Changing The Rebellious Brother

There were three brothers who lived together. The youngest brother loved to fool around, and he often came home past midnight.

The eldest and middle brother both wanted to change the youngest to come home earlier and be more responsible. The eldest brother got very angry at the youngest, often scolding him loudly and fiercely. The youngest was already a young adult, and the more he got scolded, the later he came home each day.

The middle brother saw the result and reflected on the eldest brother's methods. He then told the eldest, “Please let me try helping our younger brother. You can relax and leave it to me for the time being.”

From that day on, the middle brother waited by the front door every night for the youngest to come home. The first night, he watched the clock pass by 10:00PM, 11:00PM. Rather than get impatient or angry, he cultivated his patience, waiting past 11:00PM, past 12:00AM, until finally, the youngest appeared.

The middle brother immediately opened the front door, walked up to the youngest brother, and took his hand. The middle brother said, “It's so cold outside. Are you warm enough?” as he took him into the house. He also said, “You must be hungry. I’ll go cook some noodles for you.”

The middle brother continued doing this for many weeks. Later, the youngest brother slowly started coming home earlier, day by day, until eventually, he came home at normal times. The middle brother kept encouraging him and giving him proper ideas about life so that his younger brother would have a bright future.

Commentary:

How often do we get angry at others for their bad habits? Getting angry doesn't help, and in fact, it usually makes the situation worse.

If we want to inspire others to change, we must show genuine care for them and be patient.

It took the middle brother many weeks to finally move the youngest brother's heart. Once the youngest brother really felt how much care and love the middle brother had for him, he naturally started to change.