Eyes that don’t see

When we were in primary school, we read stories in Malayalam each of which invariably ended with a strong moral lesson. It was as if the only purpose of a story was to teach you something worthwhile. If it didn’t, it had no business in a text book. They were probably right, considering the purpose of school is to impart lessons. (There must be a place for pointless stories as well. Something that doesn’t harangue you, a tale sufficient in itself for the telling of it.)
I will concede that in the long run, these lofty stories help you to navigate life and survive reasonably unscathed. The proviso is of course that you understand the lesson.
Often one remembers the moral and forgets the story. Something that has remained with me is the adage, ‘It’s not enough to have eyes, one must also see.”
My phone was running out of juice. Fortunately, my charger was in my cabin bag. However, every charging station in the airport terminal was full. People were queuing with their phones for a bit of charge. They might as well be queuing for drinking water, if you go by the expression on their face: parched, desperate. Some people were sprawled on the floor having plugged their instruments into low points on the wall.
I too was desperate as I couldn’t contemplate being without my phone until I reached my destination. Eventually, I found a free plug point and made a beeline for it. It was at the other end of the terminal but that was ok as I had all the time in the world.
Having successfully got 80% charge on my phone, I triumphantly returned to my seat. My wife was beginning to get impatient and asked me where I had gone. When I told her about the elusive charging points and my successful mission to find a free plug point, she points to a plug point tucked away between my seat and the adjacent one!
The moral of this story? Yes, of course, if you have eyes, you should also see. But the stronger moral I think, is ‘Look under your nose before you search in the neighbour’s house.’