A man was riding his bicycle one day when all of a
sudden his brake jammed. Luckily there was a cycle
repair-shop nearby, so he took his bike there to
have it fixed. Thinking that the mechanic would fix
the brake at the point where it was jammed, the
cyclist was surprised to see him tap away with a
small hammer at a completely different place.
Before he was able to express his surprise, however,
the mechanic handed the bike over. “That’s fixed it.
You can take it away now,” he said. And off the
cyclist rode, with his bike once again running
smoothly.
What was true of this bicycle is true also of human
society. When there is something wrong with
society people usually jump to the conclusion that
where the malaise lies, there also lies the cure. But
this is not case. Usually the root of the malaise lies
in a different place, far away from the symptoms.
Until the cause is removed, the malaise itself will
not go away.
For instance, there might be a lack of solidarity in
society, or one’s people may be the victims of
oppression. Maybe society is beset with an
atmosphere of intrigue, with the result that its voice
carries no weight in the world. Detecting these
symptoms, one who determines to right the ills of
society might well think that the cure lies in calling
meetings and conventions in order to bring people
together, feeding them emotional speeches and
passing high-sounding resolutions, and so on.
But this is not the way to cure the actual ills of
society. To do so, one has to work on the cause, not
the symptoms, for usually one will find that while a
problem seems to be afflicting one part of society,
the cure lies elsewhere. If there is a lack of solidarity,
for instance, the reason for this is the failure of
individuals to stand together. It is the individual,
then, who has to be worked on. Solidarity has to be
achieved at an individual level before it can come
about in society. For it is a law of nature, and human
society, that for a tree to bear good fruit, it is the
seed, not the fruit itself, that has to be improved.
--Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
( Ref - The Moral Vision)
