Theme: Punishments are indispensable in life. Know this:
(1) Youngsters get thrill in breaking the law of the land, breaking speed limits while driving and consuming banned substances.
(2) There are instances when quite a few escape punishment, that encourages others to commit crimes.
(3) If one doesn’t receive punishments, he would commit more and more crimes when he will have no way to escape more severe punishments.
(4) It is the duty of the parents, teachers and government agencies to enforce rules without any leniency. More often than not, the rich and powerful among the society escape punishments.
We will see the stories of a Good father and a Bad father in the following pages.
Theme: Punishments are indispensable in life.
Short story 16
Good father.
The following story is adopted from a Zen short story.The good father had one son. When the son attained the age of 18, the father inquired his son as to what kind of profession he would like to pursue. The son had no doubts in his mind. He said he would do whatever his father did.
The father lived by stealing other’s property and the son reasoned, “only in your profession, we can get so much money to lead a happy life. No other profession”, the son observed, “fetches as much money quickly.”
It is also a fact that he had no idea about any other trades to choose from.
The father demanded to know from the son, if he had considered all the pros and cons.
The boy said, “yes, I did.”
They selected the most auspicious night, the darkest night of the month, the new moon day.The father led him to a house which was locked. He demanded his son to break the door open without drawing the attention of the people around. The son accomplished it successfully
Then, the father instructed the boy to get in, collect all the valuables and come out quickly.The son followed the father’s instruction and disappeared into the dark rooms of the house they were burgling.
The father locked the door from outside and shouted, “Thief, thief”. The people in the area woke from their sleep. They beat the boy black and blue and handed him over to the police.
After a brief jail term, the boy was released. The typical Zen story ends like this, abruptly.
The reader IS expected to figure out, all by himself, why the father did this to his son.
Was the father a cruel person? Or did he not want his son to pursue the profession he did?My deduction is that the father knew that his son knew only one side of the profession, namely the easy money. The father wanted the son to know the other side, the risk involved in living as a thief. His son could then decide if he could take thieving as his profession.