++ Story is also punished on Portfolio Website with new revisions: Stories: to inspire and to motivate
One of my favorite traditions as a child was bedtime stories. And growing up with Indian parents, they would often tell us about myths and stories that their parents told them growing up in India. Most of these always entailed a lesson that they wanted the child to understand and one of my favorites is from the Jatakas Tales, the story “The Ox who won the Forfeit.”
In the story, there is a gentleman who proclaims he has the strongest Ox in the village and makes a bet that his Ox could pull a hundred wagons. However, on the day of the challenge, the gentlemen (out of the blue) treats his Ox horribly, calling him names and yelling at him. The Ox feels extremely disrespected and therefore, loses the challenge on purpose and the gentlemen loses his money. That evening, the man asks the Ox why he gave up when he had pulled that many wagons before. The Ox is honest and tells the many he felt disrespected when the man yelled at him for no reason. The man realized his mistake and apologizes to the Ox. The Ox tells the man to make the bet again and if the Ox is treated with respect, he would win. So that is what happens, the man makes another bet and treats the Ox with the respect he deserved and therefore wins his money back when the Ox wins.
This story embodies the sense of equality between all creatures but using a zoom-in/zoom-out lens we can apply the ideology to many social situations. Consider for example, is it acceptable for the CEO of a major corporation to treat his sales employee with disrespect just because that individual is in a lower position and the CEO is the boss? Is that how society is meant to function and how our social hierarchy triumphs in times of peril. In my opinion, a true leader is one that knows how to manage their team with respect and knows the values of all the moving parts within their group. They do not look down upon an individual because of their position, because in reality, everyone serves a distinct purpose in life, without which other moving parts would not be functional. The biggest lesson that this story teaches is us that we need to be considerate and cognizant of everyone's social opinions and ideologies to have a better function community. This is not only in business or work setting. Within a home, all members of a family need to be treated with the same respect and within society, we need to have a mutual understanding for all peoples. We need to be mindful to remove negatives ideologies of age, race, and ethnic backgrounds to acknowledge that we are humans before anything else. This mindset can foster growth and an environment where all peoples can succeed. ALSO! Like in our story, we should also be respectful of our pets and the world we live in. Be respectful to your mom and mother nature!
Authors Note: For my story, I wanted to do a mix of a bedtime story and a motivational speech (since that is what my portfolio is about). At the beginning fo the speech I talk about how my parents would read me bedtime stories. That is just made up for continuation in the piece, my parents did not tell us bedtime stories. However, whenever we would visit our grandparents, they would constantly tell us stories about different myths or stories they heard growing up in India. However, my family is Sikh and from Punjab, so none fo the stories we heard incorporated Hindu mythology (which is what most of the stories we read in this class are). I chose to do the Ox story from the Jatakas Tales because I think it has an important lesson about the respect we need to be even more cognizant of right now amid this epidemic. People are losing their lives to this disease and others are facing the economic reproductions of the epidemic. In these times, we must come together as a community and support those around us. The world is a better place when we can be one with those around us. I kept the overall story the same but added more meaning to how we can interpret the story.
One of my favorite traditions as a child was bedtime stories. And growing up with Indian parents, they would often tell us about myths and stories that their parents told them growing up in India. Most of these always entailed a lesson that they wanted the child to understand and one of my favorites is from the Jatakas Tales, the story “The Ox who won the Forfeit.”
In the story, there is a gentleman who proclaims he has the strongest Ox in the village and makes a bet that his Ox could pull a hundred wagons. However, on the day of the challenge, the gentlemen (out of the blue) treats his Ox horribly, calling him names and yelling at him. The Ox feels extremely disrespected and therefore, loses the challenge on purpose and the gentlemen loses his money. That evening, the man asks the Ox why he gave up when he had pulled that many wagons before. The Ox is honest and tells the many he felt disrespected when the man yelled at him for no reason. The man realized his mistake and apologizes to the Ox. The Ox tells the man to make the bet again and if the Ox is treated with respect, he would win. So that is what happens, the man makes another bet and treats the Ox with the respect he deserved and therefore wins his money back when the Ox wins.
This story embodies the sense of equality between all creatures but using a zoom-in/zoom-out lens we can apply the ideology to many social situations. Consider for example, is it acceptable for the CEO of a major corporation to treat his sales employee with disrespect just because that individual is in a lower position and the CEO is the boss? Is that how society is meant to function and how our social hierarchy triumphs in times of peril. In my opinion, a true leader is one that knows how to manage their team with respect and knows the values of all the moving parts within their group. They do not look down upon an individual because of their position, because in reality, everyone serves a distinct purpose in life, without which other moving parts would not be functional. The biggest lesson that this story teaches is us that we need to be considerate and cognizant of everyone's social opinions and ideologies to have a better function community. This is not only in business or work setting. Within a home, all members of a family need to be treated with the same respect and within society, we need to have a mutual understanding for all peoples. We need to be mindful to remove negatives ideologies of age, race, and ethnic backgrounds to acknowledge that we are humans before anything else. This mindset can foster growth and an environment where all peoples can succeed. ALSO! Like in our story, we should also be respectful of our pets and the world we live in. Be respectful to your mom and mother nature!
(Image shows men pulling their Ox during farming; image provided by Wikimedia Commons)
Bibliography: The Ox Who Won the Forfeit
Title: Jataka Tales
Title: Jataka Tales
Author: Ellen C. Babbitt
Year: 1912
Year: 1912
Hey Amandeep! Wow! This format was definitely unique! When I read the story I thought it was just an extra long (very well written) author's note. It was a nice change of pace from the normal story formats I've seen in this class. I appreciated you calling out the tale's application to our own lives. The golden rule is always important!
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you about the bedtime stories! I always enjoyed listening to stories as a child. What’s funny is I remember stories from all these years ago better than the stuff I’m learning now. Reading the story, I get a sense of equality and moral justice. You’re completely right about the leader. A leader is not one that orders people but rather shows and teaches people what they need to do. I also liked your point that despite different levels of positions, everyone’s job is important. Everyone plays a role in the system and without them, the system would go to shambles. It reminds me of an ER room. There are the doctors/surgeons, then nurses/charge nurse, then the medical technicians, then EMT’s, and then the janitors.Without janitors, the rooms would be unsanitized and dirty.
Hi Amandeep,
ReplyDeleteI love that you were able to take one of you favorite childhood tales and retell it. My parents did the same for me and read me bedtime stories all the time when I was growing up. I really enjoyed this story and especially your version of it. I am glad I recently read the source material for notes, so the story was familiar and fresh on my mind. Great job!
Hi Amandeep!
ReplyDeleteAt first I had to scroll down and see if there was an authors note or if you included it in the beginning! I love this post. It is so unique and you have so much talent. I must say now I am going to go have to check out your portfolio because I am so intrigued. I look forward to seeing what is published on your site!
Hey! I liked how you created a commentary around the story! I was familiar with the story since i read the source, however you rendition was well told and the reason the commentary stood out was because it filled in a few holes for me! Great work!
ReplyDelete