If from a vessel containing water a single drop is
found to be brackish, it means that all of the liquid
is undrinkable. We need sample only one drop to
know with certainty what the rest will be like. Much
the same is true of the human personality. It is like
an over brimming vessel which keeps on shedding
drops for other people to savour, to find sweet or
brackish as the case may be. Small instances of an
individual’s behaviour and quite short interludes in
his company are generally sufficient to tell us what
his overall personality is like—unless we are
dealing with the greatest of dissemblers! A
thoughtless remark, an unfair manoeuvre, a failure
to give much-needed sympathy or support, a
devious transaction—all these are the plain
indicators, like those brackish drops of water from
the larger vessel, which indicate the lack of integrity
or callousness of the person you are dealing with.
The human personality has the same homogeneity
as water. A single human weakness cannot
therefore be considered in isolation, as if it were an
exception. It has to be looked upon as being
representative of the entire personality. If an
individual proves unreliable in one matter, he is
likely to evince the same unreliability in other
matters; if he is guilty of untrustworthiness on one
occasion, the chances are that this trait will show up
time and time again.
There is only one kind of person who is an
exception to that rule, and that is the one who
subjects his own behaviour to constant re-appraisal,
who is continually scrutinizing himself for
weaknesses and faults and who, once having found
such faults, wastes no time in rooting them out.
A man who has made a mistake can completely
erase the marks of what is an unfortunate
experience for others by admitting his mistake and
begging forgiveness. Some people are pricked by
their consciences, but do nothing to assuage the
ruffled feelings of others, thinking that to do so
would be sheer weakness and would mean a loss of
face. Such people can never have healthy social
relationships and can never win the respect of their
fellow men. They do not realize that a man displays
his true mettle when he sees his own wrong actions
for what they are, and humbly asks forgiveness.
It is only he who has learned the art of moral
introspection who will, in the long run, prove
himself a person of inviolable integrity.
--Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
( Ref - The Moral Vision)
