Actions are remembered, messages are lost.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

During my school days my tuition teacher told me a story which made me question a lot of things around me.

Priest and the cat

"There was a very well known and powerful priest in a village, he had a pet cat which he liked very much, wherever he went he took the cat along. When he performed rituals the cat used to trouble him a lot, so he started to tie the cat in a corner where he could see the cat before starting with the rituals. With the passage of time the Priest died and the cat also died. Now his son, who was also accompanying his father to most of the rituals took over father's job. When his turn came to do the rituals he started searching for a cat, caught a stray cat, tied it to a corner where he could see it and performed the rituals. He assumed and believed that cat was part of the ritual."

His father's action was copied by the son. Son never bothered to ask the reason and hence the message (cat was troubling and hence had to be tied) was lost. This is exactly what many of us are doing, following our older generations actions without understanding the message. Let the dead cat stay dead. Don't bring back the troublesome cat when it's not required.

A certain way of living or action was required at a particular location at a particular point in time. Most of these were driven based on weather conditions or social conditions at that point in time. Don't blindly apply the same style now in a different location or different social situation.

Ask real reasons for the actions.
If the reasons don't make sense, don't blindly follow the actions.
Think why a particular way of living was created by people from a particular region.
If you have a child, give them the real reasons why you do something in a particular way.
If you don't know the reasons, don't bullshit, tell them you don't know and try to find the answer together with them.
Create awareness about this truth, "A certain way of living or action was required at a particular location at a particular point in time and it should not be blindly applied everywhere every time"