“We come nearest to the great when we
are great in humility.” – Rabindranath Tagore
All
of us who are following the current campaign trail of the election in progress can’t
miss one particular trait dominating the proceedings – verbal assault and
slurring of leaders of other parties. I observed the same trend during the last
few times USA went to election as well (By the way, I have followed these two
elections out of my interest with a glimmer of hope of these two counties will
usher large scale sweeping changes to the world systems). While there was a
glimpse of hope that sanity would prevail when the leaders of three leading
parties initiated a discussion thread on a common platform to shun such practices,
nothing materialized in reality. Taking a cue from their leaders, the local and
regional leaders have gone a step further and are resorting to more heinous crimes
of communal violence, loot, arson leading to a tension ridden community. All
these stem from a perceived notion that arrogance is synonymous with power
while humility is being meek and weak.
We,
as a citizen of the world order, are on the verge of forgetting to realize the
essence of humility, honesty and humbleness. Humility, as a novel quality,
allows one to accept other people’s greatness and achievements humbly with an
open heart and an extended hand lent to take the torch further. A person as an individual and as part of a
society, having strength of character supported with physical and mental power,
is revered by one and all when humility and modesty defines his actions. When
the negative traits like rage and hatred are pushed out by virtue of these
values, it enhances the overall harmony of a prosperous society and a nation.
Today,
however, everyone and everything kneels down to who can be more obnoxiously
arrogant in demanding things for their interest. Arrogance of power and
knowledge are leading to temporary highs and imbues a sense of reverence out of
fear, not loved and cared for by fellow citizens of the society. All these are
very disturbing signs of a decaying system. If we fail to bring back these basic
human qualities to be imbibed by our future generation, the future of all the
nations will lie in immature hands.
