The Height Of Ingratitude

This is a story about ingratitude narrated by Winston Churchill. A little boy was playing on a pier. All of a sudden he fell off the pier into the water. He did not know how to swim and was in serious danger of drowning. A very kind-hearted young soldier saw this, and he immediately jumped off the pier and swam towards the little boy. He put the boy on his shoulders and brought him back up to the pier quite safely. This young man saved the boy's life.

The boy had been playing with other little boys, but his parents were nowhere to be found. The soldier drove the child to his parents' home and left the boy there. The young man did not even think of receiving any reward. He was a very kind-hearted person, and he was extremely happy that he was able to save the life of this little boy.

A few days later, the boy's parents came to look for the soldier. Everybody was helping them look for him, because they thought that the parents had come to give him a reward for saving their child. Finally they found the soldier working at the pier.

The parents approached the young man, and he immediately said, "You have to come to me? Please, please, I do not need any reward. I am so happy that I was able to save your child's life. That is my greatest reward. You do not have to give me anything."

The father and mother said, "No! We have not come here to give you anything. We have come to ask you for our son's hat. Where is it?"

The young man was shocked. He said, "I tried to save your son's life and I did save his life. Now you are asking me for his hat?"

"Yes," replied the parents.

How powerful ingratitude can be! The young man had saved the life of the parent's only child, and they were asking for his hat! Instead of giving the soldier a reward or even a simple 'Thank you,' they were asking for the boy's hat!

They demanded, "What did you do with our son's hat? What is wrong with you? We want to know where the hat is!"

This is the height of ingratitude.

From:Sri Chinmoy,The mind-jungles and the heart-gardens of life, Agni Press, 2001
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/mjh