Know Your Shortcomings
He was in his old age, but he had not married because he was in search of an ideal spouse. People asked him, “Throughout your life, you did not meet anyone who would become an ideal life partner?” He replied, “I happened to meet a woman who was ideal but the problem was that she too was in search of an ideal husband. And, unfortunately, by her standards I was not the ideal one.”
Generally people are expert at pointing out others’ inadequacies, and that is why they are unable to live with anyone. If a person recognizes his own inadequacy he will realize that he too is standing at the same place where he finds others standing. The acknowledgement of one’s own shortcomings develops humbleness and amiability. Contrary to this, if he can see only the inadequacy of others, he will become proud and arrogant, and it will become difficult for him to live with anyone.
The study of psychology tells us that all qualities cannot be found in a single individual. Each one of us has distinctive qualities. If a person has some good quality, he will also have some other qualities which stem from his original quality. For example, if a man is brave, he will also be resolute. If he is a gentleman, he will accordingly be humble. If he is sensitive, he will become angry sooner than others. If he is intelligent he will have a critical attitude. If he is of a practical bent—more so than others—he will be lacking in mental acuity, and so on.
This being so, the best option is to ignore the weaker side of a particular person and concentrate on his brighter, stronger side, if we want to benefit from his abilities. This is the only way we can tap into another’s qualities. Whether it be the relationship of wife and husband, owner and employee, or a relationship between shopkeeper and partner, everywhere there is a need to follow this principle. If we want to have a rose, we have to tolerate its thorns too. One who cannot tolerate thorns is not destined to possess roses.
It is a fact that a single person cannot on his own achieve anything of significance. To do great things, it is necessary to be able to draw upon the strengths of a number of people. This necessity introduced the concept of companies with joint capital. But the strivings of many people to complete a project is only possible if the individuals concerned have the virtues of patience, tolerance and broad-mindedness. They need to be lenient with each other, and not raise issues over trivial things. They should try to forget things which they do not like instead of constantly bringing them up. Idealism is a good thing but if the ideal is unachievable, the best thing to do is to be practical.
