Where there is love, there is life. Love is the
only force capable of transforming an enemy into
friend. It does not need to be perfect; it needs
to be true. Here's a beautiful love story
inspired by the writings of Joe Gatuslao.
A
long time ago in China, a girl named Lili got
married and lived with her husband and
mother-in-law. In a very short time, Lili found
that she couldn't get along with her
mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were
very different, and Lili was angered by many of
her mother-in-law's habits. In addition, she
criticized Lili constantly. Days and weeks
passed. Lili and her mother-in-law never
stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the
situation even worse was that, according to
ancient Chinese tradition, Lili had to bow to
her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All
the anger and unhappiness in the house was
causing Lili's poor husband great
distress.
Finally, Lili could not stand her mother-in-law's bad
temper and dictatorship any longer, and she
decided to do something about it. Lili went to
see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who
sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked
if he would give her some poison so that she
could solve the problem once and for all.
Mr.Huang thought for awhile, and finally said,
"Lili, I will help you solve your problem,
but you must listen to me and obey what I tell
you." Lili said, "Yes, Mr. Huang, I
will do whatever you tell me to
do." Mr. Huang went into the
back room, and returned in a few minutes with a
package of herbs. He told Lili, "You can't
use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your
mother-in-law, because that would cause people
to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given
you a number of herbs that will slowly build up
poison in her body. Every other day prepare some
delicious meal and put a little of these herbs
in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that
nobody suspects you when she dies, you must be
very careful to act very friendly towards her.
Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and
treat her like a queen."
Lili
was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried
home to start her plot of murdering her
mother-in-law. Weeks and months went by, and
every other day, Lili served the
specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She
remembered what Mr. Huang had said about
avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her
temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated
her like her own mother.
After six months had passed, the whole household
had changed. Lili had practiced controlling her
temper so much that she found that she almost
never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an
argument with her mother-in-law in six months
because she now seemed much kinder and easier to
get along with. The mother-in-law's attitude
toward Lili changed, and she began to love Lili like her own daughter. She kept telling
friends and relatives that Lili was the best
daughter-in-law one could ever find. Lili and
her mother-in-law were now treating each other
like a real mother and daughter. Lili's husband
was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Lili came to see Mr. Huang and asked
for his help again. She said, "Dear Mr.
Huang, please help me to keep the poison from
killing my mother-in-law! She's changed into
such a nice woman, and I love her like my own
mother. I do not want her to die because of the
poison I gave her." Mr. Huang smiled and
nodded his head. "Lili, there's nothing to
worry about. I never gave you any poison. The
herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her
health. The only poison was in your mind and
your attitude toward her, but that has been all
washed away by the love which you gave to
her."
We should realize that how you treat
others is exactly how they will treat us. There
is a wise Chinese saying: "The person
who loves others will also be loved in return."
God might be trying to work in another person's
life through you.
Tim Pedrosa
The
world is full of beauty when hearts are
full of love. If
someone loves you, love him back. If someone hurts you, love him back
unconditionally. The irony is not that love hurts, sometimes, it’s
the fact that the cut of each is felt equally as deep.
|
Tim |