LOVE
OTHERS AND YOU WILL BE LOVED
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A long time ago in China , a girl named Li-Li got married
and went to live with her husband and mother-in-law.
In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn't get
along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities
were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her
mother-in-law's habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li
constantly.
Days passed days, and weeks passed weeks. Li-Li and her
mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what
made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient
Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law
and obey her every wish. All the anger and unhappiness in
the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress.
Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper
and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something
about it. Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr.
Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked
if he would give her some poison so that she could solve
the problem once and for all.
Mr. Huang thought for a while, and finally said, "Li-Li,
I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen
to me and obey what I tell you." Li-Li said, "Yes,
Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do."
Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few
minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, "You
can't use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law,
because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore,
I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build
up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious
meal and put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now,
in order to make sure that nobody suspects you when she
dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards
her. Don't
argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like
a queen."
Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home
to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law. Weeks
went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li
served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law.
She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion,
so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law,
and treated her like her own mother.
After six months had passed, the whole household had changed.
Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that
she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn't
had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because
she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.
The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she
began to love Li-Li like her own daughter.
She
kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best
daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law
were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.
Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.
One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help
again. She said, "Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to
keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She's changed
into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother.
I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her."
Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. "Li-Li, there's
nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The
herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The
only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her,
but that has been all washed away by the love which you
gave to her."
MORAL: Have you ever realised that how
you treat others is exactly how they will treat you?