Two young women were sitting on the steps smoking and very soon a friend stopped to smoke with them. He was a male, probably in his early twenties. Within a short time, the two girls said good-bye to their friend and left. They intended to see a movie that would begin in a few minutes. The male sat alone, smoking. Barbara was about ten feet from him. Suddenly she had an unusual impulse to say, “You should stop smoking.” He answered immediately, agreeing, and added he wanted to stop.
What can you do to help our world? Barbara Wolf e Margaret Anderson http://www.globalmeditations.com (United States)
Dear World, Barbara Wolf and Margaret Anderson are writing you to give suggestions on what you can do to help our world.
They moved closer to each other and he began relating what sounded like a horror story. He started smoking with his friends while he was attending school. Then, suddenly he could not stop smoking; he had to smoke all the time; he did not want to eat; he did not want to study. School became meaningless. He could not concentrate on anything except smoking. His family had paid much money to send him to school and they became angry when he turned away from studying. They knew his future depended on learning. Then he realized there was something added to the tobacco that forced him to smoke all the time. He had become addicted and he craved what was in it. He broke his connection with that tobacco source in favor of ‘normal’ tobacco, but the damage had been done. Because he did not finish school, he did not have a job that would have been secure if he had finished his education.
A few years ago we were speakers at a large conference in India. Afterward, our gracious conference host wanted to take us on a sightseeing tour. We visited ancient ruins and other wonderful places until our feet became Barbara listened to this sad tale comtired and we needed to rest. Barbara sat on a long flight of concrete steps outside a mall ing from a young man who had the appearto wait for the proper time to board again the ance of being truthful and remorseful. What would happen to him? He needed help and sightseeing bus. Revista da PAX