Reading Time: Cookie Story (Poetic Version)

The Cookie Thief
by Valerie Cox

A woman was waiting at an airport one night,
With several long hours before her flight.
She hunted for a book in the airport shops.
Bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.

She was engrossed in her book but happened to see,
That the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be.
Grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between,
Which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.

So she munched the cookies and watched the clock,
As the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock.
She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by,
Thinking, "If I wasn't so nice, I would blacken his eye."

With each cookie she took, he took one too,
When only one was left, she wondered what he would do.
With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh,
He took the last cookie and broke it in half.

He offered her half, as he ate the other,
She snatched it from him and thought... oooh, brother.
This guy has some nerve and he's also rude,
Why he didn't even show any gratitude!

She had never known when she had been so galled,
And sighed with relief when her flight was called.
She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate,
Refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.

She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat,
Then she sought her book, which was almost complete.
As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise,
There was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.

If mine are here, she moaned in despair,
The others were his, and he tried to share.
Too late to apologize, she realized with grief,
That she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

How many times in our lives,
have we absolutely known
that something was a certain way,
only to discover later that
what we believed to be true ... was not?

There are 4 things that are out of your control:
1. The Stone which has already been thrown away.
2. The word which has already been said.
3. Time when it has elapsed.
4. An opportunity which has already been missed.

Anything that comes to our life will always leave eventually.
The only thing that left behind is a memory of that thing, so why not make it a good one.

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

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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

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