No Shouting

Sunday January 9, 2011

No shouting

ONCE a professor asked his students: “Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?” The students thought for a while before one of them said: “We shout because we lose our calm.”

“But why shout when the other person is just next to you? Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice?”

The students gave various answers, none of which satisfied the professor.

Finally he explained: “When two people are angry with each other, their hearts distance. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the louder they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.”

Then he asked: “What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly. Why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small.

“When they love each other even more, what happens? They do not speak – they only whisper and get closer to each other in their love.

“Finally they do not even need to whisper. They only look at each other, that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.”

So, when you argue, do not let your hearts get distant or say words that distance each other even more, or there may come a day when the distance is so great you will not find the path back to each other.

The Internet has become a wonderful medium for passing around heart-warming or thought-provoking stories like this tale. Most claim to be true or based on fact. Even if they are hard to verify, the messages they carry are worth sharing. Today’s story was sent in by JOYCE LOH.