At a restaurant, a cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere
and sat on a lady. She started screaming out of fear. With a panic stricken
face and trembling voice, she started jumping, with both her hands desperately
trying to get rid of the cockroach.
Her reaction was contagious, as everyone in her group also
got panicky. The lady finally managed to push the cockroach away but it
landed on another lady in the group. Now, it was the turn of the other lady in
the group to continue the drama.
The waiter rushed forward to their rescue. In the relay of
throwing, the cockroach next fell upon the waiter. The waiter stood firm,
composed himself and observed the behaviour of the cockroach on his shirt. When
he was confident enough, he grabbed it with his fingers and threw it out of the
restaurant.
Sipping my coffee and watching the amusement, the antenna of
my mind picked up a few thoughts and started wondering, was the cockroach
responsible for their histrionic behavior?
If so, then why was the waiter not disturbed? He handled it
near to perfection, without any chaos.
It is not the cockroach, but the inability of the ladies to
handle the disturbance caused by the cockroach that disturbed the ladies. I
realized that, it is not the shouting of my father or my boss or my wife that
disturbs me, but it's my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their
shouting that disturbs me. It's not the traffic jams on the road that disturbs
me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs
me. More than the problem, it's my reaction to the problem that creates chaos
in my life.
Lessons learnt from the story:
I understood, I should not react in life. I should always
respond. The women reacted, whereas the waiter responded.
Reactions are always instinctive whereas responses are
always well thought of, just and right to save a situation from going out of
hands, to avoid cracks in relationship, to avoid taking decisions in anger,
anxiety, stress or hurry.
