A Stone's Throw

The missiles were landing continuously. One even hit the window hard. Everyone looked up startled - we thought these were times of peace - where were these coming from? The shopkeepers stepped out, and spent a silent moment pondering who will muster the courage to stop this attack.

All eyes were fixated on a six year old boy with mischief writ large on his black eyes, and a large pebble in each hand. As he aimed and threw a larger stone this time, he gleamed with pleasure and looked around for accolades. There were none forthcoming, and the poor boy, in his mistaken stake at fame continued with renewed vigour. The saloon owner stepped forward and "Ahoy"-ed the boy, and said:

"Can you stop doing that please? Thank you!"

The boy said "Sure", and simply changed the direction of his stone-rain.

I could not help thinking of the same situation in India. Fat chance the boy would have got a "Please" and a "Thank you" in the same sentence for his deed! He would most probably have had an assortment of expletives muttered before being asked to cut it out! But, the point is this: the boy listened, and the fact still remains that an adult did manage to stop a boy from pelting stones at his shop window.

Just the vast difference in the manner it was handled was interesting to note.