Lenses

A story about how karma is in ourselves. The world may or may not change because of our actions, but our perception of the world does.

 

The old tiger was seated in his chair at his mahogany desk in his private study. Nothing had changed here in the last 15 years. The soft, waxy leather on the chair, the polished mahogany desk with its leather bound table top, the heavy fountain pen conveyed permanence and steadfastness, the expensive kind. The private study was on the second highest floor of the tallest skyscraper in the city where real estate was not cheap. The only thing on the floor above was his bedroom suite. If one owned the building, the charm of these small trinkets, once so prized, soon wore off. Some would thus say that the old tiger was a rich man. 

The old tiger sat on his leather chair and mahogany desk. This was his command centre from where he had fought numerous proxy battles. He had insisted that there be no changes in his style of work. There was no computer here. The correspondences of the day were brought in by his secretary, whom he called Ms Secretary, and placed on the left side of the desk. By noon, the left side was empty but the right side had a stack of inverted paper, neatly placed. Then at 1:30 the next set of correspondences were brought in. The last set were brought in at 5 pm, but these were only critical because each of his lieutenants knew that if there was something placed on the desk at 5 pm and weren’t critical then it would be the last 5 pm correspondence they would send at that particular job. 

Today was a different kind of day. Today at 9 am there was only one folder to his left.

His daughter wanted to get married. And she had found a boy. And the boy was waiting in the ante room outside the room with the big table he was seated at. 

He could see the young man on the security program on his computer. Wearing a dark suit, the young man was leaning forward on the sofa, anxiously tapping his left foot. In his right hand he held on to a small dark box.

I used to be that young once, thought the old man, as all old men do when they see much younger and handsomer men than them. However, in this case this old man actually was that young once but he didn't have a suit or a framed Ivy League degree such as this man.

When he was that young, the old tiger had a set of oily overalls and a pair of handed down shoes from an old mentor on the oil rig. He worked hard, as everyone does, thought that he was working harder than everyone else, as everyone often thinks, but thought that he should be working harder, as most people think but rarely admit to themselves. After 8 years on the rigs, he had modest savings, he was comfortable but not wealthy, he could buy good clothes, good food but couldn’t buy the companies that made the clothes or the restaurants that served the food. On his first trip to the HQ of the oil company, he realized that there were indeed men who could. That was when he realized that hard work had a price and men were often paid that price, but cunning and wile had no price and thus immense value.

The younger self of the old tiger was now a well built, rugged man. The years on the rigs with men had given him the confidence that few young men his age could understand. The irony of a rig worker marrying the Chairman’s daughter wasn’t lost on anyone but what surprised most was the speed and quiet intelligence with which the former rig worker ended up managing oil fields, managing business units and eventually replacing the CEO when the time came. People often wondered what the younger old tiger saw in the plain jane daughter but no one doubted that when she looked at her man, she was proud of what she had accomplished.

Now the old tiger had a file in front of him. The young man outside was the son of two dentists. He had ivy league degrees and earned a fraction of what the old tiger earned. The old tiger had eventually become Chairman and now was the owner of the oil company where he had started and he was worried. He was worried that a young upstart was a young usurper.

The young man tapped his leg nervously. He had taken the whole day off from his job on the trading floor at the oil company to come meet who he hoped would be his future father in law. He was in love. He had met the young tigress during their internship at her fathers company. Their friendship was formed in the intense trading job but it was very soon that their friendship became love. She had already met his parents who both marveled at her and and their son’s ability to find a woman like her. The young man was in love because she was a remarkable woman.

He knew what her father would be concerned about. Any father who had a daughter as wonderful as his love would be concerned about her happiness. About how much her husband would care for her and would love her. That he would treat her as the rare innocent human being that she was. He knew that her father would want to ensure that her laughter ring as loud and even louder and more often than when she was his sole responsibility. How he was going to convince him that this was going to happen, he did not know. But he knew he would spend his life dedicated to the task.

The old tiger rang a bell. Ms Secretary showed in the young man. The view from the study was spectacular, but the young man barely noticed. He took his seat and waited for the old tiger to look up from the document in front of him.

Tell me about yourself, began the old tiger. It was a simple question to ask but a difficult one to answer.

I love your daughter and will do everything to keep her happy, replied the young man. What? Why had he said that? This was not what the old tiger had asked.

The old tiger was perplexed. He had been in this position many times. The opening of the negotiation where the counter party tried to flank him by attacking from a completely different position. His tactic to put the young man on the back foot had failed. A cunning fox. He would have to play his game.

Without looking up from his file he said, it says here your parents are dentists, yet you are an oil trader. How much money do you make?

Your daughter loves me too. I think I love her infinitely more and I will do whatever I can to make sure she laughs, loudly and often. We will have kids who will also laugh a lot and make her laugh. I love your daughter. What had the old tiger asked?? The young man, “the cunning fox”, was so nervous that he couldn’t understand what the old bear was saying. No doubt he had asked for his daughters well being and how the young man intended to care for her. This level of nervous panic was something that he had only heard and read about. But he realized that it was coming now because the only thing he truly cared about was on the line.

The cunning fox. He’s telling me that my daughter loves him and that she wont be happy without him. He ignored my question about money. This is truly a fox because he knows how to avoid lain traps. 

How will you keep her happy? My daughter is used to a lifestyle which is much beyond your imagination.

I will strive to love her more, care for her more and give her more of me thatn I did the day, the hour, the minute before.

The old tiger finally looked up. He saw a handsome face, kind eyes. A broad shouldered man sat in front of him with an earnest look on his face. He had a flashback. He looked across the room to a picture of him with his wife and daughter. She was a sweet looking child, not an exceptional student, not particularly ambitious. She had managed access to the best private schools and opportunities because of him. This young fox was not after his daughter. This young fox was after his greatest asset. He had the ultimate defence in mind. The pre-nup that he had been looking down at the whole time. His strategy had failed. He had been unable to expose the young fox for what he was. He closed the file and grunted and nodded. Then he smiled. The smile reached his eyes but not his heart

The young man’s heart was filled with joy. The old bear had accepted him. He had won the greatest prize he ever hoped to. The old bear was granting him the privelege of taking care of his greatest creation.

The young fox smiled. It was a cunning smile, thought the old tiger. He’s gloating. The old tiger stood up and held out his hand.

The young man took the old bears hand and his hapiness broke all bounds. He felt that he was the happiest man in the world.

The young man picked up his briefcase and turned around. What a great father, he thought as he walked out thinking about the rest of the day and the rest of his life that he would spend with his love

The old tiger saw the young fox strut out of his office. He’s already thinking of what he’s acquired and the power it gives him, thought the old tiger. He’ll make a good businessman if he deals with all negotiations like he did this one.