Be a Needle, Not Scissors

Someone once gave the gentle saint Baba Farid a pair of sharp scissors as a gift. Farid thanked them kindly, but said, “I would rather you had given me a needle.”

“Why a needle, and not these fine scissors?” they asked. “Because,” said Farid, “scissors cut things apart — but a needle sews things together.”

He wished always to bring people together, never to divide them. Be like a needle, he taught, joining hearts, not like scissors, cutting them apart.