Long long time ago, in a small village of Essex, lived a boy, his name Tony. Tony was not from a rich family but was a careless boy. He never used to listen to his parents, he used to hurt all his friends and even did not respected his elders.
Whole day, Tony used to run errands, over the grassy fields and up to the hills. He used to cross the river alone, even after his parents had asked him not to cross the river alone, ever, but yet he used to cross the river all by himself, alone.
He used to throw the puppies in the lake, or keep the bird's egg near the sea shore. For Tony it was "EAT, SLEEP, PLAY - do this everyday", was the motto of life. But what Tony was not realizing was that he was growing big, he was growing up. He was not a small child now.
On the other hand Tony's parents were in quite a tension. They were disturbed with the fact that Tony was not realizing that he should learn good behavior now. What was more annoying for Tony's parents was that every other day, they used to get calls from his school. Teachers used to complain daily about Tony's mischievous behavior and in fact, one day it so happened that Tony's father William got a call from the principal of Tony's school.
Tony's Principal: "Sir, your son is getting notorious day after day. It's high time that he has to learn few important things in life".
Tony's Father: "I understand, Mr. Principal, and am surely going to look into this and make sure that Tony learns good habits".
Tony's Principal: "Sir, you need to quickly do something, apart from good habits, you have to make Tony learn a few of the important facts of life too".
The Principal then explains what Tony needs to learn, after listening to everything Tony's Father said, "Sir, do not worry, just give me a little time. Christmas holidays are on their way and I promise, you will find a new Tony when the school re-opens".
Saying this..... William bids farewell to the principal and leaves the school, comes back home.
That night William was not able to sleep properly, whole night he thought as to how to explain those important lessons of life to Tony.
Days and Weeks went by and then came the winter season. Winter bought Christmas and holidays along. Tony's father William knew this was the right time and now he has to approach Tony and make him understand few important things of life.
One fine morning, William made a sweet porridge, kept it in two small bowls of which one had two pieces of dry fruits on top and the other had nothing. Then William called out for Tony, and when Tony arrived, William Said, "come here son, I made some porridge for us, here they are kept in two different bowls, choose one and take it, eat it and let me know how it was".
Tony looked surprisingly on both the bowls full of porridge, smelling yummy, Tony thought, then his eyes marked the difference. Cunning enough and like always greedy, Tony picked up the bowl which had dry fruits on top of it. Smiling within himself and giving himself a cheer for choosing the bowl with dry fruits, was about to take his first bite. When William picked up the left over bowl, and beneath the bowl there were ten pieces of dry fruits, kept hidden, to be put in the porridge before eating.
Tony was jaw stuck, his eyes popped out. Thinking on his own, "Oh!!! What a foolish boy am I". When William spoke out. "Tony, what did you learnt today, son?". There was a silence in the air. Tony ahd no answer and stood still, thinking about the blunder he made.
Again, William spoke out. "Son, never be greedy". "If you become greedy, selfish and think only about yourself, you might be a winner but that winning will also be your defeat". "See, you choose the bowl with two dry fruits on top of the porridge and thought you got the best bowl, because your eyes showed you only that which your greedy nature wanted to see and thus you lost, when you saw that the other bowl had more pieces of dry fruit hidden beneath". Tony heard everything and learnt the lesson that he should not be greedy and selfish.
Again the next day William repeated the same thing, he kept two bowls of porridge and in one had two pieces of almond and the other bowl had nothing. William called out for Tony, and asked him to choose his bowl of porridge. This time Tony was a bit cautious, as if he knew what insurance was and that he was insured with his experience of the past, keeping in mind his previous experience, Tony choose the bowl of porridge with no dry fruits, thinking it will have those dry fruits hidden beneath the bowl.
However, to the surprise of Tony, there were no dry fruits present this time at all. Tony was grief-stuck and was about to cry when his dad William said, "So, Son - what did you learnt today". Again the house was filled with silence all around, which got broken when William explained. "Son, don't take examples from your past experiences". "Life can trick you or cheat you at any point of time. Taking example from your past experience for your today might effect your future. It could be that your past experience had been bad, but that does not mean that your present will repeat itself". Tony heard everything while keeping mum and understood what his dad meant.
Still something was left for Tony to learn, and the very next day again William repeated the same exercise. This time Tony thought or a second and then He said, "papa, you are my father, you are the head and bread earner of our family". "Why not you decide, which bowl I should have. Am sure you will choose the best for me".
Listening to this William was too happy. He embraced Tony and said, "I am proud of you my son", "but whichever bowl I choose for you, you have to keep trust in me and take that bowl for yourself". Tony said, "I trust you father, I respect you and your decisions you make, choose for me and I would accept it".
William said, "fine then, go and take the bowl of porridge which has no almonds or any dry fruits in it". Tony was sad to hear this because he thought his father would choose the bowl with almonds and dry fruits in it, but it was just the opposite to what he thought. With a heavy heart Tony took the bowl and started digging with the spoon to take out the first morsel, and to his surprise the bowl was filled with lot of different dry fruits from inside, covered by the yummy porridge. Oh!!! what happy was Tony, tears rolled down his eyes while he thanked his father. Then William said, "So, what did you learnt today, Tony". This time there was no silence in the air because Tony spoke and replied, "Yes, Dad, Yes, I learnt that I should think about others. That I should respect my elders and their decisions".
William was happy, very happy to hear Tony speak up this time, and to everything William added, "Son, above all the things that you have learnt, the most important thing that you have learnt is when you TRUST in GOD, keep FAITH in the ALMIGHTY, then you will never be disappointment as GOD will always choose the best for you. God will always hold your hands and let you out of the toughest scenario and get you the best result in life".
Thus, this Christmas and winter holidays Tony learnt lot of good things and the LESSONS FOR LIFE, which changed him for the good.
When the schools re-opened, even Tony's principal was shocked but happy to see - A Good Tony. Ultimately Tony became the best student of the year and all credits goes to his dad William.
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