Miracle

Miracle is a change of attitude. This is something that I tell my students frequently especially when we deal with the theme in two lessons. One of the lessons is a short story by Selma Lagerlof titled ‘The Rattrap.’ A beggarly rattrap peddler who resorts to stealing occasionally in order to make both ends meet is transformed by the kindness and generosity extended to him by a woman who is adding a deeper meaning to her Christmas celebration in the process. Her goodness, which is something new for the peddler, strikes a chord with him and changes his attitude to the world radically. From being a beggar and an occasional thief he raises himself to the standards of a regimental captain. Such a transformation of character is a miracle. A whole continuum of attitudes turns upside down. A rogue becomes a captain. Miracle.

A similar miracle happens in the second story that I teach in the same class, the story of a 14-year-old boy named Derry who hates himself and the entire world. The reason is that he has a scar on his face. One whole side of his face is burnt by acid in an accident. He finds himself repulsive whenever he dares to look at himself in a mirror. He thinks the world hates him because of that repulsiveness. Until he meets an old man named Lamb.

Lamb teaches him the possibility of miracles. Derry mocks Lamb saying that miracles happen only in fairy tales. If you expect some fairy to come and kiss you and make your scar vanish, no, that won’t happen, such miracles belong to fairy tales. There’s a miracle that you can work on yourself, Mr Lamb teaches Derry. Look at yourself from another perspective. You are not your scar. You have got everything that a normal boy has. Then what’s your problem? Your problem is your perspective, your attitudes. Let the scar be and you start doing what you should be doing: live your life to its fullest.

The miracle happens. It’s a slow process, of course. Mr Lamb has to modify Derry’s attitudes one by one. He does it. “I want the world,” Derry, who has been running away from the world, now says. And the world is his.

The world is yours if you want it. The world is not your enemy even if some of them there eat foods that you think repulsive, wear dresses that you find detestable, and clutch alien gods. The repulsion and disgust and all those other nauseating responses come from within you. From your attitudes. Change them and you find the world changing. That’s the miracle.

PS. This is an adaptation of one of my today’s classes. The #WriteAPageADay challenge from Blogchatter made me resort to this.