Old and wise men seem to be the subject of many short stories. This short story is no different in that sense. The old man short story is about changing your perspective in situations that seem to be fixed. Read on for the old man and the drums.
An old man short story and drums
There was once an old wise man who after retiring from his work decided to buy a house in his old village and moved there to live his life in a peaceful setting. All was well until it wasn’t.
Once the school started, there were a few boys who used to walk past his home on their way to school. They would drum on the metal garbage bins that were near the window of the wise man’s bedroom. He would find this noise to be too disturbing and wanted the boys to stop the drumming.
The boys seemed to be enjoying the act and they were not really approachable. Because of that, the wise man decided to do the next best thing he knew.
The next morning, he popped out of his house at the exact time that the boys started to drum. Once they finished drumming, he called them out and said, “I love the way you drum. I would like you to drum for me everyday morning at the same time. I will pay you a 1$ every day.”
The boys loved it. They started playing there every day. After a few days, the wise man said that due to the economy being bad, he can only pay them 50 cents for the drumming. The boys were not happy but still continued to drum for the old man.
A couple of weeks later, the old man again brought the boys together and said that since he is retired and he has not got his pension yet, he will only be able to pay them 20 cents a day going forward.
At this the boys got really angry and the eldest of them said “Do you really think that we will play drums for your stupid 20 cents? Please find someone else to do that for you!” and walked away.
They never drummed at the particular spot and the old wise man lived peacefully thereafter.
Via rmukeshgupta.com,
Author of this short story: Unknown.
Last note
I like how this old man changed his own perspective in order to get what he wants. Disturbing situations may seem very absolute from time to time. They appear out of nowhere and then you have to find a way to deal with it. It just goes to show that the options that seem to be fixed and absolute are often not at all that fixed in reality. The story underscores the freedom of choice we all have, to choose our responses and actions in certain situations.
Let me know what you take away from an old man short story. Use the comment section below!
Did you like this story? You might also like the posts that I wrote about struggles and making mistakes:
- From the short stories series: The Struggles of Our Life
- 10 successful people who failed hard but used it
- From the short stories series: The Butterfly Story
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