The television interview

I recently stumbled upon a story that made me think about the multifariousness of human thought. One man's meat is another man's poison; one man's loss is another man's gain; and other such idioms kept entering my head. 

These phrases tell us that every person can look at the same situation in different light. Here is a small story on the same lines. Read on:

This story is about an elderly lady in Arkansas. The state voted to increase welfare payments to the indigent. Hoping for a tearjerker story, a television interviewer went into the backhills where many welfare recipients lived.

The old woman he chose to interview lived in a one-room shack: draughty in winter; stifling in summer. Her bed was made of a few rough planks nailed together, with a pine needle mattress. A couple of thin blankets, and a fireplace, did little to protect her from the cold. Her furniture, a table and two chairs, were fashioned from the same rough wood as her bed. Some shelves held a few cans of food from the general store, a three-mile walk down the road. Several jars of preserves and a few squash completed her larder. She had no refrigerator or freezer. The fireplace provided heat for cooking. With no phone or television, her only connection with the outside world was an old radio that pulled in two or three local stations on a good day.

The old woman had one convenience: running water. A crystal clear stream gurgled a short distance behind her home. A small garden near her back door provided fresh vegetables during the summer, and some squash and turnips for the winter. A tidy flower garden brightened the front of her house.

The television crew arrived and set up their big expensive cameras. Their mobile station broadcast pictures of the woman and the place she called home. Eventually, the interviewer asked the old woman, "If the government gave you $200 more each month, what would you do with it?"

Without hesitation, the woman replied, "I'd give it to the poor."

Positivity

Today, on my way back home from work, I had an interesting conversation with my colleague Gayatri (who was kind enough to offer me a ride home in her BMW).

She was telling me of the dialogue she had with her 5-year old son a few days ago. Her son, probably the youngest of the children in the colony, came to her in a fit of anger. He was being bullied by another kid; justifiably, Tarun was venting his feelings to his mother.

“Ma, I don’t like Nikhil. He pushed me to the ground today, did not let me bat and also made fun of me. Tomorrow, you give me a sharp knife and I will go and kill him." Now, let us not get into a discussion of how television and movies have created a bad impact on kids and blah! One, I don’t believe in that statement and two, that is not the point of this post.

Gone are the days when the mother would scold or beat her child to knock some sense and discipline into his/her head. (Russell Peters might disagree, as he advocates parents beating their kids to prevent them from being social outcasts; but this too, is not important here.) What amazed me was the way Gayatri chose to handle this situation.

It would have been very easy for her to rebuke her child and get angry with him for speaking in the manner he did. But she chose to sidestep the matter for a short while. Having fed him dinner and finishing her motherly chores, she broached the topic again at bedtime. She then gave him an evil idea, which only an ingenious mother could have thought of.

“Tarun, forget the knife and killing Nikhil. I’ll give you a better idea. Tomorrow, you complain to Nikhil’s mother and tell her how he is troubling you. She will then get angry with him and hide all his toys. I am sure he will feel sorry and next time he will behave better with you,” she told him.

Oh, the joy on the child’s face - priceless! And the idea, a masterstroke!

My reinforcement: A positive approach and a positive mindset will have far reaching effects on one’s life. We can always find a well-disposed and innovative solution to all issues in life. The important thing is to look for it!