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<p><br>
<span class="txtbold"> Issue nº 29</span></p>
<p><font color="#996666">Discovering true fear</font> |
<a href="edi29_refle.shtml"><u><font color="#996666">Reflections
of the warrior of the light</font></u></a><br>
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<td height="35" width="413" valign="middle" align="left" class="txt"><b>Discovering
true fear</b></td>
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<p> A sultan decided to travel by sea
with some of his favorite courtiers. They joined the ship in Dubai
and sailed out into the open sea.<br>
However, as soon as the ship moved
away from land, one of his subjects - who had never seen the sea
before, having spent most of his life in the mountains - began to
be overcome with panic.<br>
Sitting in the ship's hold, he cried,
shouted and refused to eat or sleep. Everyone tried to calm him
down, saying that the journey wasn't as dangerous as all that, but
although he heard their words, they had no influence on his heart.
The sultan did not know what to do, and the fine journey upon calm
seas and under blue skies, became a torment for the passengers and
crew alike.<br>
Two days passed without anyone being
able to sleep because of the man's cries. The sultan was about to
order the ship to return to port, when one of his ministers, who
was known for his wisdom, came over:<br>
- Your Highness, with your permission,
I will be able to calm him. <br>
Without a moment's hesitation, the
sultan said that not only would he allow it, but that he should
reward him if he succeeded in solving the problem.<br>
The wise man asked that the man be
thrown into the sea. Right away, content because their nightmare
was about to end, several crew members grabbed the man struggling
in the hold, and cast him into the ocean.<br>
The courtier thrashed about, sank,
swallowed plenty of seawater, returned to the surface, screamed
louder than ever, sank again, and managed to surface once again.
Just then, the minister ordered for him to dragged back on board.<br>
From then on, no one heard so much
as a single complaint from the man, who spent the rest of the journey
in silence, and even commented to one of the passengers that he
had never seen anything so beautiful as the sky and sea touching
on the horizon. The journey - which had before been a torment to
all those on board the ship - became a pleasurable, peaceful experience.<br>
A short time before they returned
to port, the Sultan went to see the minister:<br>
- How did you guess that, by throwing
that poor man into the sea, he would calm down? <br>
- Because of my marriage - replied
the minister. - I was always terrified of losing my wife, and was
so jealous that I never stopped shouting and screaming like that
man. <br>
"One day she could take no more,
and left me - and I tasted the terrible experience of living without
her. She only returned when I promised never again to torment her
with my fears.<br>
"In the same way, that man had
never tasted salt water, and had never known the agony of a drowning
man. When he felt that, he understood only too well how marvelous
it can be to feel the planks of a ship under his feet. <br>
- Wise counsel - commented the sultan.<br>
- In the Bible, a holy book of the
Christians, it says: "all I most feared, came to pass."
<br>
"Some people can only value what
they have, when they endure the experience of loss."</p>
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<td valign="top" align="left" width="50%" height="35"><a href="down/i-GLO29.rtf" target="_blank"><img src="../imagens/downloadengl.gif" width="114" height="12" border="0" alt="Issue nº29"></a></td>
<td valign="top" align="right" width="50%" height="35"><a href="#"><img src="../imagens/subirengl.gif" width="39" height="12" border="0"></a></td>
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