for hurting me and not Sam, in-spite of Sam illegal activities. But the only answer (unheard) was 'All that happens happen for good..."
As days went they both grew up in office powers and family. One day, both the friends, with family, went on a trekking over the forest and mountains. Unexpectedly they were caught by tribal people. It was the friends' unlucky time - tribal people were in middle of a pooja and wanted to give sacrifice to their god. Now they are happy that they had got human life, that too as families. In team the tribal girls started to prepare the Ram and Sam along with family for the ritual. One of the tribal woman noticed Ram's finger was missing. For them, that was a bad sign - if they sacrifice Ram then it is a flaw that they are doing. So the tribal king decided to release Ram and his family.
It was that accident when Ram lost his finger has now saved him and his family. The story ended without telling what happened to Sam.
I would say, that the story should end like, Sam and his family also being released. This is because, Sam, in-spite being dishonest at work, was very sincere as a friend with Ram.
