Nested in a Nagpur duplex with the affectionate Mrs. Anand upstairs, I was the spirited middle child. While playing cricket, my friend hit a ball that smashed the window of our scientist neighbour. As friends scattered, I stayed, summoned the courage, rang his bell and sought my ball back assuming I was not to blame.
He was angry like hell. He took me to a chair and tied me up with a rope ( I am sure my memory is flawed) and told me, “You will sit in front of this broken window.” I sat there for what seemed like hours but were minutes at best.
Annoyed, I was crushed, down and out; my friend had laughed instead of helping me and I was punished for what he did.
Mrs. Anand saw me called me upstairs. Tears spilled as I insisted the broken window wasn’t my doing. Her response was simple, “What are you going to do about it?”
That scene is permanently etched in my memory. Each time I responded, she posed the same question. It must have been a dozen times over. Eventually, I got it.
I went down, seized a ball, and broke another pane because I wasn’t responsible for the first. I rang the bell and told him so. Surprisingly he laughed and let me go!
While I do not recommend breaking windows however that experience taught me a vital lesson. Life’s events may be beyond our control—sometimes they’re our fault and sometimes not. However, our response to the event has to be our focus and not the event that you can’t do anything about anyway. “So what are you going to do about it” - that’s what really separates success from failure.