The Book of Life

pages of wisdom it is God who takes it away—so why get entangled with another person over it? Such an attitude is often enough to bring the conflict to an end. Sometimes a dispute seems connected with gain and loss. It may appear that if you adopt patience and avoidance, it will cause material loss. But this is not correct thinking. In such matters, the real choice is not between loss and no loss, but between smaller loss and greater loss. Ending the dispute at the first stage leads to smaller loss; while prolonging it leads to greater loss. So why not leave the path of greater loss and take the path of smaller loss? We cannot stop disputes from arising. But we can certainly protect ourselves from the fire of conflict by choosing the path of avoidance. Let us accept smaller loss in order to save ourselves from greater loss. THE FRUIT OF MORALITY Badruddin Ahmed (born 1938) was a resident of Moradabad. He narrated several moving incidents about the communal riots that took place there. These riots began on August 13, 1980, and continued intermittently for the next month. During the riots, a curfew was in place. Everywhere there was disorder. People ran out of food in their homes. Badruddin Sahib said that during those days we could not get milk. So, we would make tea with hot water and drink it without milk.