Guiding Light: Building bridges through forgiveness

There were two brothers who lived in adjacent farms separated by a creek. For years they lived together in peace and amity, sharing their implements and produce, exchanging labour and goods as they needed. Suddenly things turned sour between them.

A small misunderstanding led to a major quarrel and they became sworn enemies.

The elder brother called a carpenter over to his farm. “Can you see the creek out there?” he asked.

“Across the creek is my brother’s farm. I want you to take all the lumber in my storehouse and build me a fence on this side of the creek so that I won’t have to see his farm again!”

“I understand the situation,” said the carpenter. “Just leave the job to me!”

The older brother had to go into town for some supplies and so he gave the carpenter all the material he needed, and departed for the day.

When he returned home, the carpenter was putting the finishing touches to his job. The farmer’s jaw fell open at the sight that greeted his eyes.

There was no fence to be seen! Instead, there was a bridge, stretching across the creek, and linking the two farms as never before! What was more, the younger brother was walking across the bridge, with his arms outstretched, smiling.

“My dear brother, how splendid of you to build this bridge after all that I have said and done! I am so glad we are back on the same loving terms as before!”

The brothers met each other in a spirit of love and kindness. The carpenter watched with a smile as they embraced each other, and got ready to leave.

“Don’t go yet,” called the elder brother. “There is lots more you can do for us,” said the younger brother. “I must move on,” said the carpenter. “I am sure there are many more bridges I have to build!”

Forgiveness builds bridges between broken relationships.

(Dada J.P. Vaswani is a humanitarian, philosopher, educator, acclaimed writer, powerful orator, messiah of ahimsa, and non-sectarian spiritual leader.)

Published on: Tuesday, April 26, 2022, 07:00 AM IST