GLASS OF MILK:

 One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water! 

She thought he looked hungry so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked, How much do I owe you?"

You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."

He said ... "Then I thank you from my heart."

As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Many years later that same young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to her case. After a long struggle, the battle was won.

Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it, and then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words ...

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"

(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.

Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed: "Thank You, God, that your love has spread broad through human hearts and hands."

The Calamity is a wake-up Call

Finally we are out of the jaws of Taukte cyclone. If you look at the frequency and severity of the number of cyclones happening in the Arabian Sea, we can observe that, there is a considerable increase in the last few years, which means that Arabian Sea also started showing terrific signs of climatic change hazard. That means, considering the increase in the carbon footprint and also due to other man made reasons, they are going to increase only; that means that our lives are going to be in Jaws of such intense cyclones more often; which means that the probability that many of our near and dear ones losing life due to the effects of climate change is going to rise.

This time and the last few times, our prayers have been answered by nature, but that may not be always the case. These calamities has to be seen as a wake-up call for us to take swift action. If we we ignore such wake-up calls, we may take ourselves to a point where no corrective action can revert the situation. If you really look into the statistics, that "no-revert" point is actually very close. it's actually staring at us point blank. It's like Now or Never situation.

My suggestion to all all those who have earnestly prayed for safety from the cyclone is to take strong promises that we will preserve our mother nature. It should be from an individual level. The time, where we can think that, the Government or other NGOs will do that, is all over. It's all over guys. So wake up at least now. The attitude to such a wake-up call situation could be: 1. We escaped this time, and we would escape similarly always. 2. I don't pray for my life and that of my dear ones; everybody will die one day; So I am not going to change my lifestyle. 3. Nature has given enough warnings. So let me take intense action and make it the priority of my life. Nature has answered my prayers many times. So it's my responsibility to act my part in the corrective process.

 In fact, nature does not want you and me to protect her. If we don't behave responsibly, our story will be done forever and nature will be as much a better place without you and me. Nothing is going to happen for nature. The air, the water, the rivers and animals will have a better place without us

So, if we wish to survive as a species, we should make the correction in our lifestyle the highest priority of our lives. At the micro level, what exactly is the correction, is yet another big topic to ponder. But the first and foremost, is the shift in attitude, taking the "U" turn before the time expires for that too.