Friday, October 14, 2011

Walk with the wise!



Two frogs had lived in a village all their lives. They thought they would like to go and see the big city that was about ten miles away. They talked about it for a long time and at last they set off to see the city. Hurray!
The journey was more tiring than they expected, for they did not know much about travelling. Halfway between the village and the city there arose a mountain which had to be climbed. The frogs thought of resting for a while and fell into conversation. ‘We must be nearly there. Can you see the city?’ Asked one of them.
‘No,’ said the other frog; ‘but if I climb on your back I might be able to see it.’
So he climbed up on the back of the other frog to see the city.
Now when the frog put up his head, his eyes could only see what was behind and not what was in front. So he saw the village they had just left.
‘Can you see the city?’; asked the frog who was below.
‘Yes,’ answered the frog which had climbed up. ‘I can see it. It looks just like our village.’
Then the frogs thought that it was not worthwhile going any farther. They went back and told the frogs round the village that they had seen the city, and it was just like theirs. 
The moral of the story is clear- we must stand and walk with wiser people i.e. being like-minded or from same caste/ creed/ religion/ place is not a good reason to start a journey together. Instead we must strive to develop great wisdom, attitude and perspectives.


My mother taught me the same thing during my childhood in little different manner. She used to caution me, ‘If you want to become wise, you must walk with wiser. The person you are befriending with must have something or the other to teach you (and so do you to add value to his life) otherwise the friendship will make none of you better.’ Truly, he who walks with the wise grows wise but a companion of fools suffers harm. To walk with a person implies love and attachment; and it is impossible not to imitate those we love. So we say, ‘Show me his company and I will tell you the man. Let me know the company he keeps and I shall easily guess his moral character.’ Please do not get me wrong, I do not mean we consider ourselves superior and cut off with the people whom we label as inferior. Don’t label people. Be generous to all and try to give what you can – spread the knowledge & the joy around’.

The point is to identify few role models and great persons you adore. You can call them your close friends or may be call them, your personal board of advisors or counselors. This is a group you can trust upon in times when you need guidance & love and you can visit when you need peace of mind. Let me give you a thumb rule to measure greatness of a person (including yours) and you can measure others on this before befriending with them. Destiny of a person is defined by the books he reads, people he associates himself with and the words he speaks. Hence always try to know what books does the person reads, what kind of people he associates himself with and does he speak language of love, hope & commitment or is it full of hatred, despair and negation? I know a revolutionary who read every available book on Gandhi, came to India and met with as many people as he could who were associated with the Mahatma, visited all the places Gandhi spent time at. He tried to follow the principles, imitate the words of this supple man in loin cloth and just refused to walk against the values of humanity. He went on to become the great – Martin Luthar King Jr.


We are not dogs. We are human beings and the greatest blessing which we enjoy is - freedom to choose. We are free to choose the books we read (or don’t read at all), the people we associate with and the words we speak. Remember, good choice always brings good results.  


Let’s be humble and teachable.  Let’s choose godly influences for our lives. Let’s avoid the bad ones. With God’s grace, let’s walk with the wise and leave footprints on good paths for others to follow.

6 comments: