Tom Sawyer and the fence

Here's one my favourite sections of Mark Twain's, Adventures of Tom Sawyer: 

Tom gave up the brush with reluctance in his face, but alacrity in his heart. And while the late steamer Big Missouri worked and sweated in the sun, the retired artist sat on a barrel in the shade close by, dangled his legs, munched his apple, and planned the slaughter of more innocents. There was no lack of material; boys happened along every little while; they came to jeer, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was fagged out, Tom had traded the next chance to Billy Fisher for a kite, in good repair; and when he played out, Johnny Miller bought in for a dead rat and a string to swing it with--and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, from being a poor poverty-stricken boy in the morning, Tom was literally rolling in wealth. He had besides the things before mentioned, twelve marbles, part of a jews-harp, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a spool cannon, a key that wouldn't unlock anything, a fragment of chalk, a glass stopper of a decanter, a tin soldier, a couple of tadpoles, six fire-crackers, a kitten with only one eye, a brass doorknob, a dog- collar--but no dog--the handle of a knife, four pieces of orange-peel, and a dilapidated old window sash. 

He had had a nice, good, idle time all the while--plenty of company-- and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it! If he hadn't run out of whitewash he would have bankrupted every boy in the village.

The arrogant vs the polite

Two men crossing a narrow stairway and both of them could not walk through at the same time.  One had to make way for the other.  For some moments, they stared at each other, neither wishing to give way.  Then the first man said, "Get out of my way, let me pass." "I was about to ask you the same thing," the second replied politely.  "Nonsense," replied the first arrogantly. "I never make way for a fool." "I do," answered the second, moving to let the other pass. 

Antique shop and Instant wisdom

The antique shop owner was doing a roaring trade, when the shop next door was taken over by another antique shopkeeper, who erected a large sign, which read 'Best Antique Deals in Town'. Trade was hit bad, when to his horror, the very next week, another antique dealer set up shop on the other side of him, and erected an even larger sign, which read, 'Finest Quality Antiques at the Best Prices in Town'.

The antique shopkeeper thought his business was destroyed, until he had a bright idea. Next day he erected an even bigger sign, right above his own shop doorway. It read, 'Main Entrance'.

Dealer in antiques but certainly fresh and sharp in wisdom!

Herod's court then, and today's crime scene

The central figures during the martyrdom of John the Baptist are alive in every crime-scene even today.

There is Herodias, the instigator.  She does not get her hands soiled - apparently, no. But she is the real brain behind the whole assassination plot.

There is her daughter, the innocent pawn.  She knows not what the ulterior motives and inner politics are being played.  She does not even know that she herself is being played!  But all the same, she is the weapon of assassination - even without her knowledge.

There is finally Herod, the policy-maker.  He knows exactly how things are going to be played out.  He merely lets them to his own advantage.  He certainly has the power to set things right, to do right. But he won't!  

Playing both sides...

The other day I watched the movie,  Promised Land.  The movie went about a normal pace with evidently the protagonist seemingly doing the wrong kind of job, but all the same passionate about it.  He is an employee with a multi-million dollar gas company out to convince the inhabitants of a village to sign a deal with the natural gas company permitting fracking.  He seems confident of his strategy and results until a senior person in the village questions the outcome of such a move.  To add to his woes an environmentalist lands up in the place and starts opposing every move of our friend.  From then on, it is a tussle to gain the confidence of the residents.

The elusive victory suddenly seems quite clear when he anonymously receives a package disproving the sole evidence on which the environmentalist builds his arguments.  The stage is all set now for the townsfolk to sell their land as the only possible arguments so far offered were all wrong.  On the eve of the final vote of the residents, the company representative comes to know that the environmentalist was a fake one himself and was sent there by none other than his own company.  The movie ends with the salesman turning against the very company he was so passionately representing.

My learning from this movie: to make a wrong into right, just propose convincingly the opposite, only to later reveal it as wrong.  The initial wrong then automatically appears right! 

I've seen tactic being used in a hindi movie too, Jolly LLB.  I know not who invented this strategy... it surely has to be either the politicians or the corporate brains, but it certainly is a very smart move!  I'm still to pin-point exactly what is wrong with this whole strategy... though I am certain that it is! 

On forgiveness and brilliance

In his sermon "Loving Your Enemies," Martin Luther King, Jr., described an event from history: When Abraham Lincoln was running for the presidency of the United States, there was a man who ran all around the country speaking ill of Lincoln. He said a lot of unkind things. "You don’t want a tall, lanky, ignorant man like this as the president of the United States!" However, Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States. When the time came for him to choose the Secretary of War, he looked across the nation, and decided to choose a man by the name of Mr. Stanton. When the president made this proposal before his advisors, they were surprised: "Mr. Lincoln," the senior adviser said, "Are you a fool? Do you know what Mr. Stanton has been saying about you? Did you read all of those derogatory statements that he made about you?" Abraham Lincoln stood before the advisors around him and said: "Oh yeah. I know about it; I read about it; I’ve heard him myself. But after looking over the country, I find that he is the best man for the job."

Mr. Stanton did become the Secretary of War. Later, when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, one of the greatest statements ever made about him was by this man Mr. Stanton. After describing the nobility of the president, his spirit of unconditional forgiveness and the integrity of his character in superlatives, Stanton emphatically added, "Now Abraham Lincoln belongs to the ages." If Abraham Lincoln had hated Stanton, and acted accordingly, Stanton might well have gone to his grave hating Lincoln and Lincoln might have gone to his grave hating Stanton.

Providence and shrewdness

Rummaging through my collection this evening I came across this legal sheet of paper with neatly drawn margins and the text handwritten by me while I was a novice (1996). Wanted to discard it but found the story I had heard (and hence written) quite impressive:

Many years ago, when a person who owned money could be thrown into jail, a merchant in Venice had the misfortune to owe a huge sum to a mean moneylender. The moneylender who was old and ugly, fancied the merchant's beautiful young daughter. He proposed a bargain. He said that he would cancel the merchant's debt if he would have the girl instead.

Both the merchant and his daughter were horrified at the suggestion. So the cunning moneylender schemed and told them that they let Providence decide the matter. He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble into an empty bag. Then the girl would have to pick out one of the pebbles. If she chose the black pebble, she would become his wife, and her father's debt would be canceled. But if she refused to pick a pebble, her father would be thrown into jail, and she would starve with no one to look after her. A white pebble would mean she would be free and her father's debt canceled too!
Reluctantly the merchant agreed. They were standing on a pebble-strewn path in the country with many people watching the scene. The moneylender stooped down to pick up, what seem their fate. As he picked two pebbles, the girl, sharp-eyed with fright, noticed that he picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. The moneylender asked the girl to pick out the pebble that was to decide her fate and that of her father.

The girl put her hand into the bag and drew out a pebble. But without, looking at it, she fumbled and let the pebble fall into the path where it got lost among the hundreds lying on the path. "Oh, how clumsy of me!" she said. "Never mind, however, if you look into the bag, you will be able to tell which pebble I dropped by the colour of the one that is remaining." Since the pebble remaining was black, it had to be assumed that she picked the while pebble. Of course, the moneylender dared not admit his own dishonesty. Both the father and his daughter went home happy that they were safe and free!

Moral (of course drawn by me!): Never give too much work to Divine Providence... use your head and skill too!