Lessons from a Peasant family
A landless peasant couple decided
to abandon their hard life in the countryside.
They moved to a small town where they rented a small shed on a piece of
property next to a wealthy man's house. It
was a rundown shed but with little work, they were able to make their
home. They even made a small patio to
enjoy the sun and the air. They were
woodcutters, and the only trade they knew was to fetch firewood from a nearest
forest and sell it in the market. Most people
of that town used firewood for fuel; this provided the couple a stable means for
their livelihood.
Everyday
early in the morning they would go into the forest and by evening they would be
carrying two bundles of firewood on their backs to sell it in the market. The money was enough for them to buy daily
food and even enjoy an occasional rest and recreation. Every evening, after the hard work of fetching
and selling the wood, the couple would enjoy a good meal and then sit in the
patio. They would chat about their life
in the village, their first love, and their new life in the city. Even though they could not have any children,
they were happy to be with one another, they loved each other very deeply. Turn by turn, they would massage each other's
back; carrying a heavy load from a distance everyday had created a kind of
stiffness in their back and neck, and being massaged with oil or other herbs
gave them great relief.
The
couple loved each other so dearly. Often
they would take a walk nearby their home and even though it was not culturally
accepted to hold wife's hand in public, the husband would grab his wife's hand
and continue to walk as if no one was looking at them. She felt a tinge of embarrassment at first
when she noticed how people were staring at them, but as the time went by, she
loved being hold by her loving husband and was proud to be married to this man.
They had a beautiful life and were so
content to live it they way it has turned out; they would not change it for
anything.
The
rich man next to their shed had a beautiful house with a terrace garden. They even had servants to take care of the
gardens and the house. The house was
always busy, people keep coming and going.
Every evening, the wife of the rich man would sit in the terrace garden
and observe the woodcutter's family down sitting in their patio. She would notice how affectionate the man was
to his wife and how content they looked.
She began to compare her life and theirs and found out that she had no
happiness at all. Husband never took the
time to spend with the wife and children; he was always busy in making money. Most of the time he stayed out of home due
his business and even the children had become very cold to each other. The beautiful house felt so cold and empty
even though it was filled with wonderful things husband had bought.
One
evening when her husband was at home, she asked him to join her in the terrace. As they sat on the roof chairs, the
woodcutter couple below also came out to sit in their patio. The rich man's wife began to explain to her
husband about this couple as how happy and content they were, and how the rich
couple had lost the true sense of happiness.
After his wife finished speaking, the rich husband said, "don't
worry, their happiness will be over soon" and he went down.
The
next day, when the woodcutter family had gone to fetch the firewood, the rich
man threw a big bundle of money inside their shed. When the couple returned, they were so
surprised to find the money. With fear
and nervousness, they waited if someone would come and claim the money, but no
one came. After realizing that they
could have the money, carefully they counted it and found out it was more than
what they could have earned in five years. The whole night they could not sleep; their
minds struggled to decide as what to do with this money. Finally in the morning, husband came up with
the idea; they would purchase a piece of property and build their own house in
town. But the money was not
sufficient. So, the husband came up with
the plan to earn the remaining money by cutting down their expenses, cutting
down their free time and working harder.
Instead of one trip to the jungle, they began to make two trips. Instead of going for a walk in the weekends,
they began to continue to fetch the firewood.
Instead of sitting on the patio every evening, they began to stay late
in the market to sell their remaining firewood.
Instead of the home cooked meal, they began to eat from the street
vendors and come home only to sleep. No
sooner, the little hut went into some kind of quietness. There was no laughter; there was no light in
the house. Every day before the dawn
they left and they came late at night.
No one saw the couple taking a walk together during the weekends anymore.
One
night the rich neighbors heard a quarrel taking place in the hut. Wife was shouting about the hardship the
money had brought. She complained about
the increasing pain in her back and the lack of rest and proper food. She lamented how happy she was before the
money came into their life; ever since the money came, their life became so
miserable. Husband tried to calm her
down. He told her to think about how
happy they would be when they would be able to build their own house in town, and
so on and so forth. That night she
became calm and went to sleep. But this
quarrel did not end; every night there would be some kind of commotion in the
hut. Husband became very rude and
demanded the wife to obey him and do what he says. Very soon, due to the quarrels, unhappiness, lack
of rest and proper food, the couple's health deteriorated badly. They could never come up with the money to
own their own house in town.
The
greatest loss was not that they could not own a house in town; the greatest
loss was the loss of their love for one another, their happiness and contentment. Greed for more is the greatest thief of what
we have right now. The Bible is right in
saying that "contentment with godliness is great gain"!