Love and Fear - Godfather

I just completed reading Godfather and loved it. Like the many other books that I have put up posts on, I would like to bring up a few dialogues that I really loved in this book.

Don Corleone is a underworld don who believes in following his own rules and heart. He does not submit to the Government and helps people who are in trouble.

Luca Brasi is a trusted man in Don Corleone’s regime . He is supposed to be tough and extremely loyal to the Don. The following is a dialogue about Luca Brasi that I found interesting.

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"Luca brasi did not fear the police, he did not fear society, he did not fear God, he did not fear hell, he did not fear or love his fellow man. But he had elected, he had chosen, to fear and love Don Corleone."
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I have two sisters who are close friends to me. The age difference between the two sisters is about seven years. So by the time the elder sister had a son, the younger one was just in college. Since the elder sister used to go to work, she would leave her son at her maternal home with her mother. This meant, that the younger sister had ample time to spend with the kid and the kid had become very close to the aunt. The kid simply adored and loved his aunt.

There was this incident that had happened with the kid when the kid was around 4 years old. One day, the young boy in his mischief, broke a vase at home and would just not apologize for the same to his grandmother. The younger sister watched the dialogues between her mother and the kid for some time. When she saw that the dialogue was moving nowhere, she took the boy with her into one of the study rooms and locked the door. After 5 mins when both of them came out, the boy was seemed subdued and went and apologized to his grandparents.

I was watching all this - and was amazed by the transformation. I raised my eyebrow in surprise at my aunt ( the kid's grandmom ) - asking - how did this happen ! Is he so scared of his aunt ?

His grandmom replied with a smile - No he is not scared of her. He loves her so much and has so much respect for her that no matter what he doesnt want to look bad in her eyes.

I was dazed.

If we look in our lives, there are umpteen people we come across. However there are only a few to who we really look up to and listen to. What makes us surrender to those people so unquestioningly? Force or authority or plead definitely is not a criteria .

On the other hand, there are a few people who trust us unquestioningly and there are some who find it difficult to understand us. Can you really make someone to understand you or follow your instructions ? You can reach out to a person, chide him, or request him, or explain things to him – but he/she will accept it only as much respect and acceptance the person has for you.

As shown in the anecdotes above, a person’s submission to you will be only out of his/her own willingness and respect and love he/she has for you.