My Dear daughter
You are now 3 months old. You are laughing and trying to roll over. You identify your appa, amma, thatha and patti now. You are surrounded by people who love you and take care of you. Soon, you will be on your first flight. You will see your uncle, aunt and Vishnu who will love you and take care of you as much as we do.
I am sure you are confused by now, about the one word you see so often here. “LOVE” Love is Affection. In simple terms, if you are attached to something or some one greatly, then you are in love with that object or person.
I am going to narrate a story to explain to you how valuable love is
Once upon a time, in an island there lived all the feelings and emotions : Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to them that the island would sink! So all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.
Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.
When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.
Richness was passing by Love in a boat. Love said,
“Richness, can you take me with you?”
Richness answered, “Sorry Love, I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat and so there is no place here for you.”
Love next asked Vanity who was also sailing by. Vanity was also ready with the same answer.
“I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat,” Vanity answered.
Sadness was close by so Love asked, “Sadness, take me along with you.”
“Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!”, sadness said in a sullen voice.
Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so preoccupied with her happiness that she did not even hear when Love called her.
Suddenly, there was a voice, “Come, Love, I will take you.” It was an elder. An overjoyed Love jumped up into the boat and in the process forgot to ask where they were going. When they arrived at a dry land, the elder went her own way.
Realizing how much was owed to the elder, Love asked Knowledge another elder, “Who Helped me?”
“It was Time,” Knowledge answered.
“Time?” thought Love. Then, as if reading the face of Love, Knowledge smiled and answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is.”
So, my dear daughter, always learn to love the people surrounding you. Love who you are and love what you do. But, never love materialistic objects like richness and vanity here in the story. They can never co-exist with love. After all, as you learned from this story, love is valuable.
With love
Appa and Amma