The Shepherd Boy and the Wolf

There was once a boy who had to look after his master’s flock of sheep. He was so bored and nothing can amuse him so he played a trick on the villagers and shouted, “Help! Wolf! Wolf.” The villagers rushed to help the shepherd boy and asked him where the wolf is, the shepherd boy laughed and said that he was only playing a trick and was just fooling them. After a few days, he did the same trick again, and the villagers came rushing all the way to the shepherd boy and again he just laughed loudly and said that he fooled them again. The villagers were furious and told the shepherd boy not to be so naughty. Then, a few days later, a mighty wolf came to attack the flock of sheep and ate them one by one. The boy saw this, and he cried desperately for help. The villagers heard his cries, but no one came to help him.

This story teaches us a very big life lesson about credibility through honesty. In this story, the wolf represents karma and karma, as we know is the effect of something we do that would influence our future. Remember that when we are honest, people around you will trust you. If you lie just because you want attention, or when you want them to pity you and see who care, or for whatever reason, people will eventually get tired and adept with your means and ways and would not want to help you or even give you the slightest attention you want to seek. Being a person of integrity is one thing we adore in a person. Saying lies will only damage your credibility and when you need help, you’ll lose their trust and you won’t get any help from the people you fool.

Let us learn how to speak truthfully in a consistent manner. Have you ever been around a person who always runs his or her mouth? You notice that people would not pay much attention to this person, right? But when you encounter a person who thinks before speaking, your full attention would be on them, listening and paying attention to what they say. The same is true with liars. When you keep stretching the truth to people who trusts you with all their heart and you keep doing it again and again, do you think they would still believe you and trust you the next time around? So we should always think of the damage in telling lies even in very tough situations. Remember that trust is earned and reputations are hard to build once destroyed. Bad intent and bad deeds contribute bad karma, but good intent and good deeds would always result in a good reputation and good karma.