"A great man shows his greatness by the way he treats
little men"
Well said. So phenomenal. And categorically
befitting in our life situations!
Sometimes, we often sail or see people
sailing on the boat of narcissism and conceit of being great but do we ever
consider what constitutes the equation of greatness?
Well, to me, I discovered that without
the wick of generosity and kindness, it is impossible to light the flame of greatness.
Such greatness when it is no more pleasurable and authentic becomes nude and
stupid. And that nude greatness without any trace of compassion and altruism
can be equated to a castrated novelty. Castrated, because it is impotent and unable
to breed goodness either to oneself or to others.
The spirit of generosity and
civility is necessary for one to be great and visible because the duo is feathered in the wing of greatness. The weight of one’s greatness is measured
not by how much we know or have, but by what degree and range we stretch the
wings of sympathy in assisting others to fly at the same acceleration.
Technically, it sounds to be taxing but
with time, nothing is impossible though it would be challenging.
That’s the fact where John Heywood, an English playwright has carved the
truth in words when he said: ‘Rome wasn't built in a day.
In the simplest language, he means to
say that everything takes time to bloom.
Lincoln for instance, became the 16th
President of America only after he survived a series of misfortunes. Thomas Edison became a famous innovator and
inventor after failing for infinite times. Despite his repeated failures and
complaints from his assistant about wasting time and energy, he is fondly remembered
for his hilarious yet witty remark: “I have not failed. I have just found
10,000 ways that won’t work”.
There is magic in the tongue of these
lines from a genius. The meat in these lines have beefed up my self-esteem and
nurtured me with a healing relief for almost a year now after I was paralyzed by
a venomous criticism of an anonymous person.
A man had lethally commented on the
grammatical errors that I have made on my first post posted in Blogyul-Blogging Bhutan sometime in 2013. That infant piece of
my writing was nailed with a nauseating dictum: “Don’t act over smart!” and had
no further explanations.
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Be able to give reasons when you are capable of pointing faults (Courtesy: click LINK)
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I was numb with this line because the
man who made a criticism of my article seriously lacked greatness in himself.
To an educator like me, mistakes are beautiful because they treat us with a
lesson to find alternatives when something doesn’t work in that way. Besides,
we are humans bound to make mistakes but repeating the same mistake isn’t always
palatable. I would have chewed his remark had he made me pregnant with the reasons
for his stand. I would have even appreciated his greatness in removing errors
from me if a diagnosis of my failure was disclosed.
But nothing prevailed. It just
contaminated the sanctity of my virginity in posting articles in this forum
anymore. I welcome cruel criticisms stuffed with a kind intention though.
“So long as the criticism is painful to
the giver they have the right to criticise,” says Shiv Khera but “the moment the criticism is a pleasure to the giver they have no right to criticize”
“Criticism is futile because it puts a person on the
defensive and usually makes him strive to justify himself. Criticism is
dangerous, because it wounds a person’s precious pride, hurts his sense of
importance, and arouses resentment” (P.5).
Here are some examples in his book that
is worth sharing. In order to escape from diluting his words, I am selling the original
idea in the way it is manufactured in his book:
Bitter criticism caused the
sensitive Thomas Hardy, one of the finest novelists ever to enrich English
literature, to give up forever the writing of fiction. Criticism drove Thomas
Chatterton, the English poet, to suicide (Carnegie, 1985).
I am neither Hardy nor Chatterton in this case. But
next time, when you criticize, equip your stand with the gun of reasons. Otherwise,
I would still chew the lines of Carnegie when he said:
Any fool can criticize, condemn and
complain - and most fools do.
If you have the heart to help others, be reasonable in
your stand. That reason for your stand is how the greatness in your knowledge,
profile or wealth will be measured.
Feel positive and when you see faults in others ask yourself:
“Was the greatness in me born or made”. Nothing is born.
Let greatness take root in others. It is only time
that can define its own quality. I, therefore, regurgitate: Rome wasn’t built in
a day.
But remember, even if the greatness is not of your
quality, that greatness in others can have its own dimension and circumference.
All it matters is the size, not the name.
“A person who never made a mistake
never tried anything new”- Albert Einstein
