Changing the World, One Turtle at a Time
Can I Change the World?
There was a very beautiful and large park near Krish’s residence.
The park was located on the banks of a small pond.
Every morning, Krish used to jog in the park to maintain his fitness.
Every time he goes jogging, he never forgets to notice a very old lady sitting on a slab near the pond and doing something regularly.
Krish is eager to see what she is doing every day. Out of curiosity, this time, he went near the old lady.
He noticed that there was a special net to catch the turtles, and his curiosity grew even bigger.
He went very near the old lady. Three small turtles wandered here and there slowly, and another one was in the lady’s lap.
She was using a sponge to clean the turtle’s surface.
It was pleasing for him to see that the small turtles were being helped by someone. He wanted to learn more about what she was doing every day.
A Curious Question
“Dear old lady, if you don’t mind, may I know what you have been doing?” he asked politely.
The old lady slowly looked up and gave him a light smile.
“I am cleaning the dust spread on the turtles’ surfaces. Due to this sticky dust, they don’t get enough sunlight. They lose energy quickly, and their lifetime is cut short considerably,” kindness flowed abundantly in her voice.
“I do this for a few hours every day. I have also noticed you regularly jog in this park,” she smiled.
The motherliness shined brightly through her heavily wrinkled skin.
Krish was filled with gratitude. However, he had one question he wanted to ask the old lady.
A Thought-Provoking Response
“I understand, my old lady. However, this is the same situation for all the pond turtles in this world.
You are just cleaning very few turtles in this small pond. What change will you bring to the other turtles in bigger ponds worldwide?”
The lady laughed loudly as she heard what seemed to be a perfect joke.
She took her time to finish cleaning the small turtle in her lap.
Then she pointed to the turtle and said,
“If this boy knew how to speak, he would have told you how his world has changed with just a few minutes of effort from me…”
On hearing this, Krish’s ego came crashing down.
A Lesson for All
We, the well-educated, often think about how to change the world without doing any small thing on our part.
We fail to realize that even a tiny impact we make toward a person, animal, or even a plant will drastically change their world.
Let’s begin each day positively. A person may not have the power to change the world the way he or she wants it to be, but he or she can surely impact the lives of others with minimal effort. Think it through.
