November 3, 2021

Notes by Dhruva Shreejay

Story

In a faraway place, there was a boy name Arjun.  He lived with his mom and grandfather in a small simple home. They didn’t have a lot of money so times were tough. Arjun’s mother wanted more for Arjun to have more resources – food, clothes etc. To get a better life for Arjun, she was going to send him to business school with his uncle who lived far away.  She sold many of her items to get money for Arjun’s trip. Arjun’s mother was scared that Arjun would be robbed or might get in danger so she stitched a secret pocket into his arm with money. She told him to be careful around strangers and to be truthful. Arjun began his journey on a ship. He enjoyed it at the start. Suddenly another ship banged into their ship and robbers jumped off and stole money and jewelry from people. The leader of the robbers was big and scary looking. The leader told his thieves to take people’s money and throw them overboard. The leader saw Arjun and grabbed his bag. He looked inside but there wasn’t any money. He realized that Arjun was travelling alone. Arjun was very scared. The leader dropped the bag and turned around to go away. As he turned around, Arjun told him that he had money and opened his secret pocket. The leader looked at him and dropped to his knees. The robber asked him why he told him about it. Arjun told him that his mother told him to be truthful, honest, and brave. Tears started to come in the robber’s eyes. The robber felt ashamed of himself. He walked to the other robbers. He took all the items they stole and returned them to the people of the ship and sailed away. Arjun reached his uncle’s place and went on to become successful.

Lesson from Story

The moral of the story is that being honest always helps us and others. Always keep your word. It takes courage to be honest.    

Virtue for the Week: Satyam (Honesty or Truthfulness)

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi

Being honest and truthful empowers others around us to be honest and truthful. 

The truth unites us – for those around us and ourselves. When we lie, it creates more separation.

Who is the first person we say “Good morning” to in the morning? Who is the last person you say “Good night” to at night? The answer to both of them is yourself. You are your first and last best friend. 

What happens when a friend lies to you? We try to forgive them the first time. But if they lie multiple times, we lose trust in them. But your best friend is yourself. When you procrastinate, you break a promise to yourself.  Imagine you had a goal to wake up at 6:00 am every day. But on the first day you decided not to because you were tired. Then you keep making excuses to yourself each time. Finally, you change your alarm to 8:00 am because if you miss the bus and your parents go to work, you don’t have to go to school. You are becoming less and less honest after you make a promise to yourself and break it. We must live up to our words and be honest with ourselves. When we are honest with ourselves, we will be honest with others.

RAW (Reflection Adventure of the Week)

Tell someone you know something true about you, something you wouldn’t normally tell someone.