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Monday 26 March 2012

Commitment

I will never forget what my old headmaster told taught me. Normally when you are only 15 years of age you do not remember most of the things that are preached by your teachers. But, this particular story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I get reminded of this story.

It was a normal Monday morning at an assembly, and he was addressing the students on important things in life and about committing ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went:

An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years.

His house was filthy, and a stench came out of the house and it smelled horribly. The neighbours could not stand the smell anymore, so they summoned the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years.

The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house in anticipation to share the good news with him. When he arrived home that evening, he was met by one the officers who told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.

He said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, got into the train, and sat at the street corner and continued to beg.

Obviously, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing, commitment. We should remain true to our course; which may mean committing yourselves to things that people around you would normally disapprove. Let nothing distract us from being happy, let nothing else determine our fate, but ourselves. What makes us happy is what matters in the end, not what we acquire.

2 comments:

Naaz Fatima said...

hmm...nice 1...really.....

Anonymous said...

I am afraid I may not subscribe to this view. In effect it means if you are doing a bad thing in life you must continue with it even if it amounts to begging. If you get satisfaction from it, advocating to continue would not make you any better. I can give a worse case scenario. Is it good for a whore to sell herself, it gives her money and I don't know what satisfaction it could give. Once she retires from this degrading profession, she should and become an escort agency recruiter. She may have loads of money but would it give her happiness and satisfaction? The moral of the story is hardly worth emulating. I would suggest... work hard and remember...no matter the cash value but remember the satisfaction and intrinsic value. Why live a life of a pauper? Why not hitch your wagons to the star rather than day dreaming about becoming a millionaire beggar! I am reminded of a women who won the It is £10 Million lottery and continued quietly on the dole she was caught. I ask, if I may, what satsfaction would she derive from such a degrading life style? Did
money help her score? Think. DaudBeg begs_impex@msn.com