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FOOD FOR THOUGHT This is almost the end of the year, time to review our work and life and make new resolutions for the coming year. Rabindranath Tagore’s one of his poems from Gitanjali explains quite well our state of Life. ‘Prisoner, tell me, who was it that bound you?’ ‘It was my master,’ said the prisoner. ‘I thought I could out do everybody in the world in wealth and power, and I amassed in my own treasure house the money due to my king. When sleep overcame me I lay upon the bed that was for my lord, and on waking up I found I was a prisoner in my own treasure-house.’ ‘Prisoner, tell me, who was it that wrought this unbreakable chain?’ ‘It was I,’ said the prisoner, ‘who forged this chain very carefully. I thought my invincible power would hold the world captive leaving me in freedom undisturbed. Thus night and day I worked at the chain with huge fires and cruel hard strokes. When at last the work was done and the links were complete and unbreakable, I found that it held me in its grip.’ Haven’t we bound ourselves with wealth and power? With materials that we thought would liberate us and make our lives easy, have held us captive. Life is challenging, life is struggle, and life is to be discovered, redeemed and lived. There is violence within us, around us and everywhere in the world. Let us work for peace in the coming year and let there be peace, peace, peace everywhere.
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