The Wise Camel Herder
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Some time ago a young boy named James lived in a deserted village, located in the vicinity of a desert. He was an educated person running a business in surrounding areas. He had a smart, beautiful wife and a wonderful son. But he was not happy with his life.
Every now and then he had to face a new problem in life. He always used to get worried and kept thinking about the problems.
Once a wise Camel Herder from a distant city came along with a caravan of 100 camels and decided to stay there for a few days.
Soon, there were talks all around the nearby villages that Herder solves the problems of people with his wisdom. People began to reach out to him with their problems.
James also came to know about this, and he also decided to visit the old man.
When he reached the place, there was a huge crowd of hundreds of people. After waiting for a long time, James’ turn came for his audience with the wise man.
He asked him, “Holy man, I am very unhappy with my life, all the time, the problems surround me. Sometimes the business tension is there, sometimes family problems, and sometimes I am worried about my health. Please advise me on how to find a solution to all the problems of my life and how I can live happily.”
The Herder smiled and said, “Son, it is very late today. I will give your answer tomorrow morning … but will you do a small thing for me…?”
James agreed and the Wise man said,
“Look son, there are a hundred camels in our caravan. Their caretaker has fallen sick today. I want you to take care of them tonight. Just ensure that all the camels sit down and take proper rest. When all the hundred camels will sit down; then you can also go and sleep.”
The next morning, he came to James and asked,
“My son, I hope you had quality sleep last night”.
James felt miserable and replied, “No, I could not sleep even for a single moment, I tried a lot; but I could not make all the camels sit down.. !!! ”
The camel herder smiled and said “I knew this would be the case. So far, it has never happened that all these camels sit together !!!”
“Then why did you ask me to undertake this task?'“ said James.
The old man replied, “Son, think about what have you experienced last night? No matter how much you tried, all the camels did not sit together … if you ensured the camels on one side were sitting, then those on the other side you would have been standing.”
James confirmed that exactly the same happened the previous night.
The camel herder smiled and said, “And, if you went back after some time, you would have found that some of the camels who had not sat even after your efforts have now sat by themselves.”
James replied, ” Yes, it happened last night.”
“Did you understand something from this?”
James did not have an answer and was looking towards the old man with curious eyes.
The old man said…
“Problems are like camels, some problems get solved themselves, some get solved when you put some effort … and some problems do not get solved, even after trying your best. At right time these problems many will come to an end.”
“Similarly; when you solve one problem, then for some reason or other you will find problems keep coming in life. As long as you will live, these problems will keep arising … sometimes less and sometimes more…. ”
“So what should we do?”, James asked curiously.
“Despite these problems, learn to enjoy life. You will always be able to find problems, but try to do what you can when you can, and trust that all things pass.’
Alan /|\