There was an old man who had two daughters. He made money bringing garbage to a waste disposal outside the city. Every night, he was so tired but his family could live off the money he earned from his work.
One day, the old man could not see properly. Tears streamed from his burning eye. The doctor prescribed eye drops, but they only made his eye worse. When he returned, the doctor sewed his eye shut.
The old man felt so helpless and disappointed, but he still believed in the wisdom behind misfortunes, so he put on black sunglasses and continued collecting garbage.
He always encouraged his daughters to study. He taught them to serve society and help those in need, but other girls and boys at school made fun of their father’s job, and they felt ashamed. They asked their father many times to find another job, but he told them that they lived off his efforts. At least he did not beg, rob or steal.
Soon the vision in his other eye began to fade. He went to the hospital and doctors said his eyes needed an expensive operation. The old man had little money, so he went to another hospital, but there they told him that if they did not operate, he’d go blind forever. The old man begged, told them he needed his sight to work, but they didn’t help him.
The old man felt really sad and desperate. He went to an old stone bridge outside the city. There, he looked up at the sky and cried, “God, my eyes can be fine only if I had the money, and from such a miserable life I prefer to die. For a lifetime I prayed to you and believed there is wisdom in all difficulties that I am going through, but what is the wisdom behind the illness of my eyes? When it does not have a cure, what’s this sickness for?”
He tried to jump off the bridge wall, but his foot slipped and he fell on the ground. When he grabbed the wall to get up, he saw something glittering inside a small black bag in a hole in front of him. He pulled it out and found a necklace, a pair of earrings, and some golden rings, shining in the sun.
He rubbed his eye thinking he was dreaming, but it was real. Then he cried and said, “God, there is no doubt that you have the power to give and take away. If there is an illness you can cure it too. Now I know when all doors are shut, yours is always open for humankind. God! Please forgive me for the mistake that I was going to make and give back the light to my eyes.”
When he came back home, his eyes felt different. He took off his black sunglasses and realized he saw better than he did before. He rushed to the hospital, where the doctors opened the eye that was sewed shut a few days ago, and he could see very well from his other eye too. The doctors could not believe it, and asked what he did. The old man said, “Wonders will never cease. If you ask something from God with all your heart, God will give you and there is wisdom behind everything.”
He left the hospital, and he decided to help others in need using the treasure that he found.
13 December, 2022
