I have been waiting to share this with my readers, for a while, but something or the other has kept me occupied for over a month. I came out with this writing to illustrate the three incidences that I recently experienced. Please don’t ask me about these three experiences, as few experiences are better left unshared. But I won’t keep you in total darkness. So here is the after-effect of all the three incidents. Each one a different one, but effect has been more or less the same.
In the first case, I was deeply hurt by someone’s words. In the second one I was again deeply hurt by someone’s actions. In the third one someone was deeply hurt by my words. What were people hurt for, in all these three cases? While I was giving it a deep thought I remembered a short story which I had read as a 12 year old. Nearly 14 years later, I’m compelled to share the same story with you. The story goes something like this…
Long, Long ago, in Greece there lived a king Andrew. He was known both as a kind-heart as well as a brave-heart. Along with these two good qualities, he was known for his wisdom and ability to deliver justice on all instances. Naturally he was very popular and loved by the people.
Andrew also had good relations with rulers of neighboring kingdom and ensured their complete entertainment when they came by to his province. This was one such occasion when king Cosmos came for a two day visit. Andrew gave him no opportunity to complain about any possible inconvenience. After meals and the dance program (as there were no other ways of entertainment back then) the king presented him one of the best shows. This show was the most talked-about by all the visitors, the buffoon’s comedy show.
During the course of this show, the buffoon played various tricks and used his humorous words to keep the crowed spellbound. But in doing so, there were several instances when the buffoon crossed his limits, which also took king Cosmos by surprise. For example, the buffoon once called king Andrew ‘incapable’ and further said, “had the king been really capable, he would have entertained his guests himself and not used a wise person like myself, instead”. The joke made Andrew along with crowed burst into laughter. Cosmos even asked Andrew, “How could you laugh at such a joke?” To this he said, “Look my friend, it is humor. One should have enough sense of humor and take things in a sporting manner”. After some time, the buffoon called the king as a person with ‘dull voice’, which was exactly the opposite. By now Cosmos had got a hang of this kinda humor and without raising any eyebrows he joined others in laughing. Later, the buffoon who stood as tall as 4ft 8 inches claimed that Andrew was shorter than him and challenged Andrew to stand next to him to prove him otherwise.
Things went on in the same way, with the buffoon cracking jokes on the king, his ministers and several others present there, until he called Andrew a ‘bald’ man. To this Andrew got extremely wild, cancelled the show and ordered the buffoon’s arrest. Everyone was taken by surprise as to why the king was unusually angry. Andrew decided to hang the buffoon after 3 days.
One the last day the Andrew visited the buffoon and asked him, if he had any last wish left. The buffoon said, “Your highness, before I die, I would like to know my mistake, for which I’m being hanged. I called you incapable, you didn’t mind it. I called you a person with dull voice, you didn’t mind it. I called you a short man, you didn’t mind it. I cracked several other jokes on you, your ministers and your guests, but you never objected. But when I called you bald, why you got so wild at me” Andrew paused for a while and said, “Whatever you said earlier about me was untrue except that I’m in fact bald. Though you spoke in a humorous manner, your calling me bald poked my ego. This truth was too bitter for me to handle.” The buffoon interrupted and said, “Your highness, you are known for delivering justice and hanging someone for hurting you unintentionally, justice will not be done! Please reconsider your decision” Andrew thought for a while and said, “I will excuse you. Promise me, not only in my case, but in any case, if you get to know about someone’s weaknesses, though it is undeniably real, never mention such points, even unintentionally. It can leave any person upset forever” Saying this, he again reinstated the buffoon as the official entertainer of the kingdom.
What moral I learned from this short story was… Truth is a subtle weapon, which can at times make a person happy and make the same person unhappy on different instances. Before speaking out truth, one has to evaluate the situation and then speak. Remember, some things are better left unsaid.
In the three incidents I mentioned earlier, I felt… the person who hurt me, pointed out one of weaknesses, which exists in me. In the second incidence, I caught a person, who at that moment was one of my most trusted, lying. I want to believe that lie turn out to be true, but truth was just too bitter. In the last incidence, my words, some intentional and some unintentional, hurt another person, close to me. I’m guessing I unnecessarily mentioned some incidents in which that person was wrong and claimed to be correct. May be I shouldn’t have done that!
That perhaps is the reason phrases such as bitter truth and harsh reality have been more popular than sweet truth and soft reality in our society.
