The Sea and the Beach

There was this beautiful sea that fell in the love with the beach. When the sea bared its heart and feelings to the beach, the beach replied,"I love you too. But I don't know how we can ever live so happily together. You are moody and unpredictable. When you're angry, you don't even have the decency to hold back and flood everything on your way. And, you are so pushy most of the time that you erode my land and keep pushing in my space. If only you are calm and soft all the time like you are today, we will have a much better chance."

When the sea heard this reply, it made her sad. Obviously, the beach had a point and she could do so much better. She knew she loved the beach and wanted to make him happy. His expectations sounded reasonable and she decided to change herself for the better.

So, the sea became immediately calm at once and now hit the beach gently with its waves. And for a time, they were happy together. But when the sea became calm, its under-currents were switched off too. There were many living organisms in the sea that relied critically on that waves for their survival and lives. And, when that under-currents were gone, slowly but certainly, the living organisms inside the sea began to die. The first were the smallest, insignificant ones, followed by bigger ones and so on until the once  beautiful sea was covered with dead, stinking rotten fishes, mammals and things everywhere. 

And as with everything, now the beach was also covered in swarms of rotten, stinking things. So now, both the once beautiful sea and the beach were now filled with dead, rotten, stinking corpses all around. 

In our lives, we all face the dilemma of the sea - that desire to please someone, to make things work with them even if it means changing ourselves -- of our own goals, dreams and desires so we make such person happy. 

We switch-off what we want, who we are telling ourselves that this is for the best. We tell ourselves that 'everyone' compromise at one point in our lives. But, we forget that we are the sea and that our own internal happiness matters so much more than we allow ourselves to believe. This situation may arise with our loved ones, friends, colleagues, bosses, business partners, community or even society at large. 

If the time comes when you have are faced with that situation.  remember this story about the sea and the beach.