Suffering caused by Not Speaking the Truth
Linda and the Ornaments
In a rural village, Linda and her brother Sean lived with their mom Tara. They would wake early on mornings and their mom would drop Linda off by a taxi driver who would take her to school. She would then take Sean to elementary school and go to her office for work.
Sean and his mom would wait outside her office for Linda to arrive from school. One day Paul, Tara's bother saw them waiting in the streets. "Tara what are you doing waiting outside the closed office?" he enquired.
"We are waiting for Linda she will arrive soon. The rush hour traffic causes her taxi to be delayed on evenings." replied Tara.
"Please come and stay at my home on evenings with the kids. I don't live far from your office. You can ask the taxi driver to drop Linda there also. When she comes you can return home." insisted Paul.
Tara and Sean went to wait at Paul's place on evenings. Sean and Linda were very happy as they could play with their cousins. Tara and Radha (Paul's wife) would chat and spend the time nicely.
Sometimes when Linda came her mom would stay back for a short while. She could then have a little break and play time with her cousins too. Everyone was very happy.
Radha had little shelves lined with ornaments. Linda was attracted to the ornaments and very much liked the little figurines. One day she thought, "If I should take one or two no one will miss them. There are so many." She looked around and quickly slipped two of the figurines into her school bag.
After a day or two Radha missed her ornaments. She complained to Paul, "You know that Sean comes with his mom everyday to our house. He is a mischievous little boy. He must have taken the ornaments. Speak to Tara about it or he might steal more things from my house."
Paul spoke to Tara about it as Radha was very upset and did not want them to come to their home anymore.
On learning about the missing ornaments, Tara was also very upset. She called Sean, "Sean, Aunty Radha is missing some ornaments from her home. We spend a lot of time at her home on evenings. Did you steal them? If you stole them you have to return them and apologize."
Sean replied, "Mom I didn't steal anything. I only run and play around the house. Anyway what would I do with "girlie stuff"!"
Tara then called Linda and spoke to her very sternly, "Aunty Radha is missing some figurines from her house. Did you take the figurines?"
Linda was scared now and did not want to be punished, "No mom, I didn't take anything from Aunty's house. " she lied.
Tara thought, "Sean may be naughty but he will not steal "girlie stuff", Linda also said she did not steal the ornaments and she is generally a good girl. We leave my brother's home most of the time when Linda arrives and she is older and more sensible so will not do any such mischief. My kids did not steal the ornaments."
Tara spoke with Paul and told him that she had questioned the kids and she did not believe any of them had stolen the ornaments.
Paul replied sadly, "Radha is quite upset and does not want to lose other things from the house."
Tara said, "Don't worry I will not come to your house on evenings anymore."
Once more Linda's mom and brother waited on the street outside her mom's office for her to return from school on afternoons.
About a month after, Linda started taking the school bus. The school bus came even later than the taxi as it had to make stops and drop off a lot of other school children on the way. Her mom and Sean had to wait even longer in the street outside her mom's office.
Finally Linda realized the trouble her mom and brother had to face waiting in the street instead of being at her aunt's comfortable home. Day after day for many months they would have to wait in the streets.
Linda was very much pained, "My mom and brother have to suffer like this only because of me. I stole and did not speak the truth and instead of being punished for being bad, my mom who works hard and my little brother are made to suffer on the streets."
MORAL :
I must always speak the Truth. Speaking the Truth will prevent others from being hurt.
Even one small act of not speaking the truth, being unkind to others with my speech, stealing or bad deed that I do, will not only affect me but will cause problems for others.
I must try to always do good actions. If I make a mistake, I should speak the truth even if it means I will be punished. This will prevent others from being harmed by my bad action.
If a student gets in trouble he should find out what he has done wrong that has landed him in trouble. Once he knows what his fault was he must try and correct it and must try not to repeat the mistake.
A student must develop good qualities to become successful in life.
