When rivers have to be crossed, small animals can
swim across and larger lightweight animals can
swiftly walk across. But watch an elephant who is
about to make the crossing. He does not step out
briskly like other creatures. First he tests the
riverbed for hardness or softness, making sure not
to put his whole weight on his forefoot, then, when
he is sure of his ground, he sets forth. Even once
launched, his progress is slow, for he is still afraid
of becoming irremediably stuck in soft mud. He
proceeds with caution, testing the riverbed at every
step.
Who taught the elephant to do this? Surely it must
have been God who gave him his instinct for
survival, thus setting upon him His seal of divine
approval. God has given us this example to show us
that when there are signs of danger in our path, we
should not advance carelessly, but should move
with similar caution, gauging the nature of the
“ground ahead”.
Man is endowed with far greater brain power than
the elephant. No one lights a fire near reserves of
gun powder. No engine driver is careless in
shunting petrol bogies. But most of us tend to forget
that this is a principle to be followed in social life.
Every society is comprised of a variety of people
who create different types of environment. In every
society there are ‘marshy places’, there is ‘petrol’
there are ‘thorns’ and there are ‘pits’. The wise are
those who try to avoid such difficult, even explosive
situations, thus saving themselves from the
trammels of confrontation.
Those who have some goal or the other before them
never allow themselves to become enmeshed in
such things because that would mean being
diverted from their objective. A purposeful man
always looks ahead to the future,—straight forward
and not towards, right or left. He always thinks of
long-lasting consequences rather than momentary
considerations. He looks at things not from the
point of view of personal desires and whims, but
from the point of view of reality.
Ref - The Moral Vision
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
