It was a bright sunny morning. The wise old man was on his regular walk in the park again. He loved listening to the singing of different birds as he walked, each bird chirping with its unique tune. suddenly as he was listening attentively, he came across an odd tune going...'tap....tap.....tap...'A tap after every 5-6 seconds. He looked around to see where it came from. As he walked a little further he saw a young boy of around age 12 sitting on a bench and bouncing his basketball after a pause of 5 seconds.
The boy looked lifeless and gloomy, just staring at the ground with no enthusiasm on this beautiful day. The old wise man walked to the bench and sat beside him. He than said "its a beautiful day isn't it?"..but the boy continued to stare at the ground..than suddenly the boy just left the ball on the ground, it rolled a few cm away from him and he murmured to himself saying " I am hopeless, I should just quit." The wise old man heard him. He than asked the boy, "do you love playing basketball?", the boy turned around with an anxious and sincere look and replied,"yes, I do love basketball but" the old man was listening intently, "but I don't think I'm good enough for my team. I couldn't score a single basket again..we lost the semi-finals.."
The man didn't say anything. He jumped up on his feet, picked up the ball and walked a little ahead. He than hit the ball to the ground using his both hands, the ball bounced up close to his chin.He caught the ball and hit it to the ground even harder this time, the ball bounced slightly above his head. The boy watched the man closely, wondering what the old man was upto..ofcorse the old man had no idea about basketball. The old man caught hold of the ball as it bounced and walked up to the young boy. He asked the boy, "what did you learn?"..the boy had a bewildered look on his face.
The old man smiled and than replied, "didn't you notice, the harder I hit the ball to the ground the higher it bounced up back again..Isn't life just the same?" The face of the young boy brightened. The wise man continued, "the harder we fall in life, the higher we ought to rise. The ball never forgets to rise up back again no matter how many times or how hard you hit it to the ground. The ball is you and me. The one throwing the ball is our family, friends, circumstances who build us..without hitting the ball to the ground, the ball rising up on its own is impossible.." the man left the ball on the ground, It just moved a little but didn't bounce anymore. The man than went on saying, "everything in life happens for a reason. The things that pain us help us grow and motivate us to rise up higher in life making us better from bitter".
The boy gave a sigh and ran towards the ball.. picked it up and hit it to the ground 3-4 times with both hands just like the old man increasing the force each time, unlike a basketball player. The boy than looked at the old man and gave a smile of gratitude and said,"I'm gonna practise even more harder this time and score the highest number of baskets for all those watching me... as well as you sir."