It was probably 6th standard when I read the story of Saint Poet Thiruvalluvar in my school.
Thiruvalluvar used to ask his wife that she put a bowl of water and needle along with food when she served it. His wife never questioned it and followed this routine her whole life.
When his wife was about to die, she asked the saint- “You have been an ideal husband and you have given all the happiness to me that I could wish for. I have nothing to ask for. But there is one thing that I want to ask.”
“What is it?”
“You always asked me to keep a bowl of water and a needle while serving you food. But you never did anything with them. What was the purpose of that?”
“Oh! You never asked me! I thought you understood. It was to pick up any fallen down grain of rice with the needle, clean it up in the bowl and eat it. But you served the food so well my dear, that I never had the chance to use them.”
This story influenced me so much that from that day onwards I have never thrown away food. I take small servings and if I feel hungry I take more. If I can’t eat it, I leave food to be eaten later. Only when there is something wrong with food or I felt sick that I have left food. You won’t see me fill my plate up with greed in feasts.
One should not think that if he finishes the food on the plate, it will look like he is very hungry. This is a pseudo value. Respect food because food comes with money and money comes from a lot of hard work. You are able to do hard work by God’s grace. You don’t know when he might take that power away from you.
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