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Sunny Stories:
Moving on
Hasini did not like elevators. She always tried to avoid them.
Whenever she saw one she felt so scared she wanted to run as far away as
she could from the box-like-machine with two doors that opened and
closed on its own. Elevators were like the dragons in fairy tales to
Hasini. It was always best to keep away from them.
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Closing
gates and moving on |
Hasini did not like elevators for another reason. She could never
forget how her right hand had once got caught to the doors of an
elevator. This happened the first time she had stepped into an elevator.
She was four years old at the time. Once inside the elevator she had
kept her hand on the door and before she knew it the two doors had
closed, trapping her hand for the briefest of seconds. The doors opened
again immediately and Hasini hurriedly took her hand away. Though she
was not hurt in anyway, from that day on she dreaded the sight of an
elevator.
Last month mother's youngest cousin invited them to her wedding.
Father, mother, Marshi and Hasini together with grandpa and grandma went
to the wedding ceremony which was held in a hotel in Colombo. The kind
lady at the entrance of the hotel pointed to the elevator and said the
wedding hall was on the third floor.
"I don't want to go in the elevator" Hasini started to cry. "I want
to go home. Mother, please take me home."
Father looked at his watch. "There is no time to take the stairs. The
poruwa ceremony will begin in a few minutes."
"Come on," said mother. "We must not get late."
But Hasini refused to step into the elevator. Realizing Hasini was
going to start crying again Grandma suggested she would climb the stairs
with Hasini, while the others went in the elevator.
"But Grandma, how can you climb so many stairs" objected Marshi. "You
always say your poor legs get easily tired these days."
"Do not worry Marshi," said grandma. "Hasini can hold my hand and
help me. Off you go."
The lady showed them the staircase. Hasini hugged grandma before they
started to climb the stairs. "Thank you grandma, for saving me from the
dragon" she told grandma.
It took them almost twenty minutes to reach the third floor. Once
they entered the wedding hall grandma sat on a chair and started to wipe
the sweat on her face with a handkerchief.
"I am sorry grandma," said Hasini. "I am sorry I made you climb so
many stairs."
"Never mind," said grandma trying to get her breath back. "It has
probably done me a world of good. The doctors always say I must exercise
more."
Hasini did not leave grandma's side to play with her cousins. She
stayed close to grandma, worried grandma might fall sick after climbing
so many stairs. She wished she had not been so scared of the elevator.
"Why are you so scared of elevators, Hasini?" asked grandma when she
had recovered her breath.
Hasini told grandma about the frightening memory. She told grandma
how she kept remembering the way the doors had started to close,
trapping her hand, whenever she saw an elevator.
"You are eight years old now" grandma reminded Hasini. "Time you
forgot what happened four years ago."
"How can I forget, grandma?"
"Here is something you must do whenever you want to forget a scary
event. You must put the event behind an imaginary gate inside your mind
and close the gate. Then you can move on and have a new beginning."
Hasini was quiet for a moment. "If I close the memory of the scary
incident behind the gate will I be able to forget it?"
Grandma smiled. "You can always try" she said.
Hasini closed her eyes and stayed still for a few minutes. Then she
opened them and said, " I am free now. The scary memory will not follow
me again."
She turned to grandma and said, "Grandma from now on I will always
remember to close the gate behind a scary event."
"Yes, Hasini," said grandma. "When you shut the gates behind you the
past is held there.
Then you are free to start again and move on with a happy heart."
Lessons from the Great!
Dear children,
I hope at least some of you have read autobiographies or biographies
of well known personalities. Do you know the difference between an
autobiography and biography? An autobiography contains the life story of
a person in his or her own words while a biography is an account of a
person’s life written by another.
 Reading autobiographies or biographies help you know the hardships or
challenges faced by eminent people in their long walk to success. It
sets a fine example to you to mould your lives accordingly. Biographies
of Mahatma Gandhi or Mother Theresa will teach you the importance of
serving others in extreme compassion.
How about the biographies of well known writers? The story of Martin
Wickramasingha will tell you about his inborn talents in writing and how
the society in which he lived provided inspiration for his writing.
The life stories of Emile Bronte, Charles Dickens or Jane Austen give
you details about how and what made them writers and what helped them to
sharpen their inborn talents.
Reading the life stories of great scientists or astronomers is
equally interesting.
The great lesson you can learn from all of them is their courage, and
undying determination. They loved challenges and faced them with
confidence.
Read autobiographies and bio graphies and learn lessons from those
great lives.
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