LEAP OF FAITH

An old man is sitting on the bench of the park, looking at the people passing by him. A young boy sits next to him. The boy has something in his hand and he keeps on looking at a girl. The old man asks, “I am noticing you from few days, you bring flower daily, but never gives it to her.” The boy feels uncomfortable hearing it, he replies “I can’t muster up all the courage to talk to her.” The old man asks what the boy is afraid of. His reply is as expected, what if she rejects him. The old man asks again what is the worse that could happen, the boy replies, he could never talk to her again, or show her his face. The old man enquires about the boy’s plan. The boy replies “I am waiting for the right moment, and will charm her with my proposal.”

The old man says “Kid, I don’t know how much you want to hear it. But I feel like telling it to you. There are no moments like right or wrong moment. You yourself can choose to pick any moment and make it right. When you have clarity in your mind of what you want, the next moment is the perfect moment to achieve that thing.” The boy says “what if she rejects my proposal, I will be disheartened. What’s the harm in waiting a bit?”

The old man replies “The worst thing you can think of is rejection if you propose her. Even if she says no, you can try to introspect and try for it later. However, waiting is not the right thing. The worst that could happen is you sitting on the same bench old and fragile, looking at her (he points towards an old lady) playing with her grandchildren and thinking, wish I had the guts to ask her that day. Believe me, kid, rejection is far better than failing because you never tried.” The boy looks at the man and feels sad for him. He at least gets a clarity that he doesn’t want to end it like that man. The boy walks to the girl and offers her the flower, and fortunately, she accepts it.

The boy returns to the old man to thank him. He sees the same old lady, whom he pointed towards earlier, talking to him. Curious to know what they are talking about, he walks closer. The lady says “Come-on move up, your grandson needs you to play with him.” The man spots the boy, he says “this is my wife, around fifty years back, I was too afraid to talk to her. Then I took the leap of faith to ask her out and she said yes. That was the best moment of my life. I didn’t want you to miss your best moment just waiting for the right one. So I lied a bit. Sorry about that.” The boy feels happy, that the man is not alone and now neither is he.