Short story: The Mullah Nasruddin is blind to his own awareness, but learns something from it anyway.
@innertalks (21927)
Australia
January 8, 2021 9:29pm CST
Mullah Nasruddin prided himself on his keen mind, fast reflexes, awareness, and quick uptake of information.
One Saturday morning though, we find the Mullah with his wife, in the local tip shop, where you could pay a small amount for junk, thrown out by others.
He saw a solid looking, useful, watering can.
He bought it, happy to pay only $3 for it.
The cashier asked him if he wanted a receipt.
(These days they all invariably ask you this, as they want to save on paper.)
The Mullah, confident in his purchase, said,
"Nah, l don't need one."
When he got home though, he filled the watering can up with water.
It leaked from a small crack in its bottom.
The Mullah's wife said to him:
"You idiot. You did not even take off your sunglasses to have a good look at it."
"I assumed that they would have checked it before trying to sell it,"
the Mullah replied.
The wife said:
"Idiots assume people will do what is the right thing. The truth is, though, nobody ever does the right thing for others, and mostly, like you here too, they do not even do the right thing for themselves. They lazily assume, and so get caught, over and over again, as you did here."
The Mullah cringed, and replied:
"I was upset with myself here, of course, but the good thing here was another experience, given to me in my life, that l have now learnt to check all things for myself, and to never trust others, by my assuming that they have done the right thing by me, or generally so too."
"To learn this, was cheap, at only a $3 cost,"
he added, and then he walked away to place the offending watering can in his garbage bin.
He was careful not to place it in the recycling bin, as it would have ended up back on the shelf in the tip's shop again, for someone else to buy it again. He placed it with the rubbish, so it would be well and truly buried forever, in the landfill somewhere, instead.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
If we are unaware, it is good to be aware of our unawareness too. Next time, we shouldn't be so unaware, in this way, again.
(Picture: The Mullah, puffing away, unawarely, on his pipe too. These days, he should know better, and awarely kick away this bad habit too.)
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4 responses
@Shiva49 (26690)
• Singapore
9 Jan 21
Obviously, Mullah's reputation cuts no ice with his dear wife. Familiarity can breed contempt. Stephen Hawking suffered physical abuse even.
True to his stature Mullah is trusting but the person who quietly palmed off the can could not have known his quiet disposal could find itself sold to the revered Mullah as it could even invite retribution.
Instead of sunglasses, it could well be magnifying glasses for the Mullah now!
I might have tried to use a sealer/tape to contain the leak though it could end up throwing good money after bad.
The Mullah is in a different zone/league but is brought down to earth with a thud with his wife too rubbing it in. But soon it is water under the bridge for the Mullah.
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@innertalks (21927)
• Australia
10 Jan 21
@Shiva49 Yes, it was a win-win all around, and the father-in-law was feeling in a good mood, for a change, even a bit generous, as it was a blue moon for him that night, a few nights later, when he sold a bumper crop of mushrooms to the neighbours, making a small killing, in pennies.
He even gave a few left-over mushrooms to the Mullah's wife, to cook up for the Mullah, and herself too, plus he also partook of the hearty mushrooms, snaggers, and eggs, with some rinds of bacon thrown in to the mix too, that they all enjoyed for breakfast that day.
Yes, the Mullah has love in his bones, because love goes that deep in him, that, yes, not a jealous bone exists in his body.
@Shiva49 (26690)
• Singapore
10 Jan 21
@innertalks Thanks Steve.
I thought the Mullah is enjoying his time alone without the prying eye of his father-in-law. But the old man proved a knight in shining armor to resuscitate the leaking watering can at the nick of time to its past glory, thanks to his still abundant skills at mending things. He should have recycling running in his agile brain that otherwise looked a spent force.
Now all are happy, not only the Mullah but also the old man having scored another brownie point over the Mullah and that should have made his daughter proud too.
All are winners as the Mullah himself has an attitude, true to his exalted position, that others' accomplishments are his too; no pettiness, jealousy, bone in his body. All's well that ends well.
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@Shiva49 (26690)
• Singapore
10 Jan 21
@innertalks Mullah's love is contagious and it can overpower and cleanse all vestiges of evil intentions in others too.
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@macayada (1497)
• Cavite City, Philippines
9 Jan 21
Sometimes unawareness or awareness of things, of our surroundings, and of others, etc. have the advantage or the disadvantages. If we will only think of how to put anything into its useful status then the benefit of it will be realised like for example that watering can, if that is used as plant pot then it served other purpose.If the garbage or junk collector is benefitting from buying those things then it only means that for them they see it as precious However, there are those people who are really taking advantage to gain profit by deceit and therefore we should also be aware of those kind, greedy don't mind hurting others and they are only mindful of the good for themselves.
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@innertalks (21927)
• Australia
9 Jan 21
Yes. If we believe in God, and of him having some type of a plan for it all, every bad happening must have some learnable benefit from it too, if we look for it, otherwise, God would not have left it included in his plan.
Even the Devil's doing are allowed as a part of God's plan then.
But what you said is very good too.
The idea of seeing what is useful about any happening to us, is a good thing to do too.
We can look for what is useful, even in what appears to be useless to us, and so then we can often turn our thinking around, together with our attitude, and learn something from every mishappening/mistake/misfortune in our lives then too.
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@innertalks (21927)
• Australia
9 Jan 21
@macayada Thanks, for your appreciation of my remarks. 
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@macayada (1497)
• Cavite City, Philippines
9 Jan 21
@innertalks beautifully said and wholeheartedly felt, so touching. 
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@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
10 Jan 21
That's the attitude of a person who trusts anyone as he trusts himself.
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@innertalks (21927)
• Australia
10 Jan 21
Yes, trusting in yourself is good, and trusting in God is better, but trusting in others all of the time, is sometimes misplaced trust.
The Mullah does know this too, but he let his guard slip in this instance.
He knows this old Arabic fable that illustrates nicely the principle of trust.
A Sufi scholar asked his Sufi master, head of the local Naqshbandi Order.
"When I am on a journey on my donkey, and when I stop to rest, and spend the night in an open field there, somewhere along the way, should I tie up my donkey to a nearby tree, or should I leave him untied, and trust in God, that he will not wander away from me during the night?"
The Master smiled, as he replied,
"Always trust in God, in everything, but do not place your trust in your donkey too. Donkeys have to be tied, and not left to decide."
@Nakitakona (56486)
• Philippines
11 Jan 21
@innertalks That's right. Not all people could be trusted.
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@rachakonda (77)
• Vijayawada, India
9 Jan 21
Mullah may be right. Instead of feeling guilty for his being uncautious, he focussed on the lesson learnt.
That's a good attitude
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@innertalks (21927)
• Australia
9 Jan 21
Yes, it is better to grow from our mistakes, than to rue them bitterly.
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