Life's Own Punctuation

The boy, from his small window that helped frame the outside world, was watching the beggar lying still on the street, a stark contrast to his otherwise daily hue and cry. The boy, with a question thundering in his innocent mind, immediately ran to his father.

"Daddy, why is the beggar lying still today?"

"May be he is suffering from some disease." His father responded, flipping a page of the morning newspaper he was reading.

"Is life a disease daddy?"

The query made his father shift his focus from the newspaper to his son. "No. Who told you that?"

"I have heard the beggar say often that life is full of suffering."

His father thought for a while and then said, "Tell me have you been taught punctuations in school?"

"Yes."

"So what does a comma stand for?"

"A comma is used to bring order to a statement."

"Right. Likewise, suffering is life's own punctuation. It is the comma in the statement of life. When we encounter a comma in a statement we stop momentarily, absorb the sense and then move on. The real significance of suffering is also the same - wait, absorb the sense and move on." The father caressed the boy’s forehead and continued, "It’s the statements with proper punctuation that appeals the most."

The boy thinks for a while and then asks, "Then shouldn't the beggar be the most appealing person?"

The father laughs out. "Son, only the blessed ones have this punctuation at the right place. Though they don't realize it at first but once they look back at their statement of life it surprisingly reads better than the most…and in perfect order too."

By: NovoneeL ChakrabortY