A Puppy and A Calf
Once upon a time, a puppy and a calf are good friends. The puppy likes to watch the floating white cloud, so does the calf. But the reason that makes them to become friends is not only because they share the same interest but also because for both of them the quality time is their most favorite love language. That's why they are together everyday and are talking and sharing about the size, the color, the floating speed of the clouds as well as other daily news takes place in the old farm. However, most importantly, they find that they are most satisfied with each other when both of them are awed by the magnificent beauty of the unbelievably infinite changes of the shapes of the cloud. Other animals are envious about their friendship and call them peas and carrots in that old farm.
One day the calf was driven to carry some goods during the night. It is the first time that this calf left his cub and saw the stars in the sky. He was immediately amazed by its twinkling brightness in the dark velvet sky. He told himself, "I will come out to see them every night." Since that night, he cuts off his time of gazing upon the cloud during the day time significantly in order for him to take a nap and have the energy to see the stars at night. A couple of days later, the puppy noticed the changes that happened to his friend. He noticed that his friend didn't spend as much time as before watching the changing clouds anymore. Neither did he talk much with him. Sometime there was not even a single conversation between the puppy and the calf in a week. A couple of times, the calf even got very impatient and angry with the puppy when the puppy took a long time to describe to the calf the different animal shaped clouds he saw outside in the summer. Although the calf apologized to the puppy each time after he was angry or impatient with the puppy, the puppy was becoming more and more concerned about their friendship.
Finally the puppy decided to do something to save their friendship and took the courage to ask the calf if he agrees to talk with him at least once per day so that their friendship can be maintained. The calf nodded because he also noticed that how much he valued this friendship with the puppy and also wanted to take the effort to reserve this relationship. This new rule "communicate once per day" was established. The puppy was happy since he thought he could at least talk to his friend everyday even though they had the different interests right now. However, the calf didn't reduce his obsession of the stars any less than before the rule was enacted. He was still going out to spend a long time during the night to watch the stars and that made him very tired during the day. The calf is famous for his commitment to keeping the promise. Therefore he managed to find time to fulfill the rule "communicate once per day" faithfully.
Unfortunately, the puppy felt that there were something that got lost in their communication after they had that rule. Before he could talk to the calf whenever he wants; now he has a fixed time slot to share with the calf. If the conversation is too long, the puppy will find boredom and impatience in the calf's face. Before he could talk to the calf a couple of times a day; now he has to accumulate all he wants to say during the day and share his feelings and observation about the cloud in that fixed time slot. Before the calf always asked the puppy a lot of interesting questions, but now he seems like that he doesn't like to ask the puppy any questions. The puppy found that their relationship hasn't made any progress for a while although they keep the rule perfectly well.
The relationship with the calf made the puppy to realize one thing, a true loving relationship can not rely on rules to either maintain it or deepen it. If you don't have a heart to nurture the relationship, it will be not going to grow no matter how well you keep the rule. After the puppy had this realization, he said to himself, "I cherish my friendship with the calf so I will use my heart to water this relationship. I will go to tell the calf that the rule should be abolished. No rules between us any more. Only Love! "
2 comments:
Good to see that you are writing in English again. Much easier for me although harder for you.
I also appreciate that it is a standalone piece. Obviously, it was written in a context (I can guess what it was), but because it is independent, I don't need to know the context in order to understand it. Not that inquiring minds would not want to know the context :)
That is a striking parable. Not only is the English comfortable, but the message behind it is relevant. I myself came away with something to apply. And the creativity speaks for itself.
I know that the Chinese way to acknowledge something is to criticize it, but I don't want to because I enjoyed it just the way it was.
I thought it was interesting that your puppy never went to look at the stars with his friend the calf. Nor did puppy ask calf about the stars. It's good that puppy realized that you can't legislate friendship. Rules are best for one's self. Puppy can still make it a point to talk to calf once a day, even if calf does not take the initiative to do so. I know puppy wants to share about the clouds, but maybe he can listen about the stars.
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