On one cold December afternoon, the mother noticed that her son did not bring back his jacket that he wore to school in the morning. She berated her son for being careless on losing his jacket. The little child got scared and started sobbing. With tears in his eyes, he said he did not lose the jacket but gave it to another child. One hearing this, the mother became even more angry and shocked. After learning this bit of information, she threatened the little child that she will report the matter to his father who would spank him when he comes home after work. On further questioning the little one revealed that while he was coming back from school, he noticed a child on the street that did not have enough clothes on him to keep himself warm and was trembling in the cold. ‘I offered him mine since he needed it more than I did’ said the child.

On hearing her son, the mother turned into stone and immediately realised her mistake. Her eyes welled up and tears started flowing down her cheeks. She took her son in her arms and kissed him incessantly. Looking heavenwards, she begged for God’s forgiveness, ‘what a fool I have been.’ In the evening when the child’s father returned from work, she narrated the entire incident to him and he too felt proud of his son’s gesture at helping an under privileged child. Incidentally, it was the child’s father’s birthday that day and the lady of the house launched into laying the table for the big day. She brought out the birthday cake and other delicacies that she had ordered online through one the food delivery apps that she often used for the purpose. Her husband was pleasantly surprised and thanked her profusely for being so thoughtful. She even prepared a birthday card with her own hands using the child’s colour pencils that she handed over to him after he had cut the cake. The husband was deeply touched and felt very happy to be celebrating the big day with his family. 

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Looking at the proceedings of the evening, the child felt that he too should have gifted his father on his birthday although no father expects a gift from a young child. The child rushed to his room and started wrapping his pen stand with a glossy paper and ingeniously built a makeshift lid with a thick paper after colouring it with a soothing contrasting colour. The assembly looked like a beautiful gift box. He rushed outside and handed the box to his father. The father opened the lid and saw that it was empty. Finding nothing inside the box he asked his son if he had forgotten to put the gift. ‘There is nothing in here, where is the gift?’ said the father. The little child replied ‘the gift is inside the box and I have placed it myself.’ The father got a bit irritated and remarked ‘what kind of a joke is this? If you have placed it in here then why can’t I see it?’ 

The child said ‘I blew a hundred kisses into the box and these are all for you. You can take one each day before going to office and it will last a few months.’ Hearing these beautiful words, father’s eyes welled up and he too could not stop wondering what a marvel of a gift from heaven his son was and immediately took him in his arms and hugged him tightly.

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Compassion and universal brotherhood, more often than not, cannot be taught in any class. It is a rare and innate quality found in the DNA of very few that makes them sensitive to the needs and sufferings of others. This is what makes life inherently beautiful and world a beautiful place to live in. As we age, we lose this quality while focussing on acquiring worldly possessions and accumulating material wealth treading the one-way path to riches. What we must always remember is that it is compassion that wins battles and alleviates all pain and troubles. We as a society have to learn to be sensitive and compassionate while fulfilling our duties and chasing our worldly desires and dreams.