Man in the Machine Age

          The modern age is called the machine age. For most of the important works of men are done now by machines. Man no longer writes letters but types them straight from a typewriter. He books a long-distance personal call over the telephone and talks directly. He does not walk to reach his friend or relative’s house. He simply drives a car. He travels by train or aero plane. Various operations are done by machines as if by magic. The TV screen brings the football or cricket ground right into our bedroom. Electronics and Telecommunications are helping most of the fields of industry. Computers are now being used very widely. Every shopkeeper is getting used to calculators.

So long as the machine is under man’s control it is good. But if man himself becomes mechanical and loses his finer qualities, it will be a tragedy. The question is whether man is still the master of the machine, or just a slave. Man is producing robots’ in factories. The robots are doing works of drudgery for him. But man himself is not a robot.

There is no doubt that the machines we make also influence our life-style. The car is now a typical mode of transport. The aero plane is still another. Two hundred years ago the train was unknown to man; today we are going to have space journeys. Formerly, students would write with pens and inkpots. Today ball point pens have replaced them. The TV has now become a daily habit, just as tea once became in our life. The machine has rendered life faster. But man should preserve his essential humanity — love, peace of mind, joy and sociable nature.

The Right use of Time

          Time is most valuable. The secret of success in human life is the straight use of time. Time and tide wait for none. If time is gone we cannot call it back. We are to leave a lot of things undone. It is a great loss to us. Our life is short. So during this limited period we have to build up our career. We must make the most use of every moment of our short life. If we waste the precious minutes of our life in idleness, we reduce hours of work available to us. Work will suffer. Success will be hard to achieve. Time lost is lost forever. We must ‘take time by the forelock’. We must do our work at the earliest opportunity. So we say, strike the rod while it is hot. For, a stitch in time saves nine. He who acts promptly prospers positively. Such a man never puts off for tomorrow what ought to be done today. The great rule of moral conduct is to respect time. A punctual man is respected by all. So all of us should do now what we can do later.

A Man is Known by that Company he Keeps

            Man cannot live alone. So he always seeks society. But persons whose tastes and inclinations are different from ours cannot give us the delight which we except from friends.  So man naturally seeks the society of those who are like himself in their taste and inclination. We can, therefore, very easily say of what sort a man is from the nature and character of his friends. Moreover, friends exert a great influence upon our character. If we mix with the bad, we shall get their bad habits and gradually become bad ourselves. If on the other hand, we mix with the good and the noble, it will ennoble us too. Our character can thus be judged from that of our companies. If, therefore, we should be good and noble in life, we should carefully avoid evil company.

King Canute and his Courtier

           King Canute was a great king who had great power and vast knowledge. One of his courtiers always flatters him. One day the man said, “You are the most powerful king. All the other kings obey you. Even nature recognizes your greatness. If you wish you can command the sea to stop and the wind to cease to blow.” On hearing his flattery the king only smiled.

One day he wished to teach the flatterer a good lesson. He took him to the sea side and sat a chair. It was a high tide. He then raised his arm and commanded the sea to stop. But the waves rolled on and wetted the clothes of every one including the king’s. “How is it, my courtier, that the sea does not obey me? It seems that you say about my power is nothing but flattery”, said the king, “It is only God who can say to the sea thus far you can go and no farther.” The courtier hung down his head in shame.

The moral of the story is “a wise man is never flattered”.

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

              Once there was a wood cutter. His name was Ali Baba. He lived in Arabia. One day he went to cut wood in a dense forest. It was at the foot of a mountain. Suddenly he heard a fearful sound. He saw some men on horseback approaching. He had himself behind a tree and watched them. They were the forty thieves. They stopped near a cave. It was closed with a stone door. One of them said, “Open Sesame”. Immediately the door opened. All the thieves went in. After sometime they came out. One of them told, “Close Sesame”. The door immediately closed. Then the robbers rode away. Ali Baba wanted to see what there was in the cave. He came near the cave and said, “Open Sesame”. The door opened and Ali Baba went in. He was surprised to see gold and jewels lying heaped there. He took as much as he could. He came out and closed the door saying, “Close Sesame”. Ali Baba then became very reach.

The Honest Wood Cutter

            Once a poor wood-cutter was cutting down a tree by the side of the river. Accidentally his axe slipped in to the water. Losing his axe, the poor man sat down and wept. A God heard him cry and came out of the water to help him. He heard the poor man’s story, dived in to the stream and soon came out holding in his hand a golden axe. “Is this the axe you lost” He asked. “No, my axe was not so beautiful as this,” replied the poor wood cutter. The God dived into the river again and brought up a silver axe. The poor man would not take this either and said that it was not his. So the God went in to the river for the third time and brought up the iron axe the man had lost. This the man received with great joy. The God was pleased that the wood cutter was honest. He gave him the silver and gold axe as a reward in addition to the one made of iron.

The moral of the story is "Honesty is always rewarded".

The Honest Candidate

         A Sultan wanted to find an honest man who would look after the revenue (income) of his kingdom. An experienced and wise friend of Sultan advised him to announce publicly his intention and then to invite all the applicants to his palace.

“I shall show you the honest person among them when you will ask all of them to dance.” The wise man said.

The candidates for the post arrived. They were invited to meet the Sultan at his palace once after another through a corridor dark and solitary. As soon as they gathered in front of his throne, the Sultan declared, “Gentleman, I want all of you to dance joyously.”

But all of them refused, became red in face in embarrassment, except one who danced well and with much gaiety. The wise philosopher declared, “Here is the honest man.”

As the wise counselor of the Sultan had arranged bags full of gold along the dark and lonely corridor, all the dishonest candidates had filled their pockets with gold before appearing before the Sultan, If they had danced the gold in their pockets would have jingled and that is why they had refused to dance.

The moral of the story is ‘honesty has nothing to fear’.