Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you (Amos 5:14).

Raphael was in the process of taking the cow to the garden that morning. The minute he untied the cow and started walking to the garden the cow started running with Raphael on the other end of the rope. Raphael was angry that the cow decided to run without any warning and decided to teach the cow a lesson and started to pull the rope tighter with the hope that pressure around the neck may stop the cow from running. But the cow was on a roll and went around the house 3 times with Raphael hanging behind him and ran straight to the garden. There was a small stream passing through his garden even though the stream was small it ran deep and suddenly the cow jumped to the other side of the stream leaving Raphael in a fix. If he held on to the rope he will certainly fall into the stream. He was lost in thought for a few seconds. He realized that if he held onto the rope anymore he was sure to fall into the stream and hurt himself. He didn’t waste any more time and let go of the rope and fell onto the grass. To avoid getting hurt too much I had to let go of the rope and only sustained mild injuries, this is what compromise looks like he thought to himself.

Yes it is true it is better for us to make concessions and compromises and let go of some of the things that we hold on to ensure getting hurt too much. We may fall at times when we let go of some of the things that we hold dear and right in our minds. These compromises are never a reflection of our failure rather more often than not we may benefit from it in the future.

The reason we see so many failures in the recent times is because we are not ready to make these small concessions and compromises in our lives. The society in general and families, religious, communities and the political parties face difficult situations because no one is ready to compromise and given in. I may be a great leader but if I am not ready to given in then it is time to accept the failures. The failure to accept such failures may impact the society in general in an adverse manner. In the above story who is smarter the stubborn cow or the Raphael who gave in to save himself from grievous injuries? Certainly it is Raphael, he used his judgment and was able to weigh the pros and cons and was ready to given in when required not holding on to his false ego. Many of us are not ready to give in and this results in mental and physical illness and science has proven that this is the reason for many psychosomatic disorders.

Jesus taught us to live a life of a failure.  He taught to us give in, be patient and the importance of suffering. He taught us to empty ourselves and lead a life without complaints, anger, hatred and ego. We need to learn from the life of Jesus and emulate in our lives the lessons he taught us through his sufferings at the Cross. Then we will be as victorious as Jesus. Compromise is good, it is prudent and a success!

Jairaj Vazhithala