Page 125 - Moral Stories Vol 6

Pavan, asked his father. “Father, why are these people not caring for the lake and polluting the air?” His father said, “Dear Pavan, these people do not understand that they depend upon the lake, they depend upon the air. When they understand that, they will not throw garbage in the lake.”
Pavan felt bad. He was thinking of a way to help people understand this. He could not think of anything. He went back home. He asked his father, “Father, how can we make the air pure near the lake? It has become so smelly.”
Pavan’s father explained, “The air never becomes impure. It is we who make the atmosphere dirty by throwing garbage and polluting the air. We cannot make the air pure. We have to keep the environment clean.” Then Pavan got an idea. He decided he will do something to keep the environment clean.
Comment :
Air by itself is not bad. It feels good or bad depending upon where it is. In a beautiful garden we feel the air to be very fragrant1 and pleasant but near a garbage dump we find that the air is stinky. But it is the same air that is everywhere. It depends on us what we make of ourselves.
If we have good thoughts and do good deeds to others then we can make our surroundings as fragrant and pleasant as a garden otherwise it will smell like a garbage dump. Therefore it does not mean that the air itself, because it is near a garbage dump, is bad.
Similarly all of us are God’s children and we all have God within us. We should not judge others just by looking at them. We should try and think that God is in all and so behave in a nice way with everybody. This will also make our hearts and minds as clean and fresh and pure as the air itself.
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