Here is a short story for you.

In the hush of the night, while I was half asleep, I heard somebody sobbing. I got up and opened the door. A woman was sitting on my doorstep. She had sunk her face into her knees and was sobbing. Her frail body was racked with sobs.

I recognised her. I sat beside her and asked, “Mother Earth! What makes you sad?”

She raised her face. In the light of the moon I saw her face. It was bathed in tears. She said, “My dear son will you listen to me?”

“By all means,” I replied.

She began to say, “There was a time when I used to decorate myself with the flowers of love showered by your brethren on each other. The old good days are gone. Now I am carrying the unwanted thorny burden of those who know not who others are. They know only about themselves. Where have the flowers of love gone? Where have these thorns come from?”

She stopped saying and gave me a blank look. I looked up at the sky and mumbled, “Oh God! what a miserable plight!”

She sunk her face into her knees again.

Do you understand the import of this story? There are two types of people in the world. The people of the first type think more about others and less about themselves. They live an others-oriented life. They belong to others rather than themselves. They are the reservoir of love for others. The second type of people is characterised by its least concern about others. The focus of attention is ‘self’ and not others. The life is lived in the narrow confines of ‘self’ (or ‘I’). These confines impair their vision of others and their problems.

Ask yourself which type of people you belong to. If you belong to the first type, your love for others will alleviate many a suffering of people and make your Mother Earth proud of you. Note, you are not born to belong to the second type of people. Shower the flowers of love on others. These flowers will lend grandeur to the Mother Earth. She will shine in all her glory then.

Dear children, we strongly feel that the Mother Earth of the above-mentioned story is still sobbing. She continues to be in her sorry plight. Tell us what your suggestion are to redress her grievances. E-mail your ideas to us at the following address


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