Assalamo ‘aleikom
Mas N. Yahya
One cold night a billionaire met an old poor man outside his house. He asked the old man, “don’t you feel cold being outside, and not wearing any coat?”
The old man replied,
“l don’t have it but I got used to that.”
The billionaire replied, “Wait for me. I will enter my house now and bring you one.’
The poor man got so happy and said he will wait for him.
The billionaire entered his house but got busy there and forgot the poor man. In the morning he remembered that poor old man and he went out to search for him but he found him dead because of cold, but the poor old man left a NOTE, “When I didn’t have any warm clothes, I had the power to fight the cold because I was used to that. But when you promised me to help me, I got attached to your promise and that took my power of resisting.
I read and repost the above story from a Facebook post. It seems allegorical but certainly it gives some moral lessons.
One is don’t promise anything if you can’t keep your promise. It might not mean anything to you, but it could mean everything to someone else.
Second is to never rely on dole out. Laziness and unproductivity make people poor because they don’t want to work hard and smart to due to reliance to dole outs.
Waiting for dole outs such as relief goods and cash assistance wherever they come from weaken the ability and enthusiasm to working for a living.
It also promotes immorality among men that they grab even those which are not theirs. Such are prohibited by the law of God and the law of men.
* Mas N. Yahya may be reached at < dingyahya@gmail.com >
PHILIPPINE MUSLIM TODAY 