Learning it the Hard Way

Josh had never seen apples hanging on a tree before. He loved apples, relished them almost everyday, but they were never so tempting as they were now, hanging in bunches, waiting to be plucked and eaten. But he couldn't quite reach them. And the stick lying on the ground wasn't of much help to his 3 feet something stature. Ofcourse, he could always resort to stones, but this being his first day in the neighbourhood, the fear of some fat, bald orchid-owner can be pretty discouraging.

So, much like the fox craving for grapes in his storybook, he too gave up, muttering 'They aren't that ripe anyways'. But fate as it seems, had fresh apples in store for Josh. As Josh was about to leave the orchid, he happened to meet his accomplice. Enter Ben. Ben was a couple of years elder than Josh, and hence litte taller. So, now the stick could be put to use for fetching those bright red apples. There is something about the apples that you sneak out from the neighbourhood, they taste ten times better than the ones Mom gets from the market. Soon, Josh and Ben became fast friends.

Ben had no siblings of his own. But, not anymore. Our little Josh too was the lone kid at home. So now we had our very own version of 'Brothers in Arms' shaping up. Their houses were a couple of blocks apart. They went to the same school. Ate lunches together. Spent the evening catching butter-flies for Marie together. Josh being little younger, faced some hinderances joining the local gang of adolescents in the neighbourhood. But with Ben's persuasion, he soon got assimilated in the group. If Josh was in trouble ever, Ben had his back covered.

Ben was someone Josh always looked up to as a mentor, but never admitted or exhibited. There was this certain 'take-for-granted' feeling which Josh had about Ben. Josh thought that no matter what he did, Ben would always be there for him. There was also this subtle difference between them, Ben was the jovial, happy-go-lucky one and Josh was the tempermental one. Everytime they had their differences, Ben used to be in the receiving end of Josh's anger. But it wouldn't take much time for them to get over it. Thanks to Ben's soft-spoken apologies. But inspite of these differences, they were best friends. Josh was becoming exceedingly dependent on Ben, right from his completing homework to saving him from the school bullies.

Sometimes, in Ben's absence Josh would get into trouble and he would blame Ben for not being there for him. It was during one such occasion that Josh stopped talking to Ben. He wouldn't even meet him, inspite of Josh's repeated attempts to reconcile. Almost a week passed and they had not seen each other. Eventually Josh grew restless and went to visit Ben. To his very surprise the door was locked. After enquiring from the neighbours, Josh learnt the bitter truth. Ben's family had shifted to some other town. He couldn't believe his ears. He ran home and told the whole thing to his Mom. His Mom didn't take the matter that seriously, because she didn't know what Ben meant to Josh. She took it lightly and casually told Josh that it was because of his harsh behaviour that Ben had left. That was the last thing Josh had to hear.

Josh got upset but the worse was yet to come. That night he had a terrible fever. He wouldn't talk, just stared at the ceiling, lost in oblivion. The doctor had no clue. Finally after a couple of days of medication his condition improved. He started talking and crying profusely. He told his Mom how he felt about Ben leaving him. It was then his Mom realised the reason of his illness. She consoled him and told him the truth that Ben had left because his Dad's job demanded so. But that didn't make Josh feel any better. He had lost his dearest friend and the worst part being he didn't even let Ben say 'goodbye'.

Josh couldn't make contact with Ben since that day, inspite of his sincerest efforts. Days became months, months became years. Josh repented his mistake every single day. He realised the fact that how often we ignore people when they are with us and realize their importance when they depart. There was one big difference in Josh now. He wasn't the same arrogant, tempermental Josh. He was completely transformed. He learnt the value of friendship, the importance of it. He realised how he had taken one of the most important person in his life for granted. The new Josh had many friends now, and each one regarded him as his best friend. But Josh had lost his best friend forever. In return he learnt one of the most important lessons in life; the people around you are the most important part of your life. Money, fame, honour, self-esteem, pride etc. dont even come close.

I am not quite the story-teller. But this ain't just a story anyways. Charlie Chaplin once entered a 'Charlie Chaplin Look-alike' contest in Monte Carlo and came in 3rd. Thats a story.
This...This is a lesson, which many of us learn the hard way.