BOASTFUL BRAGGERS

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Aarav who always went against the wishes of his parents. He never listened to the wise advices they offered him. Instead, he used to listen to the nonsense his friends used to brag about in school.

  One day, Aarav heard some of his friends talking about a new P.E. Sir who’d entered the school. It seemed that he had been teaching various new techniques to his students lately. Everyone laughed at the boy when he admitted that he never did see that sir at all. Aarav decided to learn more about the techniques that even his friends didn’t know and boast about before everyone.

  The main person who knew the most about it was his friend, Paul. He knew many fighting skills and was a blue belt in taekwondo. Unlike Aarav, he was very quiet and never joined unnecessary conversations.

  “Hi Paul,” Aarav said walking up to him after school. “Let me get straight to the point. You’ve got to teach me some fighting techniques. Please!”

  Paul didn’t seem surprised at the request. “Okay,” he said. “Meet me at my home today at 4.” 

  So after school, Aarav neatly dressed up—ready to brag even at Paul’s house which was even less adorned than his house. Paul invited him to his room when Aarav reached.

  Aarav first examined the room. “You know I own a 15,000 Rupees worth remote-controlled car,” he said. “You don’t have any?”

  “No,” Paul answered.

  “Then you should ask your parents about it,” Aarav exaggerated. “You deserve to own one!”

  Paul didn’t answer this. “Should I teach you what you asked for?”

  “Yes, yes of course. Let’s start!”

  Paul began training his friend. “Let me tell you the basic form,” he said. “This is called ‘low block’.” Paul bought his fist to his shoulder, touching his elbow to his other arm. Then he blocked down his fist to his knee direction.

  Aarav didn’t seem to be interested in this boring thing. “Teach me the highest level form you know,” he huffed, showing off his medium-muscular arm. “I don’t have time for basics.”

  Paul sighed but said okay to Aarav’s demand. “Learn this ‘Jump Spin Hook Kick’.” Paul took a position, punched a few fists in the air, and did a somersault in the sky with a perfect kick in the air! Aarav was so astounded by it that he couldn’t speak. But he did in the end because he wanted to act as if he already knew a bit about fighting techniques.

  “Nice—but—I know this already,” he bragged. “Even harder please.”

  Paul met Aarav’s eyes. He was getting frustrated at getting demanded. But he backed himself to do another stunt.   

  Paul went to the corner of the room and ran to the other corner. He jumped at the wall, doing a 360-degree spin in the air with another unhuman kick.

  He came down to the floor with a thud but landed perfectly on his foot. “Okay?” he asked.

  “Do it again,” Aarav demanded. Paul did so, again and again and again. But Aarav wasn’t getting it alright. 

  Aarav ignored Paul’s tips and decided to try it, although he wasn’t getting anything perfectly. The reason he was ready to do it was that Paul’s mom had come to the room to see what they were doing. He wanted to boast again—although he knew nothing!

  “See me, aunty!” Aarav moved to the corner of the room. “I’m a pro at this!”

  Paul’s mother smiled. She never knew Aarav was good at these too.

  Aarav ran to the other corner of the room to start the show. He kicked against the wall a bit early, hoping to pull off the stunt low and easy. But while pulling off the kick, he misjudged. He hung low in the air, his legs not coming over his body, and Aarav finally landed—but on his neck!  

  “No!” Paul’s mom yelled, running over. “Are you okay, Aarav?”

  Paul kneeled over to him. “He’s unconscious!” he reported. “Landing on the neck must be serious. We have to rush him to the hospital!”

This is just an example of what boasting can really do. Boasting comes from being overconfident about yourself. It must be avoided at all costs. Why do we want others to admire us? Because we do not admire ourselves. This may be because we were appraised long ago. In other words, stop feeling bad about yourself, and you’ll find you have less need to boast.

  Simply said, your talent or skills may take you nowhere. A person who boasts a lot often dissolves lies and imaginary things in his talks only to show him as superior to others. In fact, nobody is so much interested to listen to you all the time. They may act as listening to you with a wide smile, but deep inside they start disliking you. Ultimately, your actual social and professional status drops than normal.

  On the other hand, if are kind and respectful to everyone, even having reasonable skills in your profession will not be a blockage in your career. Kind people are loved and respected by all.

Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of my imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. || Contents of this story should not be reproduced in any manner without permission.