Once a doctor was visited by a stranger who had a
box with him. He sat in a corner waiting until all the
patients had gone, and the doctor was left alone,
then with an air of secrecy he opened up the box in
front of the doctor. It contained a gold necklace. The
stranger told him that this chain was worth
Rs. 10,000, but hastened to add that he did not want
to sell it. He only wanted to borrow Rs. 5000 against
it. He had run into great difficulties and had felt
forced to pawn something valuable. He said that he
would be very grateful if the doctor could give him
enough money to see him through this emergency.
He promised to come back in one month’s time and
redeem the necklace. The doctor at first said that he
was not interested, and refused to give him any
money. But the man persisted, explaining his plight
in such a piteous way that the doctor softened and
agreed to help him out. He handed over the money,
then locked the chain in his safe.
Month after month elapsed, but there was no sign
of the man returning. The doctor began to feel
apprehensive. Then one day he decided to take the
necklace out of his safe and send it to a jeweller to
have it valued, so that he could sell it. To his
consternation he was told that it was made of brass.
Although the doctor was shocked momentarily, it
did not take him long to recover. He said that he
had lost his money but that he would not lose his
composure. He chose to forget all about this sad
incident, and simply took the chain out of his safe
and put it in a common almirah, along with other
articles made of brass.
This attitude adopted by the doctor is the best
solution to many problems that arise from our
contacts with other people. Whenever our hopes
and trusts have been betrayed, we feel that we have
genuine grounds for feeling aggrieved. When a
supposed man of principle proves a scoundrel, a
well-wisher turns out an enemy and a reasonable
person shows himself to be quite the reverse, we
feel really let down.
On such occasions, the best policy is to bring those
who have disappointed us down from the high
pedestals that we had them on, and put them back
among the commonplace. What had formerly been
considered ‘gold’ should then be accepted as being
only ‘brass’ and given a place accordingly. This is
the only way to retain one’s equanimity in the face
of life’s many disappointments.
Ref - The Moral Vision
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
