Hell and Heaven!

A school time story with a great deal of depth and meaning which is very much relevant in the current times!

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A man, after his death, was waiting in front of the all powerful for the final verdict. What will be his fate? Hell or heaven? To his surprise, God told him, he could choose for himself, after having a look at both.

He was first taken to hell. He noticed that every human looked thin, skinny and starved for days together in spite of there being plenty to eat. He noticed something further. Every individual had a wooden plank fixed to one’s hands, along the elbow, restricting movement. One wouldn’t be able to bend one’s hand to reach the mouth. He believed that not being able to use one’s hand to eat is what makes it a hell!

On his way to heaven, he was expecting that everything there would be nice, pleasant and beautiful. He was absolutely right. Heaven was heaven indeed! Humans couldn’t have looked any better – smart, healthy and charming. But, he was almost taken aback to see the very same wooden plank, at the same place, restricting hand movement. He turned to God confused, looking for an answer.

God said that both hell and heaven are exactly the same. It is the people in it that make it either beautiful or horrible. The people in hell are selfish while those in heaven are kind, helping, generous and loving. In hell, people grab all the food they can but little do they succeed in eating themselves and end up wasting most of it. They cheat, ill-treat, steal and in the end do not receive anything but hatred. On the other hand, in heaven people feed each other lovingly, generously and receive the same love and affection in return. It is this difference that makes hell hateful and heaven a mere bliss.

The most important lesson we learn from this little story is that man is solely responsible for making his surrounding a hell or heaven. God has given us everything that He possibly could. It’s for us to decide if we want to try keeping everything for ourselves and end up wasting and ruining the resources or share it with our fellow beings and make this earth a heaven, a bliss. The choice is ours!

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Thank you for reading!