WHY!!! [yelling v.s. whispering]

[Story sent by: Anupam Karn from Paulo Coelho's blog ]

A master asked his disciples:

"Why do we shout in anger?"
"Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?"

The disciples thought for a while, and one of them said:  

"Because we lose our calm, we shout for that."

The Master returns the answer:

"But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?"
"Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice?"
"Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?"

The disciples gave him some other answers but none satisfied the master.

Finally the Mater explained: 

"When two people are angry at each other, their hearts become distant. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance."

Then the master asked:  

"What happens when two people fall in love?"
"They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why?"
"Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small"

 And he finally said:  

"When they love each other even more, what happens?"

"They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.  Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other."

This story holds so much truth.  The physical distance is one thing but the distance that can happen between to hearts.... can be devastating.   There is always an ebb and flow of Love but there is a point where if the distance is to great then even shouting can no longer be heard.  I have been at that point and it's a very sad, lonely place.  It's comparable to being on a deserted island, the rescue boat is in view but attempting to signal the boat is futile.