The little girl was running around the playground, happy and carefree.
She stopped, as if to think about something.
She went to her bag and took out her prized doll.
At once, the other girls on the playground started staring at what she held in her hands.
An object they didn’t have. Something they would like to get their hands on.
Like moths to a flame, they started edging closer to her. One of them even stretched out her hands, indicating that she would really like to have the doll for herself, never mind that it did not belong to her and that her parents were at the side, calling for her to “don’t snatch people’s things ah!”
What was a joyful play area a moment ago suddenly turned into a tensed battleground.
The laughter and excited screams that filled the air suddenly became tears and crying.
“Would you like to keep your doll? And continue playing on the playground” The mum asked the little girl who was hugging it possessively and protectively. Silently and rather sullenly she nodded her head.
Once the doll was in the bag, the activities of the playground continued. Sliding, climbing, running around with joyful shrieks.
We could be like the children on the playground – carefree and joyful, enjoying the freedom and possibilities of the world around.
Isn’t it we ourselves who cause our own suffering by taking out, or going to our man-made attachments, and holding on to them? Thinking that what we have is absolutely necessary and refusing to let go?
Let go, and live. We might realise that what we thought was absolutely essential might not be so after all, and life could be that much lighter.
Just some inspired food for thought.
Along Life's Path 