Once upon a time, there was a boy named Ek who always did whatever he pleased, rarely caring about others. He would bump into people and keep walking without stopping. He would see an elderly person struggling with heavy bags and never help.
One evening, Ek was walking down the street as the sun slanted low, casting long shadows. He glanced at his own shadow and was startled.
His shadow was bowing to an old man walking past — even though Ek himself hadn’t done any such thing.
Ek stopped, looked at his shadow, then kept walking.
But a little while later, he glanced again. His shadow was helping pick up something a small child had dropped, even though Ek himself had already walked right past.
“What is my shadow doing?” Ek said to himself.
He stood still and looked directly at his shadow. The shadow turned to look back at him, then pointed at its own chest, as if to say something was there.
Ek looked closely but saw nothing.
The next day, he decided to try something. When he saw an elderly woman carrying a heavy bag, he walked over and helped her. His shadow nodded.
When a friend dropped a glass, he helped pick up the pieces instead of laughing. His shadow stood up straighter.
When his little brother cried alone, he went and sat beside him as company. His shadow placed a hand over its heart.
Ek did this every day, and slowly he noticed his shadow becoming more and more like him.
Until one day he glanced at his shadow and saw it doing exactly the same things as him — bowing together, helping together, smiling at people together.
Ek stood still in the evening sunlight, and smiled.
He didn’t know whether his shadow had changed because he had changed, or whether he had changed because he wanted his shadow to be pleased. But it no longer mattered, because now he and his shadow were one and the same.
Moral: Our shadow reflects who we truly are, not who we want others to see. Being a good person doesn’t require an audience, because we ourselves know best what we do and why we do it.
