Moral Short Story – The Little Girl
Photo credit: takekha from morguefile.com
I was sitting by the window in my house just as always when on the road connecting my house to other houses on the street, I saw a small little girl with a tall man. The man was holding the little girl’s hand firmly while the girl was jumping here and there in the limited vicinity she had access to. She was cheerful and vibrant. At times she would look up and glance at the birds above or randomly at the rest of the sky. At other times, she would look at anything and everything happening in her environment and in between talk to the man (most probably her father). She must have been somewhere in the age of 4 to 6 years.
She was interesting to watch and I looked at her till she was out of my glance. Somehow looking at the girl made me happy. It changed my mood and I for the next couple of minutes kept recalling her innocent looks and her enthusiasm about everything.
Next day at a similar time, though I didn’t remember exact, I took the cup of tea my mom made for me and sat by the same window just to see the little girl if she passes by again but she didn’t. I hadn’t expected to see her much and so I wasn’t really disappointed. I had forgotten all about her in next couple of hours. It was just another event in numerous day to day activities in my life.
After a couple of days, I saw her again with her father. I looked intently to make sure that it is the same set of people and yes they were. I noticed what she was wearing this time. She was wearing a cute green skirt and a white t-shirt. She was definitely pretty and milk white with black hair. But there was a difference this time. In fact there were two differences.
First, this time she was accompanied by two people (Mother and Father both). Second, she wasn’t smiling today. Nor was she all that charismatic and enthusiastic as the last time I saw her. Her father still held her hand equally firmly as the last time though she was not jumping around this time. She was quiet and had a serious look on her face. I wondered whether the difference was due to her mother’s company or was it that she was naturally tired or sad that day. I looked at the three till they were out of sight. She definitely got the pretty looks from her mother. Again her mood had caught on me. I felt sad for the little angel and I wondered why was she not the way I saw her last time. I prayed to God to bless her always. This time I noticed the exact time on the clock. It was twenty minutes past five. I knew that I had to be at the window the next day from 5. I was confident of seeing her again.
Days passed by and I saw her almost everyday with the exception of a few. Her mood changed from day to day. She would normally pass by that street in between 5 to 5:30 PM accompanied on most days by her father alone and on some by both her parents. One thing I established was that her sad mood did not occur because of her mother’s company. There were days when she was all that smiling and chattering and then there were days when she was silent with rare moments of a least possible smile when her father said something to her. I had begin to enjoy noticing her everyday and guessing what mood she would be in today.
It must have been some 10 to 12 days from the first day that I saw her, when on that day I was astonished to see what I did. It wasn’t just one girl this time. There were two of them. They were twins, exactly identical, at least to my eyes. And there was the difference between the two different souls that I had been seeing. One was very enthusiastic constantly talking to her identical twin and in between to her father. The other was silent, just responding to her more excited sister’s talks and rarely smiling. I suddenly felt like I had solved a complex mystery regarding the everyday behavior of the girl. I kind of felt satisfied knowing the truth now. But one thing still disturbed me – how can two twins born at the same time, brought up in similar environment have such differences in their attitudes. I am sure science would say that it is quite possible and give some gene or DNA funda. I don’t even deny that or doubt that. But it was simply not easy to accept such differences between the two of them.
That night lying on my bed, a sudden realization struck me. Yes, those little girls were definitely two souls but what are we? Are we one soul or are we also two souls trapped inside a single body? We also behave like each of the girls at certain times. One day we are happy, enthusiastic and filled with gratitude and optimism. At other days we are depressed, gloomy and frustrated of life and its evils. Isn’t it true that at both these times we have the same set of values, the same past, the same bringing up? Still out of petty reasons or no reasons at all we experience different set of emotions and have different moods. Aren’t we like the two girls collectively? No, there is a difference – Future of the “two souls” within us remain the same irrespective of who over powers the other. But the future of those two little angels might differ significantly depending on their ways to acknowledge life. And so shall our future differ depending on which soul dominates within us. Shouldn’t we then let the positive side be more effective. Wouldn’t it be a better option and isn’t this thing very easy to understand? But why isn’t it that easy to follow?
I knew I had questions but had no answers to them. No matter how much time I spend pondering over these, it would be pointless. But why did God do to these two girls, what he did. Has God differed the otherwise identical girls through the emotions and thoughts. Has he given all the relatively more positive emotions to one of them and the rest to the other. Wasn’t that unfair to one of the little ones?
The next day I sat by the window and waited for the two to appear. Inside I was desperately hoping that both would be there again today though the odds were poor as out of some 7-8 times that I had seen, it was just once that both were there. I had a certain determination in mind which was to talk to them today. I didn’t know why and what I would talk to them about but I had to. And there they appeared – both of them. I felt like God was trying to tell me something and I was in the correct line of thought – the reason why again today both the girls were there. I rushed out of the house and stood there, watched them pass by and then silently followed. They went to the nearby garden.
Once inside, the little girls played on the swings and their father walked on the jogging path. I took the opportunity to talk to them. They were at a distance of about two meters and I could speak to only one at a time. A natural tendency of the human soul is to get attracted to the person which gives you a warm smile and so did I feel instant positive vibes from the smiling little one. But it was the other one that interested me more and so I chose to speak to the not-so-happy little one. I managed to have a small talk with her and she spoke readily. It was much easier than I had thought. I then went to the cheery one and tried the same. It was equally easy – maybe a little more though no significant difference could be noticed.
I felt like I had done the investigation, interrogated the crime scene witnesses and now I had to just go back home and put my thinking cap on, put the facts together and I would get some answer as to why and how they are different. But I couldn’t figure out, I was clueless. They were identical in looks and the way they talked. But why were the opposites otherwise. I had to find out.
The next day I followed them again to the park, observed them silently and then followed them on the way to their home, observing constantly on the way. Again there was a stark difference in the way the two were. I knew I would get something from the place where they lived. I was thinking of talking to their mother, but I didn’t know exactly what I will say about who am I and why am I interested in knowing more about her children. I was thinking all this when suddenly I saw the quieter girl talk to her sister. She spoke for some seconds and then burst into laughter. I stopped walking at the moment, smiled, thought I was so dumb, why couldn’t I figure it out long before and headed back home content and sure about my conclusion.
Well, the fact was that it wasn’t that one of them was silent and the other not. When I saw both together on the first day, I assumed that there was a silent one and a chirpy one. The real fact was, both had their days and times of being each other. So basically, both were identical in every way. And so what is true about all of us – the “two souls” theory was true for them too.
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