MORAL STORIES

AN ELEGANT ESCAPE

One day an old dog fell down into a barren well. The animal cried aloud. Its owner heard the cry but decided to abandon the dog, as it was very old and sick. The well was useless and so he decided to fill it with mud and bury the dog alive. His children and some workers came to his help. They began to shovel dirt into the well.
When each shovelful of dirt fell on his back, the dog would shake it off and take a step up. They continued to shovel dirt on top of the dog at maximum speed. But the dog continued to shake off the dirt and rise up from the well step by step. Soon, everyone was amazed as the dog stepped up over the edge of the well and happily reached his master, wagging his tail affectionately. The man felt very sorry for trying to bury his loving pet.

The smart dog teaches us a good lesson. In life, troubles, suffering and failures may fall on us like the dirt that fell on the dog. Let us not worry about them or feel hopeless. We should not let the troubles defeat us or bury us. We must shake them off and rise to the top, step by step, using every failure as a stepping-stone. Let us trust in God who will guide us through all our problems. A poet teaches the difference between pessimism and optimism thus:

"Two men looked out from prison bars;

One saw mud; the other saw stars."

Let us choose to look up to Heaven and rejoice in the Lord!

St. Paul advises, "Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart" {Philippians 4:6}.

By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.

This is Story No. 40 in this site. Please click ‘Older Post’ at the bottom of this page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Post' at the bottom of this page to read newer stories in this site. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.