The Last Lesson

Long time ago there was a small village with a few dwellers. They were an unhappy lot; deceitful, hostile, full of guile and fought over insignificant things, causing serious harm to each other. Whenever, there was an external threat, they would unite and ward it off, but soon went back to their pugnacious ways. They were getting tired of perpetual fighting, but couldn’t get rid of their ingrained scepticism.

One day a wise man, who was passing through the village, listened to their predicament. He told them the reason for their misery was the lack of mutual trust, which prevented them to live together happily and solve problems amicably. Unable to comprehend, the villagers probed him further about how and where to find it? They requested the man to help them.

The wise man agreed but stipulated, till the time the learning is complete, you shall not go away. The  villagers were thrilled but also reluctant about the duration it will take in completing the task. So they agreed to nominate one member of each family to learn from the wise man. The wise man took them along and started teaching the nominees about humanity, ethics, morality, compassion, belonging, societal duties and responsibilities etc. He also explained to them  the characteristics of human behaviour in normal circumstances and during hard times.

The life itself was not easy as, along with learning, these chosen men had to do work to sustain themselves. After having spent considerable time with the wise man, these men started to evolve in their thoughts and displayed maturity in handling planned situations. They had also started to miss their families and homes. Then one day, perceiving they had learnt everything and understood the reason for their misery, they decided to return and impart their learning to others. The wise man cautioned them that there was still one last and most important lesson to be learnt, without which all their learning would come to a naught and it would be impossible for them to come back to him. However, in their eagerness to return, they decided otherwise.

Once they reached back, the villagers gathered around their own wise men, eager to discover the secret. Each of the learned, spoke about his experience and what he had acquired. Each of them even proclaimed solution to their eternal problem. And then, there was disagreement about the solution and what the wise man had said and what he meant. This resulted in an argument over who had assimilated the wise man's teachings entirely. This divergent understanding of knowledge divided the village virtually. However, being fresh from the school, they resolved the matter by debate. But, the fissures in the social structure continued to grow. Soon, the difference of opinion appeared in almost all decisions leading to frequent confrontations. To resolve the issue, it was decided to divide the village and its assets and let everyone choose the side one wishes to live. The days passed, the villages continued to split and grew into towns and then cities and then countries, but the fight about true teachings of the wise man continues.

The last and most important lesson of wise man, which would have brought the end to this fighting, is still not known. 

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