An old man, sensing that his time was almost up, called his three sons to himself and took them to a near-by field. In the field were three types of plants: 1) a tiny sprout, 2) a bush and 3) a full-fledged tree.
He asked the youngest boy to pull out the tiny sprout which he did without the least difficulty.
He asked his second son to pull out the bush. The boy pulled first with one hand, then with the other, but the bush would not come out. Then, using both the hands together, he pulled as hard as he could and the bush yielded to his strength.
He asked the eldest and strongest to try his hand at pulling out the full-grown tree. The young man tried with all his might and mien, and said, "Father, it cant be done!"
The old man asked all the three sons to do it together. They tried but failed.
Turning to them, he said" "My children, I may pass away any day but you should never forget the lesson of the plants. Our bad habits, when they are still in the formative stage, can easily be overcome. When they are full-grown, you can do nothing to uproot them. So be careful, especially in regard to smoking, drinking, gambling & idle gossip."
It has been rigidly said that if you cut the first letter of 'habit', 'a bit' will remain. If you cut off the second letter, 'bit' will sill remain. If you cut off the third letter, 'it' will remain. So beware!
"First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you."
No comments:
Post a Comment