"Plato suggests," said the Moon when she arrived after saying Basmalah and Salam. "A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers. In life, everyday, we are faced with situations that require us to make choices. Some are easy, and at times, some can be difficult. Making good decisions, as you all know, is a method that must be learned, and moreover, it is a skill that one has to sharpen. That was so, I learned from three men, when my beam of light, shining through the window of a small hut in the midst of mangroves trees at an island called Bhumi Tala. They were singing,
There once was a ship that put to sea
And the name of that ship was the Billy o' Tea
The winds blew hard, her bow dipped down
Blow, me bully boys, blow
She had not been two weeks from shore
When down on her, a right whale bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow
Before the boat had hit the water
The whale's tail came up and caught her
All hands to the side, harpooned and fought her
When she dived down below
Soon may the Wellerman come
To bring us sugar and tea and rum
One day, when the tonguin' is done
We'll take our leave and go
When I came to know that the song was a sea-shanty, from New Zealand, the Wellerman, referred to supply ships owned by the Weller Brothers, who were amongst the earliest European settlers of Otago, in the history of whaling in New Zealand, one of them said, 'Let each one of us, tells a story!' And the other two replied, 'Good idea! But you tell us first!' So, the first man said, 'Procrastination is like a stream which flows slowly on, but yet it undermines every virtue, it rusts the mind, and gives a tincture to every action of one’s life. This term, does not allow time for long protracted deliberations. And how many, waste more of their time, in idly considering, which of two affairs to begin first?
'An indolent young man, being asked, why he lay in bed so long? Playfully he answered, 'Every morning of my life, I am hearing causes. I have two fine girls, their names are Perseverance and Laziness, close at my bed-side as soon as I awake, pressing their different request. One intreats me to get up, the other persuades me to lie still; and then, they alternately give me various reasons why I should rise, and why I should not. This detains me so long, that before the pleadings are over, it is time to go to dinner.'
Tomorrow is still the critical time when all is to be done. Tomorrow comes, it goes, and still, indolence, while it loses the substance, pleases itself with the shadow. And thus, men pass through life, like a bird through the air, and leave no track behind them, unmindful. The present time alone is ours, and should be managed with judicious care, since we cannot secure a moment to come, nor recal one that is past. It is no matter how many good qualities the mind may be possessed of; they all lie dormant, if we want the necessary vigour and resolution to draw them forth; for this slumber of the mind, leaves no difference between the greatest genius and the meanest understanding. Neither the mind, nor the body, can be active and energetic, without proper exertion. The trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from useless ease. Therefore, whatsoever your hand get to do, do it with all your might.
Then, it was the second man turn, he said, 'When we are commended for our performances by people of much flattery or little judgment, we should be sure not to value ourselves upon it; for want of this caution, many a vain unthinking man has at once exposed himself to the censure of the world.
A Man who used to play upon the harp, and sing to it, in little ale-houses, and made a shift in those narrow confined walls, to please the dull sots who heard him, from hence entertained an ambition of shewing his parts in the public theatre, where he fancied, he could not fail of raising a great reputation and fortune in a very short time. He was accordingly, admitted upon trial; but the spaciousness of the place, and the throng of the people, so deadened and weakened both his voice and instrument, that scarcely either of them could be heard, and where they could, his performance sounded so poor, so low, and wretched, in the ears of his refined audience, that he was universally hissed off the stage.
A buffoon, though he would not be fit to open his mouth in a senate, or upon a subject where sound sense and a grave and serious behaviour are expected, may be very agreeable to a company disposed to be mirthful over a glass of wine. It is not the diverting a little, insignificant, injudicious audience or society, which can gain us a proper esteem, or insure our success, in a place which calls for a performance of the first rate. We should have either allowed abilities to please the most refined tastes, otherwise, we may not only lose our labour, but make ourselves, ridiculous.
The third man's turn, he said, 'I don't know what the moral of the story I'm going to tell you about, but, just listen!'"
