The Search

In the dark of the night, on a lonely street, a man was frantically looking for something under the dull lamplight.  A passerby asked him what he was looking for.

“My gold ring, that was given to me at my wedding” replied the one searching.

The passerby decided to be helpful  and joined him in the search.  Fifteen minutes of looking at every stone, under every blade of glass to the very edge of the circle formed by the light, yielded no results. The passerby finally gave up and asked the man “Are you sure you dropped it here ?”

“No, no, I dropped it somewhere in those dark bushes but there is no light there to look for it.  So I decided to come and look under this lamplight” replied the man. 

The passerby looked at him in shocked surprise and then just walked off.  

Isnt that how we look for solutions to problems ?  Somebody’s problem, somebody seeking answers and we join in that with much fanfare only to end up frustrated.  

Also, truth is each one’s perception – very similar to the six blind men and the elephant.  To each the elephant was a tree trunk or a fan or something else depending on what he touched. 

As with the elephant,  each of us looks at a problem only, and only,  from our position.  The truth is for the ones seeking it to come to.

Last but not the least, does anyone want advice ?  They only want sympathy and support especially if the writing on the wall says that it themselves that have to make the small change.  

Again and again, I go back to my one thought – problems between a husband and wife – no matter it is one’s own son or daughter, are best left to themselves to sort out .  The moment we give them a shoulder, we become the third angle in the triangle and only create more problems.