برگ آزاد

[Fatima.nam]

it was enjoyable for me and makes me to think about it and its meaning in my life

[A.m.ir]

سلف سرویس زندگی!

این داستان در مورد اولین دیدار امت فاکس (Emmet Fox)، نویسنده و فیلسوف معاصر، از رستوران سلفسرویس است. هنگامی که برای نخستین بار به ایالاتمتحده رفت که تا آن زمان، هرگز به چنین رستورانی نرفته بود در گوشهای به انتظار نشست با این نیت که از او پذیرایی شود.

اما هرچه لحظات بیشتری سپری میشد، ناشکیبایی او از اینکه میدید، پیشخدمتها کوچکترین توجهی به او ندارند، شدت میگرفت. از همه بدتر اینکه مشاهده میکرد کسانی پس از او وارد شده و در مقابل بشقابهای پر از غذا نشسته و مشغول خوردن بودند.

او با ناراحتی به مردی که بر سر میز مجاور نشسته بود، نزدیک شد و گفت: «من حدود ۲۰ دقیقه است که در اینجا نشستهام بدون آنکه کسی کوچکترین توجهی به من نشان دهد. حالا میبینم شما که ۵ دقیقه پیش وارد شدید، بشقابی پر از غذا در مقابلتان است! موضوع چیست؟ مردم این کشور چگونه پذیرایی میشوند؟» مرد با تعجب گفت: «ولی اینجا سلفسرویس است.» سپس به قسمت انتهایی رستوران جایی که غذاها به مقدار فراوان چیده شده بود، اشاره کرد و ادامه داد:«آنجا بروید، یک سینی بردارید و هر چه میخواهید، انتخاب کنید، پول آن را بپردازید، بعد اینجا بنشینید و آن را میل کنید.»

امت فاکس که قدری احساس حماقت میکرد، دستورات مرد را پیگرفت. اما وقتی غذا را روی میز گذاشت ناگهان به ذهنش رسید که زندگی هم در حکم سلفسرویس است. همه نوع رخدادها، فرصتها، موقعیتها، شادیها، سرورها و غمها در برابرمان قرار دارد، در حالی که اغلب ما بیحرکت به صندلی خود چسبیدهایم و چنان محو این هستیم که دیگران در بشقاب خود چه دارند و دچار شگفتی شدهایم که چرا او سهم بیشتری دارد.

This story is about the first visit of "Emmet Fox", contemporary writer and philosopher, from a self-service restaurant, when he came to America for the first time.

He never been in that kind of restaurants. He waited for a waiter but nobody came to him, he stayed on his seat for a long time. Every moment that passed, he became more angry because the waiters did not looked at him at all. He looked at the people that were came after him and they all had their plates full of food.

Finally he went to a man that was sitting on the seat next to him. Emmet told him" I am sitting here for almost 20 minutes and nobody cares about me, but you are here for only 5 minutes and you have your food in front of you. What is the problem? How do the restaurants work in this country?”

The man was really amazed, he looked at Emmet and told him" This restaurant is a self-service", he pointed to the end of the restaurant where the foods were then he continued "go there and grab a plate then choose every food you want, pay the money and then come here and eat your food!".

Emmet Fox was really ashamed and did everything that the man was telling him to do, but when he put his food on the table, something came to his mind. Yes, life is like a self-service. All happiness, despondences, chances and situations are in front of us, but this is us that are sitting on our seat toughly and looking to the others to see what they got in their plates. We always look at others plates to see what they have more than us and we never think to stand up and see what are there for us and choose everything we want.

WHEN LIFE DOES NOT GIVE YOU ANYTHING, IT IS BECAUSE YOU DO NOT WANT ANYTHING FROM IT.

I learned that you should never wait for something to turn up. Don’t be content to let things drift along, hoping for the best. It is not spiritual to ‘put up’ with inharmonious conditions. If the conditions of your life are not to your liking, you must get to work on your own consciousness and, by raising that above the outer picture, cause those conditions to become something doing this until you find your True Place nearer to your heart’s desire.