A girl stood crying in a railway station. Her fiancée had just phoned her to call off the wedding, which was to happen in a month’s time. She loved him and thus sobbed with sadness at her misfortune. Thousands of people passed her but none stopped. As a new train pulled in, most of the people pushed past her and hurried away, unconcerned. Till at last, it was just her and another woman left standing on the platform. The woman was strikingly beautiful with thick, lustrous hair, and smart clothes. She wore sunglasses and carried a purse. The girl looked at the woman and started sobbing again, out of self-pity. If only she was as beautiful and smart as that woman her fiancée would never have left her. She blamed god for making her plain and simple and vowed that she would never pray again.
Finally, after five minutes the woman asked, in a very gentle voice, “Why are you crying so much?” The girl looked up, unnerved. “My-my fiancée dumped me.” The woman smiled sympathetically. A new wave of jealously took over the girl and she turned around rudely. ‘What does she know; she must be getting everything so easily.’ She thought vainly. The woman continued to smile generously and unselfishly. After half an hour, the girl couldn’t take it anymore and she screamed “How can you be so happy all the time!”
The woman laughed and told her patiently “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. Live in the present and take what life gives you in your stride. Remember, there is always someone who needs help more than you do. Be patient enough to give them the help they need and unselfish enough to see that they need help.”
The woman grinned at the perplexed girl and walked forward. A train chugged into the station and out hopped a young man, presumably her husband. Instead of hugging the woman he dragged her toward the waiting taxi, yelling at her to keep up.
The woman kept up the best she could, all the while smiling enthusiastically. While walking, she took off her sunglasses.
The girl stared in shock at her. The woman was blind.
