Friday, October 1, 2010

Handsome Hands


A young mother in India had a seven month-old baby. As she was employed as a teacher, a girl was hired to look after the baby during day time.
One evening, as she was approaching her house, she saw fire engines speeding towards her home. She ran to reach her house which was on fire. The girl was crying aloud that the baby was still in the cradle in the burning house. The fire broke out when she had gone out of the house leaving the sleeping baby for a while. As the fire was intense, the girl could not enter the house to rescue the child in time. The fire fighters were trying their best to put out the blaze.
Without waiting for even a moment, the mother rushed into the burning house and reached the cradle. She fought the fire around her with her bare hands. Holding the child close to her chest, she came out of the raging fire. The child had only minor injuries as she was rescued in time. But the mother suffered severe burns. Her hands were badly burnt and she was rushed to the hospital. She recovered after prolonged treatment in intense pain but retained wide white patches and permanent deformities on her hands. But she did not disclose the incident to her son even when he grew up to adolescence.
Then, one day the son told his mother, “Mommy, your hands are really ugly. I do not want to see them. Please do not come for the parents' meeting tomorrow. My friends may see your hands and laugh at me.” The mother was shocked. She knew that it was time to reveal everything. She told her son, “Yes, my hands look ugly and repulsive. But once they were as beautiful as yours. If I had tried to protect their beauty, you would not have been alive today.” She then narrated the whole story.
The boy was totally upset. He cried and fell down, embracing the feet of his mother. He went on kissing his mother’s hand and told in tears, “Mommy, you have the most handsome hands on earth. I failed to see their beauty. Forgive me.” He never forgot that his life was a gift from his mother.
 There is a meaningful Jewish proverb, modified by Rudyard Kipling: “God could not be everywhere and therefore He created mothers.”
 "സർവ്വത്ര ചെല്ലുവാൻ - കഴിയാത്ത ദൈവം 
സൃഷ്ടിച്ചു ഭൂമിയിൽ - മാതാക്കളെ."  (Translation by Dr. Babu Philip)
             



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© By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.
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This is Story No. 16 in this site. Please click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of a page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Posts' at the bottom of a page to read newer stories in this site. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.

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