The Man Who Hated Crooked Pictures

There was a man named Ravi who became angry whenever he saw a picture hanging slightly crooked on a wall.

If a picture leaned even a little to the left, he would stop walking, straighten it, and sigh dramatically.

"If people cannot hang a picture properly," he would mutter, "what hope is there for civilization?"

Soon the entire town knew. Whenever visitors arrived, they secretly tilted a picture frame just to see Ravi rush across the room.

One afternoon, Ravi entered the bakery and spotted a crooked painting of a sunflower.

He froze.

The baker quietly slid a pastry across the counter.

"For the painting?" she asked.

"For my suffering," said Ravi.

The baker laughed. "So many crooked pictures. Life must be difficult."

Ravi was ready with a speech, but for some reason he didn't give it. Instead, he looked around.

There was the baker waking before dawn every day.

There was an old customer worrying about his wife.

There was a student staring nervously at exam notes.

And there he was, spending part of his life arguing with picture frames.

The sunflower remained crooked. Nobody seemed troubled by it.

A week later, the townspeople noticed something unusual. The pictures were still crooked.

Ravi was still noticing. But now he would look at them, smile slightly, and continue walking.

One day someone asked, "Did you stop caring?"

Ravi looked at a leaning frame in the town hall.

"No," he said. "I just discovered there were heavier things I was carrying."

The frame leaned quietly to one side. For the first time, so did Ravi.

When something small disturbs me, how can I discern what needs changing in the situation and what needs understanding within me?