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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

The missing scrap of paper


The missing scrap of paper


There is the story about a soldier on the battlefield who would simply drop his rifle to the ground, pick up a scrap of paper lying there, and look at it.

Then he would let it flutter from his hands to the ground.

And then he'd move somewhere else and do the same thing.

So others said, "This man is exposing himself to death.

He needs help."

So they put him in the hospital and got the best psychiatrist to work on him.

But it seemed to have no effect.

He wandered around the wards picking up scraps of paper, looking at them idly, and letting them flutter to the ground.

In the end they said, "We've got to discharge this man from the army."

So they call him in and give him a discharge certificate

and he idly picks it up, looks at it, and shouts, "This is it? This is it." He finally got it.



Awareness
Anthony de Mello