saidevo
06 October 2008, 01:57 AM
I received in a mail, this story that seems to be an urban legend. What do you think of it?
While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked up a stone & scratched lines on the side of the car. In anger, the man took the child's hand & hit it many times, not realizing he was using a wrench.
At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures. The child said to his father, with painful eyes: "Dad when will my fingers grow back?" The man was so hurt and speechless.
He went back to his car and kicked it many times.Devastated by his own actions and sitting in front of his car he looked at the scratches. His son had written "LOVE YOU DAD". The next day the man committed suicide.
So remember , LOVE and ANGER has no limits.
On checking through google I find that this legend has over 500 links, most of them glorifying it, albeit indirectly, for the human values it is supposed to teach: that love and anger have no limits!
Is this a story worth glorifying? If this is how an intolerant, hammer-happy parent who prefers to kick at or beat up things that irritate him learns about human values, it is highly monstrous? Even the asuras and rakshashas of ancient India didn't behave in such a manner towards their children?
What would a child who reads this story think of his/her dad? Won't this story make him/her fear him more, magnifying even the slightest traces of anger and irritation that he is capable of? Won't such an attitude foster hatred towards the parent?
And what does the parent learn? Will the story serve enough for an irritation-prone father to mend his ways? What message does the suicide of the father has? That it is the ultimate way of repetence?
1. Compare this story with this legend of a Pandyan king who ruled under the Pandyan dynasty, a part of Tamilnadu during 4th century CE.
This king was in the habit of occasionally going around the streets of his capital city in disguise, after midnight, when everyone would be fast asleep. This was his way of personally checking for any thieves, and supervising if his own security people did their jobs properly.
One day while walking in a street, he heard from inside a house, a man's voice talking to a woman at that time of night. As the woman's voice seemed agitated, he thought something was amiss, so he knocked the door, but from the tone of 'who is that' coming up from inside the house, he realized that it was only a husband-wife conversation. As he did not want to reveal his identity, he knocked the doors of every house in the street and returned to his palace.
The next day, the people of the street came to his palace and complained that on the previous night a 'thief' knocked the front door of their houses and ran away. The king asked them, "I know who is that thief. What punishment would you like to give him?" They said, "For this act of creating panic and disturbing peace, his hand that knocked the door might be chopped off."
Instantly, the king drew his sword and chopped off his own right hand! The people were aghast at the sight and wept for what they had done their own king. Later, they teamed up, made a hand made of gold, and got it fixed to the king. From that day, the king came to be known as 'poRkai pAndyan' (the Pandyan with a golden hand). This king ruled his country as the 98th generation of the Pandyan dynasty.
2. There is another story, a more recent one, concerning the king Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagaram kingdom and his court poet Tenali Ramakrishna, popularly known as Tenali Rama. One morning, in order to highlight the wit of his court poet, the king spoke in his court, "Yesternight, a thief came to my room. He got me bound to the bed, punched me repeatedly with his hands and also kicked me several times with his feet. What punishment can I give to him?"
Someone in the court said, "You need to chop off the thief's hands and legs for such a crime." The king turned to Tenali Rama, who said, "My Lord! I would advise you to adorn the hands that punched you with gold bangles and the legs that kicked you with silver anklets!" The poet had cleverly guessed that the king was only talking about his infant son!
The Holywood movies glorify such pitiful acts of adults and children as regularly kicking at things in anger (evening shooting at a TV for some unpleasant news!), using highly abusive and sexually degenerate language against each other, showing violence towards women and children and other acts of perversion. I am sure many children in the West (that includes the Indian kids) are influenced by the movies. Recently, I watched a movie named 'Stand by me' featuring school children, and was aghast at the sexually degerate language they used for their normal conversation!
As a global human community, where are we heading for with our values, culture and civilization?
While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked up a stone & scratched lines on the side of the car. In anger, the man took the child's hand & hit it many times, not realizing he was using a wrench.
At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures. The child said to his father, with painful eyes: "Dad when will my fingers grow back?" The man was so hurt and speechless.
He went back to his car and kicked it many times.Devastated by his own actions and sitting in front of his car he looked at the scratches. His son had written "LOVE YOU DAD". The next day the man committed suicide.
So remember , LOVE and ANGER has no limits.
On checking through google I find that this legend has over 500 links, most of them glorifying it, albeit indirectly, for the human values it is supposed to teach: that love and anger have no limits!
Is this a story worth glorifying? If this is how an intolerant, hammer-happy parent who prefers to kick at or beat up things that irritate him learns about human values, it is highly monstrous? Even the asuras and rakshashas of ancient India didn't behave in such a manner towards their children?
What would a child who reads this story think of his/her dad? Won't this story make him/her fear him more, magnifying even the slightest traces of anger and irritation that he is capable of? Won't such an attitude foster hatred towards the parent?
And what does the parent learn? Will the story serve enough for an irritation-prone father to mend his ways? What message does the suicide of the father has? That it is the ultimate way of repetence?
1. Compare this story with this legend of a Pandyan king who ruled under the Pandyan dynasty, a part of Tamilnadu during 4th century CE.
This king was in the habit of occasionally going around the streets of his capital city in disguise, after midnight, when everyone would be fast asleep. This was his way of personally checking for any thieves, and supervising if his own security people did their jobs properly.
One day while walking in a street, he heard from inside a house, a man's voice talking to a woman at that time of night. As the woman's voice seemed agitated, he thought something was amiss, so he knocked the door, but from the tone of 'who is that' coming up from inside the house, he realized that it was only a husband-wife conversation. As he did not want to reveal his identity, he knocked the doors of every house in the street and returned to his palace.
The next day, the people of the street came to his palace and complained that on the previous night a 'thief' knocked the front door of their houses and ran away. The king asked them, "I know who is that thief. What punishment would you like to give him?" They said, "For this act of creating panic and disturbing peace, his hand that knocked the door might be chopped off."
Instantly, the king drew his sword and chopped off his own right hand! The people were aghast at the sight and wept for what they had done their own king. Later, they teamed up, made a hand made of gold, and got it fixed to the king. From that day, the king came to be known as 'poRkai pAndyan' (the Pandyan with a golden hand). This king ruled his country as the 98th generation of the Pandyan dynasty.
2. There is another story, a more recent one, concerning the king Krishnadevaraya of the Vijayanagaram kingdom and his court poet Tenali Ramakrishna, popularly known as Tenali Rama. One morning, in order to highlight the wit of his court poet, the king spoke in his court, "Yesternight, a thief came to my room. He got me bound to the bed, punched me repeatedly with his hands and also kicked me several times with his feet. What punishment can I give to him?"
Someone in the court said, "You need to chop off the thief's hands and legs for such a crime." The king turned to Tenali Rama, who said, "My Lord! I would advise you to adorn the hands that punched you with gold bangles and the legs that kicked you with silver anklets!" The poet had cleverly guessed that the king was only talking about his infant son!
The Holywood movies glorify such pitiful acts of adults and children as regularly kicking at things in anger (evening shooting at a TV for some unpleasant news!), using highly abusive and sexually degenerate language against each other, showing violence towards women and children and other acts of perversion. I am sure many children in the West (that includes the Indian kids) are influenced by the movies. Recently, I watched a movie named 'Stand by me' featuring school children, and was aghast at the sexually degerate language they used for their normal conversation!
As a global human community, where are we heading for with our values, culture and civilization?