WHEN I was a child I used to hear my mum say, “What goes around comes around,” but I did not actually believe it. Then one day something happened that made me believe it.

I was in school those days. We were a group of three girls – Sara, Mariam and I. Among all the three of us, I was the quietest one while the other two were naughty and outspoken.

One day, our school management decided to take our class to the zoo. We went to the zoo quite happily but, upon reaching there, we found it really boring since we were not that young to be attracted by the zoo animals. But Sara had some other plans, which we found so exciting that without thinking for a second we followed her instructions.

One after the other, the three of us sneaked out of the zoo. We then headed to the shopping mall nearby. Though it was not the right thing to do, it was good enough to provide us with some entertainment. We planned to go to different shops, take some things and then fool the shopkeepers by not paying them. The idea was disturbing at first, but after a little discussion we managed to calm ourselves by thinking it was all for fun and not to hurt anyone.

So we targeted the jewellery shop first, took a few ornaments and then Sara and Mariam went out of the shop saying that they had left their purse in the previous shop. I stood there as a proof that my friends were not lying. After a few minutes they gave me a missed call, and I also went out of the shop. We then hurried towards the other shop which was quite far from that jewellery shop.

Next, we went to a book shop. There I found the book I had been longing for but could not buy it because I could not save enough money. Though I felt guilty but my desire overcame my conscience and I stole the book. There, again we dodged the shopkeeper and went out of the shop. We then decided to go back to the zoo since it was almost the time to leave for the home so we had to join our class.

Just as we were about to leave from the mall, a man coming out of a shop. As he went by our side something fell from his pocket which he did not notice. It was his wallet! It was like a treasure to us. We opened the wallet and distributed the little amount we found inside, while I kept the wallet with me. Then we headed back to the zoo and fortunately no one had taken notice of our absence.

That day, when I went to home, I opened the wallet to see what else was in there, I was shocked to read a prescription along with a letter. As I read the letter, I could not stop myself from crying. The money that we had, was actually meant to buy the injections for the mother of the wallet’s owner. His mother was suffering from a rare health disorder and was on the death bed.

The guilt and shame overtaken me, I didn’t know how to amend the misdeed we just did as there was nothing else in the wallet that could lead us to the owner.

Two years went by and I started going to high school. One day, upon returning home from school, I saw my father quite depressed and tears were running down his cheeks. My grandmother has been diagnosed with a liver disease and it had spread to such an extent that the only way to save her was the liver transplant.

Upon asking, my father told me, day before her liver transplant had to be carried out, so when my father was returning from the bank after withdrawing the money needed for the transplant, someone snatched the money. As it was a huge amount, he could arrange it again and then and the cruel hospital management refused to do the treatment without the payment as it was against their policy and my grandmother died!

That day, I cried a lot, not only for my grandmother but for the misdeed we done. The whole market scene that had happened two years back came back to haunt me. What I had done with someone had been returned to me. This incident taught me the lesson for a lifetime. Though Sara and Mariam are not with me now, I am sure that they also must have been experienced something to remind them that “what goes round comes round.”

Moral

This is the law of universe; whatever we do, we get the same in return. Good deeds will bring us good things and doing bad will cause us harm.