“In a train, two children were running here and there. Sometimes they would fight with each other, and at times they would jump on top of seats. The father, sitting nearby, was lost in his thoughts. In between, when the children looked at him, he would put on an affectionate smile, and then the children would again get busy with their mischief and the father would keep looking at them lovingly.
The co-travellers of the train were upset by the children’s playfulness and annoyed by the father’s attitude. Since it was night time, everyone wanted to rest. Seeing the running around of the children, a traveller could not stop himself and exclaimed to the father – “What kind of father are you? The children are behaving so naughtily, and instead of stopping them you are encouraging them with your smiles. Is it not your duty to explain to them?”
The father paused for a few moments and said, “I am just thinking how to explain it to them brother.” The man said, “my wife had gone to her maternal home. She passed away yesterday due to an accident. I am taking the children there for the final rites, and now I’m confused how to explain to them that now they will never see their mother again.”
Hearing this, everyone was stunned. Let alone saying something, nobody was even able to think straight. The children were still engaged in their mischiefs. They were still running around in the compartment. There was no change in the atmosphere, but those children were no longer looking like undisciplined kids to the co-passengers but were looking like soft young flowers, on which everyone wanted to pour their love.
The father was no longer a careless person, but now he was seen as the father and the mother of two children, saddened by the separation of his life partner. The change in feeling/perception/thinking leads to change in behaviour. We keep labeling people as bad/good, stupid/clever, decent/indecent without actually knowing what they are going through or the reason behind a particular behaviour. It’s ok to have an opinion and yet never give an ultimate opinion.
