Remain a Learner!

A foreign diplomat was unable to speak English. So, when the lunch bell rang at the United Nations Assembly, he stood behind a man at the food counter and carefully heard him order ‘apple-pie and coffee’. He also ordered ‘apple-pie and coffee’. Then for the next two weeks he kept ordering apple-pie and coffee.

Finally he was fed up and decided to try something else. So, he listened attentively while another man ordered a ‘ham sandwich’.

'Ham sandwich' he said to the counterman.

'White or rye?' the counterman asked.

'Ham sandwich' the diplomat repeated.

'White or rye?' the counterman asked again.

'Ham sandwich' the diplomat repeated.

The counterman grew very angry. 'Look, Mac' he roared shaking his fist under the diplomat's nose, 'do you want it on white or rye?'

'Apple-pie and coffee' answered the diplomat.

Moral of the Story .....

Friends, we are efficient with the old, but are awkward with a new. With the new, we need to learn from ABC, so we start feeling ignorant. With the old, we are knowledgeable. We can do it mechanically, no awareness is needed.  But with the new we need to be alert and aware, otherwise everything may go wrong.

The old becomes mechanical, but with the new there is fear. It is very difficult to teach new tricks even to an old dog. It will repeat only the old tricks again and again, the tricks which it knows.

However Friends, when we live with the old, we don't live at all. Only with the new is life. Life has to be fresh. One should therefore, remain a learner and never become a knower. One should remain open, never become closed. One should remain ignorant and go on throwing the knowledge that accumulates.

Each day, each moment, one should free oneself from all that one has been knowing and become a child once again. Friends, to become innocent like a child, is the way to live and to live abundantly.

Have a Meaningful Day Friends!!