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50
THE ART OF POSITIVE THINKING
with the rope attached to it and a man sitting beside the well. So he said, "Brother, I am very thirsty. Will you please draw some water and give it to me?" But the man replied, "I can't do it! I am an amirzada. But why don't you do it, and let me too have some water." The traveller said, "I can't do it, because I am a nawabzada (the son of a nawab)." The two of them sat idle, waiting for someone to come and draw water for them.
After a short while, still another man came. He called for water from afar, but his precursors bade no reply. He came nearer and said, "I'm dying of thirst. Why don't you give me some water?" Then one of them explained the situation. "I am an amirzada," he said, "I can't draw water. It would be beneath my dignity to do so. My companion here is a nawabzada; his position too forbids his engagement in a lowly task. We are as thirsty as you. Why don't you draw water and let us all have a drink." The new-comer replied, "I'm sorry I can't do it - I'm a shahzada, the son of a king."
After some time a fourth traveller arrived. He too was thirsty. He immediately took up the bucket with the rope attached to it, and lowered it into the well. At this, the three of them burst out, "Brother, we too are thirsty: get water for us as well." The newcomer said, "Here are the means ready to hand- the bucket and the rope. Why don't you draw water for yourself?" The first man said, "I am an amirzada; it will be beneath my dignity to draw water from the well." The second man said, "I'm a nawabzada". The third said, "I'm a shahzada, the son of a king. I was born for greater things than merely drawing water from a well." The fourth man said, "Well, sirs, please yourselves!" And he immediately proceeded to slake his own thirst. The other three looked up to him and said, "We too are thirsty. Give us some water!" But the man ignored them quite and while departing said, "I'm a haramzada, a bastard. It's not my way to offer water to anyone."
"How is that?" they all cried.
The bastard made a parting thrust "These bloody amirzadas, nawabzadas and shahzadas can produce nothing but haramzadas!" A telling satire! It justly depicts the state of our society where there would be no bastards if there were not a sizable class of amirzadas, nawabzadas and shahzadas, living in idleness and luxury, inevitably giving rise to a bastard race. Here is mirrored before us the face of our perverted society, where the principle of mutual cooperation is thrown overboard; and the natural feeling that one is dependent upon and should be grateful to others is nonexistent. When this happens in a society, it is already sick. All social life is vitiated at the core, with increasing violence and cruelty and a host of other maladies.
The first and foremost principle of social life is mutual cooperation, people helping one another. Other things come later
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