A saint who visited the river Ganges to take a bath, came across a group of family members who were shouting at each other in anger.
The saint turned to his diciples with a smile, “Why do people who are angry shout at each other?”
After a little while one diciple said, “Because we lose our calm. Then we shout.”
“But why do you shout when the other person is right next to you? You can say what you have to say in a much softer manner,” said the saint.
None of the diciples could give a good response. Then the saint decided to explain it:
“When two people are angry at each other, their hearts get further apart. To cover that distance, they have to shout to each other to be able to hear each other, and reach out. The angrier they get, the louder they must shout to be heard from such a great distance.”
He then smiled, before he asked the diciples a new question,
“When two people fall in love, what happens? They talk softly to each other. Why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small..”
He concluded, “When two people’s love grow even stronger, they only whisper because their hearts are so close. In the end the love is so strong that they only need to look at each other. That is all.”
-Zen story
Photo source: love
Dedicated to JR on their wedding (6/29), and my parents and second parents on their 33rd anniversary (6/28) :)