What a Black Spot can teach you about life
an inspirational short story
One day a physics teacher entered the classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test.
The students sit at their desks and waited anxiously for the test to begin.
The teacher went through the rows and handed out the question paper with the text facing down as usual.
After he handed them all out, he told his students to turn the paper around and begin.
Instead of questions about their current topic “gravity”, to the surprise of everyone, there was only a black dot in the center of the page.
The teacher saw the expressions on everyone’s face, and told them the following:
“I want you to write what you see there”
The students were quite surprised but started to do the task.
After 30 minutes the teacher collected all the tests. Then he went to the front of the classroom and began to read all answers out loud:
All of them with no exceptions, described the black dot, trying to explain its position in the middle of the sheet, etc., etc. After the teacher had been read out all answers, the classroom was silent, and the teacher began to explain:
“Don’t be scared, I won’t grade you on this. I just wanted to give you something to think about. — No one wrote about the white part of the paper.
Every one of you focused on the black dot — and the same happens in our lives. We have a white paper to observe and enjoy, but we always focus on the dark spots. Our life is a gift given to us, with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate, like nature renewing itself every day, the universe, our friends around us, the job that provides our livelihood, the miracles we see everyday…
However, we insist to focus only on the dark spots — the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the upcoming test, the disappointment with a friend, etc.
If you think about this the dark spots are very small compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds.
Take your eyes away from the black spots in your life. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you.”
