LIFE’S LESSONS
By Henrylito D. Tacio
“Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.” – Theodore Roosevelt, American president
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If you were asked to be one of the judges of the two tough questions below, what would be your answer?
The first question goes this way: “If you knew a woman who was pregnant, had 8 kids already (three of whom were deaf, two were blind, and one mentally retarded), and she had syphilis, would you recommend that she undergo an abortion?”
While thinking about what your answer would be, here’s the second tickler: It is time to elect a new world leader, and only your vote counts. There are three candidates and here are the straight facts about each. The first candidate associates with crooked politicians and consults with astrologists. He’s had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.
The second candidate was kicked out of office twice, slept until noon, used opium in college and drank a quart of whiskey every evening. The third and last candidate is a decorated war hero. He’s a vegetarian, doesn’t smoke, drinks an occasional beer and never cheated on his wife. So, the big question is: “Which of these candidates would be your choice?”
Don’t cheat; write your answer before knowing who those three candidates are. If you have already written your answer, here’s what you need to know: The first candidate is American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The second is British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. And the third is no other than German dictator Adolph Hitler.
And, by the way, on your answer to the abortion question: If you said “yes,” you just killed Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tricky, isn’t it? The Bible states, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:1-2).
A couple of years back, when a politician-actor was involved in a scandal with his live-in partner, his model-turned-actress sister came to his rescue and told reporters: “Don’t judge my brother, he is not a book.”
Well, the sister was actually paraphrasing the most-often quoted statement: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Sir Roger L’Estrange explained, “Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances but by the character of their lives and conversations, and by their works.”
Now, allow me a story that was forwarded to me through e-mail by a friend. I don’t know who the original author of the story but let me share it with you:
A couple went for a cruise tour to enjoy their private honeymoon while leaving their children at home. Unfortunately, the cruise ship was sinking due to bad weather which the ship captain wasn’t expecting.
The couple finally made their way to the lifeboat area but there was only space for one person left. The man jumped onto the lifeboat, leaving his wife on the sinking ship. The wife stood on the sinking ship and shouted to her husband saying…
The teacher paused the above story and asked her students in the classroom, “Let us guess. What do you think she shouted to her husband?” Most students answered altogether: “I hate you! I was blinded by love!”
The teacher noticed that there was a student who sat quietly and asked him. The student answered, “Teacher, I believe she would have shouted: Take care of our children!”
The teacher was shocked and asked: “Have you heard this story before?” The student shook his head and said, “Nope, but before my mother passed away to disease, she told my father the exact same words!”
The teacher was amazed and praised: “Your answer is excellent!”
The cruise sunk and the man returned home and brought up their children single-handedly. Many years later after the death of the man, their daughter who had been accusing her father, found her father’s diary while tidying his belongings, and she found out the truth.
It turns out that when her parents went onto the cruise ship, the mother was already diagnosed with an incurable disease. During the crucial moment on the sinking ship, her father rushed to the only space left on the lifeboat. He wrote in his diary, “I wanted to sink with you together on the sinking cruise. But for our children, I could only let you sink alone into the deep cold ocean bed.”
The daughter burst into tears after reading the diary.
The teacher finished the story and the whole class went silent. She knew that her students had understood the moral of the story that she wanted to pass on to them. In this world, there are always two sides to a coin: there is good and there is evil. Sometimes the situation can be very complicated and indistinguishable between good and bad.
To end this column, allow me to quote the words of Paulo Coelho: “We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” – ###
