Once upon a time, a boy called Ben was able to recall some of the things his teacher said at the spiritist education classes. One of the things he could remember well was that each of us has tasks to accomplish and that we should all practice good to one another. 

Ben was a very clever boy. On the following day at school, one of his colleagues was trying to solve a math test. Ben recalled his teacher and offered to help. The problem was solved in a few minutes.  The girl whom he helped thanked him. Ben then walked away feeling really glad for being able to help someone.  On his way out, he passed by a house where a little boy was trying to play with a kite. The boy wasn’t able to get it off the ground. Ben suddenly approached him and

was able to fly it. The kite was soon up in the air, flying around. The little boy thanked Ben, who left feeling really glad for helping another person on the same day. Ben kept on walking towards his house. He then saw a little boy who was struggling trying to get the chain on his bike. Ben decided to help him by fixing the chain. The little boy thanked him and left riding it.  Ben got home feeling really proud of himself. He told his mother what happened and she congratulated her son for helping three children. She then asked: — What would you like to do, my son?  — I am going for lunch and then I will go out and see if I can help someone else.  The mother listened to him, but decided not to say anything.  After lunch Ben decided to stay at the front door waiting for something to happen. He later on came back inside and said to his mom:

— Mom, I helped a lady cross the street. Then I helped the postman deliver the  correspondences.  

Ben stopped talking, smilled and said: 

— I feel tired, but I am happy mom. I will now take a shower and go to bed.

His mother looked at him and said: 

— Ben, it’s great to see you wanting to help others, but who will be doing your tasks?  

Ben looked at her; he only realised now he had tasks to do as well.  

— But, mom... I thought I was doing the right thing! 

— Yes, my son. It’s nice to want to help, but we can’t forget our own obligations. Didn’t the teacher say we all have our duties to fulfill? 

— Yes, it’s true. What do we do now? 

— You have homework to do, your room and your toys needs to be tided up... Oh! You said you would fix your brother’s bike as well. Do you remember?  

— But mom, it’s quite late! — The boy complained. 

— No, it’s not so late. You still got some time before dinner. 

Ben could see his mother would not change her mind. He then decided to fulfill his home duties. He then took a shower and went for dinner. After that, he felt so tired and went to bed. 

Her mother then walked into his room to pray with him. She sat by his bedside and said kidly: 

— My son, I am very proud of you today. You have done the right thing: you helped a lot of people today. Therefore, by wanting to be useful we can’t just do the tasks for others. 

— What do you mean, mom? 

— Right, one example would be by solving the math problem on behalf of your colleague, you actually hindered her to help. It would be best to have shown her how to solve the problem. Is that clear? 

— Yes, it’s clear mom. I could have helped the boy take the kite out off the ground rather than doing it for him. Right? I could also have taught the other boy how to fix his bike chain rather than doing it for him.... What about the postman? 

— The postman’s responsability is to deliver the post. He earns a wage for doing this. What would happen if you delivered the post into the wrong address? What if this post would be quite important for the person who expects it? What if this letter gets lost in the post? The responsability would fall into him; he would then suffer the consequences for this wrong delivery. 

— You are right, mom. I thought I did well by helping the lady cross the street... 

— That’s right, my son. Everything you did today was for a good reason, but we just can’t take the others the opportunity away from learning from their own responsabilities; tasks. 

— And we can’t forget to do our own tasks either!  

Ben was really happy. He had a different day; really productive. He hugged his mom with love. They both prayed together for all lessons learned on that day....

                                                              
                                                                  Aunt Celia