The power of kindness²

There was a school with quite a few students. Most of the students were excellent. There was only one unfortunate boy who was not at all a good student. At the same time, he had a very bad habit: he used to steal. Quite often this boy missed class in order to steal people’s money and other valuables.

Some of the boys lived in a dormitory and, from time to time, they found that their money was missing. This went on for a long time and the students became extremely frustrated. They had no idea who the actual thief was.

A brilliant idea flashed across the mind of one of the most intelligent students. On one particular day, this boy pretended to be sick and did not come to class. He was hiding in the dormitory. As fate would have it, the student who was in the habit of stealing came into the room to steal something, and he was caught red-handed. The good student immediately informed the school authorities. Word spread very quickly around the school that the thief had been caught. All the students came to know who the culprit was, and they started insulting him ruthlessly.

The teachers wanted to take the matter to the police. They said, “This boy should be punished! He should be put in jail!” The headmaster firmly told them, “No, I will not allow that. It will bring disgrace to my school. Plus, I really want to help this boy and also help the other students.”

The headmaster called all the students and teachers together, including the boy who had stolen the money. He said to the students, “You people must be frank with me. I would like each one of you who has lost money to tell me how much you have lost.”

One student said, “I have lost ten dollars.” Others said twenty, thirty, forty and so on. The whole amount came to $300. There and then, the headmaster took out $300 from his own wallet and returned the exact amount that had been stolen to each student who had lost money.

The boy who had stolen all this money was badly humiliated. Then the headmaster said to him, “You may return to your classroom. You should complete all your courses.”

The boy obeyed the headmaster and resumed his classes. But the other students continued to look down on this boy. They spoke about him behind his back and made fun of him to his face. When the headmaster heard what was going on, he was extremely sad. He told the students, “The way you are behaving is not good. We have to conquer people with our kindness. You are all my students. I will be the proudest person if you please try to develop kindness, compassion and forgiveness.”

The head of the school was truly an excellent human being. Unfortunately, neither the students nor the teachers listened to him. They simply could not look upon this particular student kindly or favourably. Immediately after being caught, the boy had stopped his stealing. He was determined to live a good life, but he was taunted again and again because of his past actions.

The headmaster repeatedly pleaded with his students and teachers, “I am begging you to please be kind to this boy. He has totally given up his stealing. All of us have weaknesses that we must conquer. Please try to find kindness, compassion and forgiveness inside your hearts.”

Slowly but surely, the headmaster’s pleading worked. People began treating the boy with sincere kindness and concern.

After four or five years, he completed his studies and went to work. He obtained an excellent job building houses. After he received his first paycheck, the first thing he did was to withdraw $300 in cash and go to his old school. The headmaster was still there.

With folded hands, the young man offered the money to the headmaster and said to him, “I am eternally grateful to you. You saved my life. Everyone else wanted to cast me into jail, but you did not allow them. I stole $300, which you yourself gave to the students from whom I had stolen the money. Now I am returning the $300 to you.”

The headmaster began shedding tears of joy and pride. He embraced the young man and said, “My son, my kindness has been most powerfully rewarded. I am so proud of you and so grateful to you. In the future, my boy, do not steal. Never steal.” The young man replied, “I have completely stopped stealing. Never again in my life will I steal. I have turned over a new leaf, and it is all due to your kindness. I assure you, if and when I have children, my children will not be affected by what I have done. They will not be like me. I will only instil sincerity, kindness, concern and compassion into my children’s hearts and lives, just as you have done to me.”

Again and again the young man offered his gratitude to the headmaster, saying, “You saved my life! You saved my life!” Then the young man bowed to the headmaster very deeply once again and took his leave.

The following day, the headmaster related this particular incident to all the students. Most of the students who knew about the stealing episode had already passed their examinations and graduated.

The headmaster said, “Many years ago, somebody was not doing the right thing in this school. He stole money from so many students during the day while they were having their lessons. When he was finally caught, someone showed kindness to this boy. Most people wanted to put him in jail, but someone did not allow that to happen. The boy immediately turned over a new leaf and became very, very good and nice. I am telling you all this because I do not want you to repeat the same story.

“You must not develop the habit of stealing. At the same time, you must not develop the habit of looking down upon others. We all have weaknesses. At what point weaknesses will dominate us, we have no idea. If we become kind and compassionate to others, there is every possibility that our compassion, kindness and forgiveness will work miracles in their lives and in our lives as well.”