A mother was very fond of her only son.
When he married, his wife felt that he was more attached to his mother than to her. Soon
she developed an enormous enmity to her mother-in-law. She used to shout foul
words at the old lady frequently and furiously fight with all might at the
first sight of her mother-in-law, every day.
One day, filled with rage, the young lady
started to shower abusive words at the old lady at the top of her voice. She
started with the words, “You bastard…” But as she uttered forcefully, the
syllable “Ba” of ‘Bastard’, she opened her mouth so widely that her jaws got
locked, leaving a fully opened mouth which could not be shut. She struggled
hard and panicked in pain but could not close her open mouth.
She was rushed to a hospital by her husband. The young lady was immensely irritated but cried helplessly in agony.
The doctors diagnosed her complaint as an acute anterior dislocation of the lower
jaw bone (mandible) from the temperomandibular joint. The ball (condyle) of the
joint had come out of its socket, moved forward and got stuck in front of a
section of bone and could not go back into its proper place. The doctors
carefully manipulated her lower jaw and released the lock. Suddenly, in a fit
of rage, she burst out, “Bastard!” and showered on her mother-in-law a torrential
stream of vulgar words, trembling with a terrible temper.
The doctor was struck with wonder.
After a few minutes, she recovered from the tantrums. Then the doctor advised
her to give her jaws sufficient rest and limit their range of movement to avert
another accident.
Let us remember that ‘ANGER’ is
only one letter short of ‘DANGER’. Robert Green Ingersoll said, “Anger blows
out the lamp of the mind.” Benjamin Franklin said, “Whatever is begun in anger
ends in shame.”
Lord Buddha taught, “Holding on
to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone
else; you are the one who gets burnt.”
The Bible advises, “There is no
excuse for unjustified anger; it can bring about your downfall. Wait and be
patient, and later you will be glad you did.”
Let us get rid of all anger and
bitterness. Let us be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one
another, as God forgives us mercifully.
.........................................................................................................................................
© By Dr. Babu Philip,
Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue,
Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former
Professor, St. Dominic's College, Kanjirappally and Leo. S. John,
Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507,
Kerala, India.
This is story No. 119 in
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