RETRACE YOUR STEPS

I checked into a hotel in Dubai, and as usual, one of the things that matters most to me is having warm water for bath. Seeing that the temperature of the water was good, I relaxed into my room and got ready to enjoy my holiday. Bath time for the first two days was nice and warm. But on the third day, I noticed that the water was no longer warm. I didn’t think there was anything wrong, because I believed that the hotel controlled the water temperature, and someone must have forgotten to turn it on. It was manageable, so I thought, and I felt I could carry on for another day, before making a report to the management if the temperature kept dropping. Well of course, by the fourth day, the temperature had dropped and I could not use the water any more.

But before calling the hotel management, I thought I should retrace my steps to see if there was something I had done wrong. Step by step, I went round the switches in my room and found one that had “water heater” written on it, and of course, it was turned off. Who else could have turned it off but me? I recalled that on a certain day I was struggling to find what switch controlled the bedside lights. I remembered turning off and on every switch I found, but didn’t take time to see if there was anything written on them. I switched them at random, until I found the one that solved my problem. But my careless act had created another one for me. I heaved a sigh of relief, not just because I had found a solution to the heating problem, but that I had not made a fool of myself by reporting to the management.

This event made me wonder how many people struggle with circumstances caused by their own carelessness, and how easy and time saving it would be if you can just retrace your steps. The good old book says to take the log from your eyes, so your sight will be clear enough to take the speck from another’s eyes. You probably have misplaced something and thought it was stolen; failed an exam and thought the teacher just hated you, got suspended from work, and believed you were being victimized; not making enough profit in your business, and think the world economy is miserable, and so on. It would be wise to start with by examining yourself, and retracing your steps to see if you probably have missed it somewhere. Not only would this save you any embarrassment, but it would also save you the time you would have wasted suffering the consequences of your own error, and seeking solution elsewhere while the solution lies in your hands.