JOIN USAs human species, many of us love being immensely loved by people around. We also love being appreciated, admired and applauded. Indeed, it imbues us with ineffable delight when the love for us is overtly exhibited too, especially by those we deem close to our hearts.
Quite naturally, we experience that inexplicable exultation, when, on special occasions, people ply us with plethora of prepossessing cards, conveying messages of how important we are.
Yes, these cards could contain phrases, penned in hyperbolical fashion, too. But nonetheless, they do warm the cockles of our heart. Apparently, the more effusive people are in exhibiting their love, the more strongly we feel of being loved dearly!
Obviously we tend to like folks, who provide us that instant gratification by honey-dunked words, albeit they could be mere blandishments. In such a scenario, many times we seldom notice those silent well-wishers, who steer clear of surfeit verbosity, to show off their actual sincere love.
These folks, by virtue of being singularly reserved, may not be able to slickly package their words in a manner it’d have that gratifying effect on us. But nevertheless, these are the ones, who with their tacit support and unconditional love, spring to our defence by proffering succour, in times of need. I’m reminded of an altered version of an apocryphal story. It seems an affluent businessman, once summons his three daughters and ask them to expatiate on his worth.
The first daughter, being highly conniving, in order to wangle out exquisite gifts from him, starts extolling saying, “Father, your worth is greater than the stars, and that you are more valuable than effulgent diamonds.” Thus she waxes eloquent by unleashing a verbal deluge of flattering words.
The rich man feeling pleased, plies her with plenitude of gifts. Next, the second daughter, equally crafty and machinating, indulges in more sycophancy. She says, “Father, in you I see the acme of all adorable qualities. Truly you are the embodiment of virtues and an epitome of greatness. In fact, your worth is beyond all these epithets.” The rich guy, feeling cock-a-hoop over these adulations, showers her too with more magnificent gifts.
The third daughter, the one with abundant unadulterated love, says, “Father, you are as important to me, as is the salt to many scrumptious dishes. Hearing this, the rich man, feeling disillusioned, sends her off without giving her even a pin. The girl, having noticed pain in her father’s visage, tries demystifying her statement the next day, by serving him some food, shorn of salt content.
On tasting that, the rich man soon realises his folly, and feels terribly mortified. Well, the subtext of the story is to not be swept off by sycophancy, and to be able to discern the genuine love in true well-wishers, some of whom would have a warm caring heart, cloaked underneath their seemingly cold exterior.