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Vol. 3 & 4 9 / 2001 |
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Picture
of Peace
(adapted from author unknown)
Nghia Do
There was once a King who offered a prize to
the artist who could paint the best PICTURE of PEACE. Many artists tried. The
King looked at all the pictures, but there only two he really liked, and he had
to choose between them.
One
picture was of a calm lake. The lake
was a perfect mirror for the peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white
clouds. All who saw this picture
thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.
In
the second picture had mountains, too.
But these were rugged and bare.
Above was an angry sky from which rain fell, and in which lighting
played. Down the mountainside tumbled a
foaming waterfall. This did not look
peaceful at all. But when the King
looked, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the
rock. In the bush a mother bird had
built her nest. There, in the midst of
the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest… a picture of perfect
peace.
Which
of the pictures won the prize? The King
chose the second picture. Do you know
why?
“Because”,
explained the King, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no
noise, trouble or hard work. Peace
means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your
heart. That is the real meaning of
peace.”