I don’t know if you have, but I have heard this story oft told and now will tell it to you, in my own style, but of course.

In some long ago time lived two men. Not to say that there weren’t more men living at the same time, there definitely were, in fact women too. But for the purpose of this story we are concerned with only the two of them mentioned. So where were we? Ahh… In some long ago time about to be introduced to the two men in question.

One of them was a much respected, morally upright and pious priest who spent most of his time at the temple worshiping his favorite deity and performing his priestly duties with diligence. The second guy on the other hand drank gallons of madira, spent the nights at the local whorehouse and lolled till late in bed nursing a severe hangover. Contempt was all he got. You get the picture, one a worthy guy by society’s standards and the other an example of degenerate life.

In spite of being engaged in pious activities, the ‘good’ guy couldn’t stop his mind from wandering off frequently to the ‘exciting’ times the ‘bad’ guy must be having drinking and fornicating. Strangely enough, the ‘bad’ guy also couldn’t stop his mind from wandering, in his case to the priest. Look at me, he ruefully thought, wasting away my life with wine and woman while he worships God and walks the righteous path. So we have two guys in two different camps doing two different things and ironically spending their life thinking of what the other was up to in the opposite camp.

Eventually came a day when as all life forms should and do, the duo too died. When they reached the doors of heaven, it was opened wide for the man stamped as ‘bad’ back on earth. The ‘good’ guy was denied entry and rerouted to hell where he had to be content with getting himself toasted to a crisp.  A twist in the tale this, what? You see, in spite of living in holy surroundings and indulging in pious activities, the priest’s thoughts had been of base things. On the other hand the fellow who spent his time drinking and with whores had his mind on the priest and God.

I have a few issues with this story (read, I think it is lol-worthy), but never mind that since my reason for retelling it here was for an entirely different purpose: to draw some parallels. (Don’t mind me, I am being facetious and that’s fair warning!)

Everyone’s familiar with the holier-than-thou types who log on only to tell you how you are wasting your ‘real’ life by spending time on Facebook. Then there are those who DO spend a lot of time on Facebook but actually want to but are too lazy to make a change in their life, go out and have some fun. What are the odds that the heads of the first lot are on fire wanting to know what others are up to on Facebook even while they are enjoying their so called ‘real’ life? And what about those for whom Facebook is an addiction (much like drinking), but who actually long to be out there enjoying ‘real’ life? Will one fry in Facebook hell and the other go to Facebook heaven? 😉

[Psst. The picture above has nothing to do with this post and is only for the purpose of showing off one I clicked sharing the beautiful evening sky with the readers. 😉 ]

©Shail Mohan 2016