Have you heard the Story?
Have you Lived it from either end?
Arun Gandhi is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi;
When he was sixteen years old, he was asked by his father to take him by car to a meeting. While his father was at the meeting, Arun was to go to a nearby town, buy groceries for the family and bring the car to the garage. At 5:00 p.m. Arun was suppose to be back to pick up his father and drive him home.
Arun had fulfilled his duties and since there were time and money left, he went to the Movie Theater for a John Wayne double feature. He was so entranced by it he literally forgot about the time. Much too late, he hurried out of the theater and went to pick up his dad. It was 6:00 p.m.; he was an hour late. His father was worried something terrible had happened. Arun told his dad that the garage had not gotten the car ready in time.
He didn’t know that his father had already called the garage to find out about his son’s whereabouts.
Arun’s father reacted to the lie like this:
He told his son that he, as a father, must have done something terribly wrong in bringing up his son, so that his son would have had to lie to him; and that he would not let his son drive him home, but walk all the way and think about what he had obviously done wrong in raising his son. Arun begged his father to get in the car with him, but his father did as he said without speaking another word. . .
I T W A S A F I V E H O U R W A L K !
Arun drove behind his father at walking pace until, late at night, they got home.
Arun Gandhi said that after this he never again lied to his father!
W O W. . .
You think?
And we thought,
“M O T H E R ‘ S G U I L T I S B A D ?”
Is this some kind of non-violent parenting?
Or Child abuse?
Would it be effective in 2020 and beyond?
Would our children have followed us the five hour walk home?
Would we have really pondered our own faults in parenting during the long walk home?
. . .and Now?
We take steps every day, don’t we?
Each step we take,
even if we don’t notice,
are being watched,
maybe even emulated by our children
and the children in all of us. . .
Have they. . .
. . .Have we noticed. . .
Maybe it’s not so much the walk home. . .
but,
The W a l k
T O H O M E,
that makes all the Difference;
in and out of this World,
and more . .
Everything in between!
Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
Let’s take a walk. . .
And instead of all of the steps we’ve taken
and far left behind. . .
let’s focus on the
next one
and all those before us
as we journey on. . .
Always on
hand and hand
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