Precious Moments

kcrr

I would like to share a story I heard the other day.

It is about a young man who received a brand new car as a New Year gift from his rich, brother. As he brought the car out and parked it near a municipal school, an eight year old boy came up, looked at the car and. as if under a spell, said 'How beautiful!'. And he asked "Sir, may I touch it?'. Partly amused and certainly pleased, the owner said 'Go ahead'. The boy then asked him what he had paid for the car. 'Nothing, the owner said.' 'It is a gift from my brother.' And he offered the boy a short ride in the car.

They moved some distance through the motorable stretches of the city. As they drove, the boy was strangely quiet. And he broke the silence only to say, I wish!-'. The young car owner looked at the boy, expecting him to say 'I wish I had such a car!' Instead, the boy said, 'I wish I were such a brother as yours!'

He then hesitated and asked whether he could be driven all the way home in that luxurious car. Yes, he was, right up to the mouth of the narrow lane that led to the hutments where he lived. A few minutes later, the boy came out carrying his young polio stricken brother and with touching concern, asked whether his brother could have a five minute ride in that car! He saw in the eyes of the boy an absorbing affection for the child. He agreed and the three of them spent that afternoon on a long drive - in a rare feeling of fellowship, a communion of souls, too
precious for words.

As the young car owner returned home, he was haunted by the words of the boy. He felt that gifting those moments of joy were perhaps more memorable than receiving the luxury of a brand new car. He could not rest till he went back and decided to take care of the polio stricken child for the rest of his life.

I do not know what this young man gained: probably, the realisation that giving brings in far greater joy than getting!