One day a teacher in a secondary school at Wisconsin in London asked her students to bring some fresh tomatoes in a plastic bag to school. Each tomato was to be given the name of a person whom that child hated. So, the number of tomatoes would be equal to the number of persons they hated. On a pre-determined day, all the children brought their tomatoes and they well addressed each one with fancy felt-pens. Some had two, some had three and some had five, some even had 20 tomatoes in accordance with the number of people they hated.
The teacher then told them they had to carry the tomatoes with them everywhere they went for two weeks. As the days passed the children started to complain about the decay and smell of the tomatoes. The students who had many tomatoes complained it was very heavy to carry and the smell was too much. After a week, the teacher asked the students, ‘How did you feel this week?’ The children complained of the awful smell and heavy weight of the tomatoes, especially those who carried several tomatoes. They were feeling too unclean and no friend was ready to sit and chat with them. They were not understanding why the teacher had given them this ridiculous assignment.
The teacher then very nicely explained to them and said: ‘This is very similar to what you carry in your heart when you do not like some people. Hatred makes the heart unhealthy and you carry that hatred everywhere. If you cannot bear the smell of spoilt tomatoes for a week, imagine the impact of bitterness on your heart as you carry it daily. Our heart is a beautiful garden that needs regular cleaning of unwanted weeds. Forgive those who have angered you. Let go of things that are not important and make ample space in your room for storing good things. Get Better, Not Bitter. Make friends not enemies. Life is a full circle of happiness. Do everything with a Good Heart. Enjoy eating your tomatoes with everyone. Sharing is caring.
Beautiful!!! Cleaning of heart is more important!! Inward beauty matters more than what you carry outside!! Better we learn these treasures in early life than carrying the regrets later!!
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Thanks so much for your awesome words and yes cleaning the heart of all its cobwebs is a sure way of carrying our inner beauty with us.
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Most welcome!! Very well written!!
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thanks so much. These stories have lasting impact on us too. Have a great day.
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That’s a very good comparison!
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Thanks Mick and yes agree cause tomatoes are near this comparison
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A beautiful message conveyed , Kamal. Thanks for sharing .
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Thanks Sudalai for your great comments
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so true!
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Thanks dear
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You are welcome:)
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Thanks
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What a beautiful lesson.Every one has to learn.Thanks for sharing this.
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Thanks Kalyan for your kind words.
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I genuinely wish we had more teachers like her to imbibe these values in kids at a young age. Just imagine an entire generation growing up with such beautiful values. Thanks for sharing Kamal 👍
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Yes absolutely so agree Radhika and today we really need such teachers who can teach that there is only love and not hatred
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What s wonderful lesson!
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Beautiful message, we have to forgive people for Atleast it will keep us peace
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Yes absolutely Subbashini we need to forgive all
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What a great visual and advice Kamal. Forgiving heals you. It also cleans out the space that hatred was taking up leaving room for love and happiness :):)
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Thanks Maggie for your great comments and yes so true it sure does
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Amazing post and a very important message. The burden of hatred is too heavy to wear all the time
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Thanks Prajakta for your great comments and yes so true burdens of hatred r so heavy to take off
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Wonderful post with a well delivered lesson. Hatred and bitterness affects everyone around them negativitely. Thank you!
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Welcome and thanks for your beautiful words. Yes absolutely hatred does not take us anywhere except to all negativity.
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Nice lesson for us to learn and follow.
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Yes Sunith absolutely. Thanks
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Omg this is brilliant.. oh you just write the best stories full of meaning and application..love it. Sharing on fb and twitter.. thnks. Love bella
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Welcome Bella for your great comments and yes these stories are awe in themselves giving us such wonderful insight. Yes for sure go ahead
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Your post contains important truths. Bitterness and unforgiveness not only hurts the person carrying them but also those nearby. So much better letting all the hatred and bitterness go. Love the illustration of tomatoes! At first I thought all the tomatoes would have the seeds planted and then there would be quite a crop of bitterness! Thank you, Kamal!
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Oh thanks Maggie for these wonderful words and tomatoes was the proper way to show the kids what hatred was all about.
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Perfect! Thank you for sharing this. It is so horrible carrying nasty emotions around.
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Thanks for the beautiful comment and yes so true Kris exactly why carry this hatred around
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I was mad at someone for 23 years (wrote about it on a different WP blog) and when I finally let go….well, we are very good friends once more. Incredible!
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Yes that is the spirit Kris cause it is all us that is just our own reflection so instead you cleared all your stuff with yourself and that is so good cause once we forgive ourselves we can forgive the whole world.
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Strong heartfelt message wrapped in a poignant story. Thank you for the important reminder! 🍃
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Welcome Andrea for your great comments and yes for sure story wrapped in tomatoes a great analogy. Thanks
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We all have have teaching opportunities in our travels everyday, at home, and work.
Similarly, It takes less muscles to smile, than frown! Thanks for such a nutritious thought😉
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Thanks for your great words and yes absolutely agree it sure does not take anytime to smile than hate.
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What a beautiful analysis and story. Thank you so much for sharing Kamal.
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Welcome Rapsody and thanks for your wonderful feedback.
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You certainly ferret out the most beautiful and heart warming stories, Kamal. Wonderful!
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Thanks Robbie and yes these stories are a punch line they are such value added great pieces.
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I really love the message of this
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Thanks for your lovely comments and yes this story was awesome in itself.
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So amazing story.. with such a beautiful meaning… aweskme.👍👍
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Thanks so much Prashasti for your great comments and yes it sure is a great lesson to learn.
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Beautifully said ,I can’t understand it, why people bear and smell?
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It is so beautifully written ! You are right, we should share all the love and kindness and inspire the ones around us! Please, keep writing , I do need to read more stories like yours !
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Welcome and thanks for the beautiful comment Helen and yes there r many stories like that with great insights.
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Excellent share
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Welcome
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Thanks for sharing such a great blog
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Welcome friend
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Beautiful comparison and that is so true
Thank you for sharing dear
Kisses
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Thanks so much dear Voulaah and yes a great comparison to remove hatred. Have a great day with lots of love and kisses.
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Hey now – that’s really clever. And really, really true. I need to clean my heart pronto!
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Thanks Robert for your great comments and yes unwanted weeds r so bad for our hearts.
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True that. 🙂
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Yes
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True
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Yes
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I love this! Great idea and wonderful post!
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Thanks so much friend and yes a good explanation with tomatoes and what hatred is all about.
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Thanks for sharing an important message Kamal 🙂
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Welcome Jasmine
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If we could throw it out on the first day itself, the mind would be cleaned faster..
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Amazing Kamal. Thank u so much.. it’s such a wonderful post.. every word u wrote is so true.. if we keep hatered in our heart it makes our own life bitter and sad.. it’s better to let go the hatered learn from the person, forgive and move on..
I am so glad u are around..
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Thanks so much Shilpa for these wonderful insignt and yes hatred makes all of us not wanting to learn from our mistakes and keep on blaming the other person. These stories are eye openers. I am not seeing you quite often on bloggers I hope all good with you Shilpa. Have a great day and god bless.
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Yes all good.. by prayers of you all and God’s grace.. just caught up with new job so less time to blog.. now trying to catch up
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Oh k Shilpa and it is so good to hear from you. Do keep on writing whenever you have time cause you write so beautifully. Are you having a new job in Dubai or back home.
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Thanks for all the appreciation..it means a lot to me
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Welcome always Shilpa
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I’m still learning from you, as I’m improving myself. I absolutely enjoy reading everything that is written on your website.Keep the stories coming. I loved it!
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What an incredible message and so true!!!! I absolutely loved this story and feel certain I will repeat it several times and keep the story and lesson alive. Thanks Kamal!!
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Welcome Elizabeth for your great comments and yes it sure was we need to clean all the cobwebs from our lives
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Thanks
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What a lovely example for little children, Kamal. May be, we too, as adults, must try something like this so that we are aware of all the bitterness that we carry around poisoning our mind and body alike.
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Welcome and yes absolutely true and we will have more tomatoes that would keep rotting for days together how much nonsense we carry around
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Wow a great story with a beautiful message! Very well written. 😊
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Thanks for the beautiful comment Shweta
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It was a pleasure to read! 😊
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Yes such stories sure r have a great day Shweta
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Have a great week, dear! 🙂
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Thanks Shweta u too
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“The more cleaner the Heart the smaller the Door for hatred to enter.”
Kamal there are few posts for you to read on these lines at my Door to enter.
But the Door is wide open for YOU.
You bring up interesting stories for adults too. Hahaha
How are things with you.
Shiva🎶
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Thanks Shiva but right now on holiday out of India so will come and see your great post
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Touching one..liked this
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Thanks and yes it sure was a touching story.
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