Reading Time: Cookie Story

There are article that I read once long ago, today I've just re-read but in Thai version. This is a very good story to read and I can't help posting it on my blog on my reading time section. to me it does not matter if the story really happened, what matter is that it teach us something read on and find out what I mean:

In life, there are many trifles which make us worried and concerned if we are not wise or considerable enough. Why is that? It is because in life we usually form opinions or judgement from what we think, and what we hear and we see. We forget to be aware of the things that already done we cannot recover. A thousand sayings of sorry cannot satisfy those whom we have already disappointed. This story can illustrate it.

Here is the story:

A young lady was waiting for her flight in the boarding room of a big airport. As she would need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to spend her time. She also bought a packet of cookies. She then sat down in an armchair, in the VIP room of the airport, to rest and read in peace. Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading. When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also. She felt irritated but said nothing. She just thought, "What a nerve! If I was in the mood I would punch him for daring!" For each cookie she took, the man took one too. This was infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene. When only one cookie remained, she thought, "Ah.....what will this abusive man do now?" Then, the man, taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half. Ah! That was too much! She was much too angry now! In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place.

When she sat down in her seat, inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses, and, to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched, unopened! She felt so ashamed!! She realised that she was wrong ..... she had forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse. The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter. While she had been very angry, thinking that she was dividing her cookies with him. And now there was no chance to explain herself...nor to apologize.

The moral of the story...

There are five things that you cannot recover.

The stone ....after the throw! The word ... after it's said! The occasion....after the loss! The time ...after it's gone! The action...after it's done!

It is true though we must be careful and mindful of things that we are going to do. If we are careful, mindful or considerable, there is no gap for repentance.

from: http://www.buddhapadipa.org/pages/dhammacorner_cookiestory.html

Read another (poetic) version at Reading Time: Cookie Story