Once upon a time there was a young lady who traveled far to see an old wise man to ask him for advice. She travelled far because in her town there were no one older than her; she wanted more than what her peers offered. After traveling a great distance, she finally got to the village where this old man lived. She asked for audience with him which she received. Unfortunately for her, the wise man spoke a language she could not understand. Having been surrounded by the same type people all her life, she could not even begin to comprehend what he was saying. She tried to be patient. She tried really hard, but alas she could not understand what everyone else in the village seem to have understood. In frustration, she embarked to go back to the place she came from -- with the thought that she had wasted her time and energy on the trip to see the old, wise man. When she finally arrived back to her home, somehow between her journey to the wise man and her journey back home, the young people of her town were speaking a language she did not understand. She tried speaking to her old friends and companions, but they could not understand what she was saying either. Soon friendships broke down and she was left thinking to herself. To her the only recourse was to go back to the old man to see if he had done something that made her unable to understand the language of her friends. When she finally arrived at the old mans village, the old man was there to greet her. This time, she understood every word he said. She was amazed by this. She asked the old man how she was now able to understand him without being taught his language and how come she could not understand her former friends language. The old man replied: Neither I nor your friends changed our language. The journey we take to learn something (that we once knew nothing about) is enough to change the language we speak and distance us from those who have never taken the journey to learn. It is not your language that has changed, it is your understanding. - Lemuel Ayudtud
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:58:09 +0000