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, and weeks passed. 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.
Shetold 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 awhile, 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."
HAVE YOU REALIZED that how you treat others
is exactly how they will
treat you?
There is a wise Chinese saying: "The
person who loves others will also be loved in return." God might be trying to
work in another person's life through you.
^^ hope the story change your way of hatred towards poeple ^^
