Story - The “Violin” Lessons

The “Violin” Lessons

Once an old man was journeying through a forest and he came upon an unbearable noise. He followed it to its source and discovered a small boy playing with a stringed instrument. He was vigorously rubbing a bow onto the strings of the instrument which caused the penetratingly irritating noise. 

“What is that with which you are making this noise?” inquired the old man. 

“It’s a violin”, replied the boy and bent over his instrument again. 

“Such an irksome instrument!” thought the old man. 

Progressing further he reached a village and there a sweet music wafted into his ears mesmerizing him. He eagerly sought out its source and found a person playing a violin. “It sounds so different”, noticed he, “this time the instrument is producing such sweet music, how lovable and soothing and how different from that irritating scraping noise the child made with a similar instrument”.

 He noted how the varied handling of the same instrument by two different people caused an immense change in the result. He had long to traverse and so after enjoying a few while the sweet music, he set off pondering on the revelation. Approaching a town he happened to hear a concert. He was charmed and entered the hall. The music was enthralling and the effect was all the more intoxicating. On examining he was able to distinguish among the many instruments of the orchestra two or three rows of violin players. 

The day’s experiences have already had an impact on his thoughts and this was effecting to an epiphany. “How strange yet true”, he realized, “The same instrument made different sounds based on the handling and approach of people and now many such instruments, different from each other by many folds, under better handling and proper guidance harmonizes perfectly to effect a symphony! 

“A person’s approach to a task greatly defines its outcome. Here in all the three cases the main aim was to produce sound or music. The boy, either because of inexperience or due to sheer neglect does not understand the use or potential of his possession. The second person understands its potential and use very well and takes pains to achieve the best outcome that he can deliver by himself. In the third case the gamut is larger. Many such instruments perform together, but under strict guidance and expert handling. They each contribute their best performances there by producing a result much overwhelming than any of the cases of the solitary performances. A team can always perform better than individual, but only if the talents are rightly found and put to use and through the right approach. If this is not done, even an individual performance would result nothing but failure.

Togetherness alone is not the key, but a common goal, proper understanding of each one’s capacity and proper guidance to unify the diverse into a single whole is essential to capacitate a matchless performance.

Nutshell:   Lessons for life are always acquired from the most unexpected person, place or thing. Here is one such lesson that a VIOLIN taught on proper approach and effective team work.