Sand And Stone

Calum, my fellow parishioner at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Penang, shared with me this simple but moving story through email. If only all of us practice such wisdom in our daily lives, the world would be a much better place.

Sand and Stone

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey, they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:

Today my best friend slapped me in the face.

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

Today my best friend saved my life.

The friend, who had slapped and saved his best friend, asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, you write on a stone, why?”

The other friend replied: “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away, but when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”

Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone.

Author unknown

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

3 thoughts on “Sand And Stone”

  1. you know peter,you write very eloquently and it never fails to inspire me sometimes to re examine how each day goes by without me having lived it to the fullest. ..another day wasted.I salute you for making the choice to live life to the hilt and helping your fellow men.you should seriously think of writing a book of your life’s journey so far, food for the spirit and soul.

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