I promise you! Is it just one of those regular sentences that we speak or the faith and hope that we give to someone?

First story… I was on my leave a few days ago when my daughter came to ask to play with her. I was busy doing some housework so I asked her to tidy up her room. She agreed to do it but made me to do a pinky promise that I would play with her after that. After tidying up her room, she came to me and asked, “Can we play now?” and I said yes. She was jumping with excitement and joy. I could see in her eyes how happy she was that I kept my promise.

Second story… an old woman of about 83 years was admitted in the hospital. She was promised by the doctors that she could be discharged on the day. The day passed but she wasn’t discharged from the hospital as they had to do few more tests. On the second day, the doctors promised the same but nothing happened. She was sad but she waited for the next day so that she could go back to her nursing home where she loves to live with her friends. The third day’s promise and the same experience made her so angry, anxious and worried that she said why wouldn’t they say me anything if they already knew the rules and protocols before I go to my nursing home. She called her son and started crying. I had to talk to her son and clarify the matter with him but as expected he wasn’t happy. He told me that he was really disappointed on the matter that his mother was promised three days in a row that she was going to be discharged which never happened and it made her so uncomfortable and nervous.

Another one…a friend of mine told a story about a family. A man everyday promises his wife of 15 years that he would stop drinking alcohol. His wife gives him chances after chances but she doesn’t find any changes in him or in his behavior after taking alcohol. Years of physical and mental abuse makes her depressed and everytime he drinks she asks only one thing, “why can’t you keep just one promise so that we can live like a family? Why wouldn’t you take an effort to stop it as you promise me everyday?” She carries on to do her role as a mother to her two children because she loves them a lot but is completely detached from her husband as she has lost all her hope. She is now living a miserable life.

All of the above stories shows the significance of promises that we make and how we keep them. A promise gives hope to people. It makes the people to believe in other person and to have faith in them. No matter the age of the person, from a small child to an elderly person, a broken promise can break the trust on the person who made the promise and also can cause disappointment and sadness. So, before we say “I promise you!” it is really essential to think whether we can make that happen or not. If not, do not make promises because you do not break a promise instead you break a heart.

A promise made is a debt unpaid.

Robert Service

Promises are like the full moon, if they are not kept at once they diminish day by day.

German Proverb

Promises may fit the friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.

Benjamin Franklin

Breach of promise is a base surrender of truth.

Mohandas Gandhi

Broken vows are like broken mirrors. They leave those who held to them bleeding and staring at fractured images of themselves.

Richard Paul Evans

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man’s word should be as good as his bond; that character, not wealth or power or position, is of supreme worth.

J.D. Rockefeller

It’s not what a person tells you that matters. It’s how they treat you that reveals their true feelings. Their character is revealed not by the promises they make, but by the promises they keep.

Anonymous

Promise is a big word. It either makes something or it breaks something.

Anonymous

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