good-better-best. late-later-hopeless

A colleague who loves reading heavy philosophical books had insisted that I read one of his favourite books, light from many lamps. And ‘read’ I did, just that I took about 8 months to finish the first half of the book.

My usual reading time for fiction is 3 days to one week per book, but philosophy has to sink in deep, and that takes time, doesn’t it? You gotta make allowances ;)

Although I didn’t think I would like to finish the book, I am slowly realising that its OK to read it as I am in fact liking it. For one thing its not the average Donald Trump or Shiv Khera type of literature (if you can call it literature, that is).

It’s a collection of interesting excerpts from a lot of writers (all American though) and its not all pep talk. It narrates lot of incidents as they happened in people’s lives.

One story that influenced me is about an inscription on a garden wall. One day, a very busy doctor receives a letter from one of the old patients.

The patient, a young woman narrates how she had seen a writing on a wall in a garden and thought it might be relevant to the doctor. “Enjoy yourself. It is later than you think”

The doctor put the correspondence aside and tried to forget about it, but it refused to get away from his mind. He was getting old and he had always wanted to go for a holiday.

Since he thought his patients needed him, he never gave too much thought about his dream. But, from the time he read those words, he was restless. He kept thinking, “Really? Is it late already?” then he decided that “maybe it is later than I think”

He decided to take the long pending holiday, he wanted to visit South America. He met his friend and asked him to join him in the vacation plan and later, showed him the letter.

His friend initially said he cannot go, he wont be able to spare time, he is too busy. Later, they sat in silence, each in deep thought. Then he said “What is that thing again that woman said? ‘it is later than you think’? Well..”

And so they went to South America, and enjoyed their vacation by doing everything that the country had to offer them, as they enjoyed the peace, they felt their burdens slip off.

At his death bed, the doctor’s friend’s best memory was the days spent in South America. “I am so happy that we went to South America. I thank God we did not wait too long” – these were among the words he spoke in the last few hours of his life.

Lots of things I read affect me, some do not, and some I pretend that they didn’t affect me. But this short story went deep inside, made changes and made me do things I would not have done on a normal course. I am glad I read this, because I am glad with the results I have due to my actions. Not all that I did worked out the way I wanted, but not even one will make me regret later.

Thought this would be nice to share with few others. So here i am, spreading the message, Go ahead, enjoy your times ppl! I am afraid it is indeed later than you think!