"Why do we shout in anger?" a teacher asked. "Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?"
His disciples thought for a while. One of them said: "Because we lose our calm; we shout for that."
"But why do you shout when the other person is just next to you?" asked the teacher. "Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you are angry?"
The disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the teacher. Finally, he explained: "When two people are angry at each other, their hearts become distanced. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the louder they will have to shout to hear each other over that great distance."
Then the teacher asked: "What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other, they talk softly. Why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small."
The teacher continued: "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 need not even whisper; they need only to look at each other and that's all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.
"The moral of the story," said the teacher, "is that when you argue, do not let your hearts get distanced. Do not say words that distance each other more, or else there will come a day when the distance is so great that you will not find the path to return!"
