Fide

“Real faith is not the stuff dreams are made of; rather it is tough, practical and all together realistic. Faith sees the invisible but it does not see the nonexistent” (A.W.Tozer) Once a young man set out in conquering one of the highest mountains. This young man was renowned for his unshakable faith in God. He began his journey with tremendous amount of faith and with the will to conquer the mountain. It was evening and slowly he [Image]was nearing the peak and the zenith was visible to him. Slowly it became darker. He lost hope and at a point he lost his grip, the rope in his hands slipped of and he could feel the cool wind striking his ears. He realized he was falling from a great height and knew only God could help him. He called out God to help him and immediately he realized something got entangled, he was hanging in the air on the rope which tied on his waist. For a moment he was glad that he did not meet his end. He thanked God but had still something to worry about, as it was completely dark and he could no way guess the distance from the ground nor feel any part of the mountain. He was hanging in the air; the only hope was the rope. He called out God to save him and God said “if you have faith in me, cut the rope.” The young man was stunned and asked God, “Do you think I have gone mad, my only hope is the rope and you are asking me to cut”. God did not reply. There was a moment of silence and the man shouted out, “God please help me” and God replied, “Cut the rope.” The man could not resist his anger and he cursed God and renounced his faith. Next day morning the passers by noted a young man frozen to death at about six feet from the ground. What a faith? Can we compare our faith to this young man? What is faith? Is it something very vulnerable? How often do we lose our faith on God, parents, friends, siblings and most importantly ourselves? According to me Faith is an essential quality which has to be inbuilt in every youngster. Not just a blind faith but faith on the basis of reasoning. This reasoning should support the unshakable faith which has to be built. To find a person worthy of our faith is a difficult task in today’s world because we are of the attitude of “thoda chalega”- little is ok. Absence of this very faith is the cause of many problems in the society. Especially in the families, lack of faith of the children on their parents and vice versa, rupture the communication between parents and children. Doubt is a great modern plague. Faith will cure it. It won’t look at the circumstances or conditions but the promise. There was an incurable drunkard named Johnny who was regular in going to church. He would just walk till the door, just stand there stare at the altar, the cross. He would then turn back and go home. It was an almost daily affair. A priest, who had seen him do this for a while, wondered if he was a thief, inquired why he did this peculiar routine every day, and did not come in and pray. Johnny replied that he came to church everyday to say ‘Hi’ to Jesus. Everyday he would come to church stand at the door look at the cross and say ‘hello Jesus, this is Johnny here, I’m fine how are you?’. The priest sarcastically told him that God appreciates such faith. A few months later when the priest was visiting the sick in the local hospital, he met Johnny who was admitted there. He inquired about his health and then asked him casually about his visitors. Johnny very animatedly told that since he could not go to church very day to say hi to Jesus, Jesus had taken to visiting him every day and was due any moment today. Priest smiled sadly at Johnny’s condition. Suddenly looking at the door Johnny cried out aloud ‘hi Jesus, how are you today? I am feeling better today’. Trying to humor the sick man the priest turned towards the door. There stood a man, no ordinary man – he shone with holiness. And in his heart the priest knew it was Jesus. his simple and yet inspiring story brings to are mind that faith does not demand us great hilarious tasks but expects only simple things from us done with great love. The example of Johnny might appear as a very appealing fiction and far from reality. But faith is a divine virtue which can transform fiction to reality, impossible to possible. It is left to our individual choice to make use of this virtue and lead a joyous life rather than a life of doubt. This virtue has proved itself repeatedly in history. Its faith that made a lean, insignificant, half naked fakir to win freedom without restoring to violence for our country. Its faith that made Chanakya carve an Emperor out of a forsaken young lad - Chandra Gupta. Again it is faith that made Abraham Lincoln to go further rather than brooding over his failures. Volumes can be spoken about this four letter word but all these are of no use if we do not apply them in our life. So arise and let your faith be an inspiration for others as well. Faith can rewrite our future – “Think like a person of action and act like a person of faith.” Edited By Alban Jerome

The Day he asked me to join him for life?

As beautiful as ever are the streets of New York with its competent pace Oops by the way I’m Sandy. It feels odd for me actually to carry around my real name Sandya Pinto I’m an Indian American walking along the streets of the most desired city of the world with thousands of thoughts across my mind. Well to be precise about my self my parents are strict Indians who tried hard to inculcate in me the rich traditional values.

The situation now is a search for myself. Who am I? What is my identity? Its true that in my appearance and speech I resemble an American teen but my origin is Indian. I love this city and its advancement in technology, economy anything one could desire for. Yet it’s a hard truth to digest that I cannot clam for this to be mine entirely. It’s the same when I go back to India its strange land even though I could relate to few aspects end of the day I can’t get along. Whom do I blame? My parents who came over to make a better living? My destiny for having put me in such a conflict? Or God the designer of this entire story of mine? I have no answer.


I love this place beneath the Brooklyn bridge it gives me a view of the entire city. Its here that I often come to resolve my internal conflicts. Now my situation is that of great joy but still with the risk of losing it all. In the University of Pace it’s common for youngsters to appear in pairs. This happens over a period of four five days among the new comers. But Jim always had a strange difference. It is accidentally that I noticed him attempting to resolve a conflict between his friends I noticed it was something not very common. He looked charming like any other American but there was something I felt that common in us. In the second year we had a class together that how he got to know me. Jim was a celebrity in the university known by all for his exceptional singing ability, talented to the extent that the crowd would be mesmerized by his voice and the tune of his guitar. Getting to know him closer made me realize the truth that his Grandmother was an Indian by origin a Punjabi to be precise and she had a great influence over his way of thinking. Jim once confessed that he could do with the absence of his Mom but never his grandmother. He loved taking her to India. He loved the joint family system there. He also wished that he was born an Indian. But the truth again is he is an American as both his parents are. Even though Jim is a Christian not a catholic unlike me, he is a believer but not all that religious. Jim believes in getting joy from the simple slices of life be it a cute kids smile or a street violinist performance in comparison to a party or anything like that . I never realized that my admiration for him had taken a different turn but I never dared confessing to him.


We became friend actually on the day when he was a bit late to class was not able to find another place other that the one beside me he greeted me for my pleasant surprise and asked me if he could borrow me pen. That’s how its started after a couple of weeks he asked me if I would like to Join him for a visit to the old age home near his place. Its there that I witnessed the angle in him. At first I thought it was his attempt to impress me but then I learnt that he always brought somebody new to this place and that day it happened to be me.

As any girl could desire for I found in him a unique charm unlike anybody else. The moment of Joy was when he asked me if I would be willing to bear his company for the rest of my life. I was shocked and speechless because it was known in the college that Jim never asked a girl out or anything like that there were even doubts about him being straight. But now here lies my conflict, I replied to Jim I would love to but I will give you a reply after talking to my parents. He smiled and replied expected of you Sure I would wait.


I don’t know what my parents will have to say about it. Although they have always been supportive of my Choices. With faith that my decisions will be trusted I walk along homeward. I believe that everything has a purpose even though human beings are different and diverse by their origin or due to the demands of the geographical location there is a strong bond of love that knits us together. End of the day we all can smile we all can frown human emotions are of the same essence. Culture just happens to be there but not as a wall of separation but a different perspective of looking.