Dhamma Talks - A Rubber Story :: Buddhapadipa Thai Temple

In life experiences, there are many things teaching and reminding us. We usually overlook those things as we think that they are trivial or they are not important.

One day, I received an e-mail from my friend; it was a conversation between friends. It is something that we neglect. Here is the conversation; “Why is there a rubber on top of a pencil?” a man asked his friend. His friend did not get interested in the question; he thought, “It is non sense”, but he was afraid that his friend might be disappointed so he just answered, “It is for a person who always forgets his rubber or it is easy to use it”. “No”, his friend gave a short answer to his friend. He asked him, “What is it, then?” He answered with confidence, “It is because human beings can make mistakes”. When his friend heard that, he stopped for a while and reflected on the answer ‘It is because human beings can make mistakes’. He said, “It is not a normal question; it makes sense”.

Let’s elaborate on the question and the answer;
“Why is there a rubber on top of a pencil?”
“It is because human beings can make mistakes”.

It is true that we can make mistakes, but the thing is that we cannot erase our mistakes like a rubber can erase the wrong writing of a pencil. The rubber may symbolise the wisdom that can awaken us from the wrong doing which means we must not repeat it again and again. We must be brave to face our wrong doing and solve it. Nowadays people like to think, “It is trivial”, and avoid facing the problem or solving it. We must confront the truth; learn it and realise it. Let’s think, “A pencil is longer than a rubber”, don’t use it a lot which means that we must be careful of our own actions. If the rubber is used up before the pencil, it means a lot of mistakes are done. So be careful about spending life and our actions. Don’t repeat wrong doing again and again, be brave enough to learn to change our behaviour.