An Italian priest, Fr. Gatti who taught me just for one year in school, was my guiding muse for over three more years. His influence on me has been a part of earlier posts of Monday Muse. His stories opened my thinking to see both the larger picture and the intricate detail. One such story literally cleared my vision.
A shopkeeper was forever disparaging of his competitors' storefront windows. "Just look at them”, he would say, “Surely, they are the dirtiest windows in town.". Everyone was tired of the man's continual criticism and fault-finding remarks about other peoples’ windows.
However, one day over coffee, when the man carried the subject just too far, his smart customer suggested the man get his own windows cleaned. The shopkeeper followed the advice, and the next day at coffee, he exclaimed, "I can't believe it. As soon as I washed my windows, my competitor must have cleaned his too. His windows are clear and you can see them shine."
It was all very clear. The problem was with HIS windows. Since they were dusty, the others appeared shabby, too. Too often we are seized with identifying drawbacks and weakness of others, but the reality remains that our own minds are in negative condition or conditioned negatively. So before we categorize others as worse, we must discover how we can BE BETTER ourselves. After all, Confucius once declared, "Don't complain about the snow on your neighbor's roof when your own doorstep is unclean."
The singling out of the worst in others must go
Lets’ BE BETTER ourselves and may our actions show.
regards
Pravin-da
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
SOUP?
Job Interviews are conducted to assess a potential employee to see if he/she has the required competencies and attitude. And in recent times, innovative situations are created to assess the reflexes and responses to find out who is better than the rest. Just consider the following case:
All the candidates for managerial positions are educated about the organisation’s vision, mission and systems through a striking audio visual presentation. Next the presenter announces, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the interview shall commence after a 30 minute recess. Till then, help yourself to some delicious soup.”
Everyone begins to queue up at the serving table… even those who do not want the soup, choose not to be part of a slight. The atmosphere is one of discipline… no pushes and shoves… smiles flash around… everyone knows they are being watched and hence the best behaviour is out on display.
The bowl is gracefully lifted… a prompt “thank-you” is uttered as the waiter pours the soup… One moves further, to gracefully add a series of additives that await… chilly sauce, vinegar, pepper, salt, etcetera. The assessment is complete! Everyone who adds without tasting and checking out whether the soup actually requires add-ons find themselves in hot soup as far as the interview is concerned
In the quest to assess who is better, the ones who fall aside are the ones who use resources without considering whether they are needed. To BE BETTER than the rest, we must ensure that our behaviour is based on situational thinking instead of perfunctory behaviour. And we have to start with unlearning habits and embracing a responsive approach that shuns the mechanical unthinking.
We must unlearn habits of mechanical inclination,
To BE BETTER lets indulge in responsive action.
regards
Pravin-da
All the candidates for managerial positions are educated about the organisation’s vision, mission and systems through a striking audio visual presentation. Next the presenter announces, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the interview shall commence after a 30 minute recess. Till then, help yourself to some delicious soup.”
Everyone begins to queue up at the serving table… even those who do not want the soup, choose not to be part of a slight. The atmosphere is one of discipline… no pushes and shoves… smiles flash around… everyone knows they are being watched and hence the best behaviour is out on display.
The bowl is gracefully lifted… a prompt “thank-you” is uttered as the waiter pours the soup… One moves further, to gracefully add a series of additives that await… chilly sauce, vinegar, pepper, salt, etcetera. The assessment is complete! Everyone who adds without tasting and checking out whether the soup actually requires add-ons find themselves in hot soup as far as the interview is concerned
In the quest to assess who is better, the ones who fall aside are the ones who use resources without considering whether they are needed. To BE BETTER than the rest, we must ensure that our behaviour is based on situational thinking instead of perfunctory behaviour. And we have to start with unlearning habits and embracing a responsive approach that shuns the mechanical unthinking.
We must unlearn habits of mechanical inclination,
To BE BETTER lets indulge in responsive action.
regards
Pravin-da
Monday, March 17, 2008
ANALOGY
My favourite orator, Dr Oscar Rebello was speaking at a public meeting about the land grab taking place in Goa and the complicity and connivance of the Government in aiding the illegalities… He could have rattled off facts and figures to buttress his argument. However, he once again exhibited his genius in connecting his communication with his heterogeneous audience. He spoke thus…
Consider the case of our lovely mother who is a nice human being. She is caring and has done only good to others. Now consider our father who is an aggressor against our mother. He abuses her and worse, snatches her jewellery and household things and gives them to another woman. What should we, as children, do to our father who is brutalising our mother? The audience roared to say “teach him a lesson”…
Oscar immediately made his analogy… Our lovely mother is our motherland, Goa.
Our father is the Government that rules us. The other woman is money bags out to circumvent the law and loot Mother Nature of her precious possessions. Nothing more was required to be said. The message had been communicated in all its clarity.
Analogy is the expression of the cognitive practice of transferring the message as understood by the speaker to the listener in a way that the listener can understand. It is based on the principle that effective communication is all about keeping it simple. The hall mark of a good communicator is the ability to BE BETTER at using the power of analogy as against the agony of wordiness.
To BE BETTER in getting our message across,
The use of analogy can sure reduce the fuss.
regards
Pravin-da
Monday, March 10, 2008
PROGRESS
“We all want progress, but if you're on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.” – C S Lewis
Progress is a connotation that means different things to different people. It can be as personal as our self-centredness or as global as wider concerns. It can be conditioned by immediate needs or liberated by a desire to leave a legacy. It can be seen as a corollary to development of technology or the advancement of humanity. It can be about a better present or about a better future.
Once while educating students on the need to re-look our tendency to abuse water as a resource, I stressed that drinking water was going to get scarce, due to indiscriminate development. A bright boy asked, “With technological developments, one day it will be possible to treat sea water and convert into drinking water”. The point he was making was that it was always possible to find new solutions to the problems created by certain aspects of development.
After appreciating the lad for the intelligent intervention, I communicated thus: The Jaipur foot is an important technological development for those who lose their limbs. But would it be correct to amputate our healthy limbs just because we have a remedy? We cannot BE BETTER by scouting solutions for problems we insist on creating.
Embracing fundamentals based on a vision of equity, justice and self-reliance, for the entire humankind, should always be the priority. Progress cannot be walking the path to the future whilst destroying the present. And most importantly, as Lewis says, it is about having the courage to leave the wrong road and walk only the one which benefits all the people and the environment around, not just of today, but of tomorrow as well.
When technology exceeds our humanity, it is surely regressive…
to BE BETTER is to let our shared advance to be truly progressive
progressive regards
Pravin-da
Progress is a connotation that means different things to different people. It can be as personal as our self-centredness or as global as wider concerns. It can be conditioned by immediate needs or liberated by a desire to leave a legacy. It can be seen as a corollary to development of technology or the advancement of humanity. It can be about a better present or about a better future.
Once while educating students on the need to re-look our tendency to abuse water as a resource, I stressed that drinking water was going to get scarce, due to indiscriminate development. A bright boy asked, “With technological developments, one day it will be possible to treat sea water and convert into drinking water”. The point he was making was that it was always possible to find new solutions to the problems created by certain aspects of development.
After appreciating the lad for the intelligent intervention, I communicated thus: The Jaipur foot is an important technological development for those who lose their limbs. But would it be correct to amputate our healthy limbs just because we have a remedy? We cannot BE BETTER by scouting solutions for problems we insist on creating.
Embracing fundamentals based on a vision of equity, justice and self-reliance, for the entire humankind, should always be the priority. Progress cannot be walking the path to the future whilst destroying the present. And most importantly, as Lewis says, it is about having the courage to leave the wrong road and walk only the one which benefits all the people and the environment around, not just of today, but of tomorrow as well.
When technology exceeds our humanity, it is surely regressive…
to BE BETTER is to let our shared advance to be truly progressive
progressive regards
Pravin-da
Monday, March 3, 2008
LEARNING LESSONS
There are days in history which are painful.
Yet if we learn from our mistakes,
we can ensure we are not revisited by
the same painful history and its accompanying hurt…
It is been two years since Goa joined the mainstream of the organised communal violence. After the riots, there was more shock than outrage, because Goans had actually relied on the myth that their famed communal harmony could never succumb to such brutal violence. The smug belief, that peaceful Goa could never be synonymous with hateful agendas, came crashing down.
The seed of hate gets planted in the fields of prejudice. And these prejudices are ploughed by the divisions of religion, ethnic, regional, economic and every divide that sees one human being as lesser than oneself. And when, this hate in full bloom is harvested, the community sees the final manifestation of communal politics which is communal violence.
In the aftermath of any riot, as peace returns, everyone, save the brutalised victims, starts getting complacent. And the vested interests, on all sides, start planting the seeds of hate again, under the garb of nationalism, religion, ethnic pride and the like. These messengers of hate talk about “teaching them a lesson”. And they forget that lessons are not meant to be taught. Lessons are meant to be learnt.
To BE BETTER is to have learnt from the lessons. We must learn the lessons for ourselves. We need to sift the grain from the chaff. We have to begin with cleansing our own minds of prejudice and hate. We need to initiate and participate in dialogues to undo the divisions within human beings. We must strive to BE BETTER as human beings by actualizing the humane values of sensitivity, tolerance and peace.
The lessons of history are meant for learning, not fighting…
Prejudice can never be the path to BE BETTER as a human being.
yours-in-hope
Pravin-da
Yet if we learn from our mistakes,
we can ensure we are not revisited by
the same painful history and its accompanying hurt…
It is been two years since Goa joined the mainstream of the organised communal violence. After the riots, there was more shock than outrage, because Goans had actually relied on the myth that their famed communal harmony could never succumb to such brutal violence. The smug belief, that peaceful Goa could never be synonymous with hateful agendas, came crashing down.
The seed of hate gets planted in the fields of prejudice. And these prejudices are ploughed by the divisions of religion, ethnic, regional, economic and every divide that sees one human being as lesser than oneself. And when, this hate in full bloom is harvested, the community sees the final manifestation of communal politics which is communal violence.
In the aftermath of any riot, as peace returns, everyone, save the brutalised victims, starts getting complacent. And the vested interests, on all sides, start planting the seeds of hate again, under the garb of nationalism, religion, ethnic pride and the like. These messengers of hate talk about “teaching them a lesson”. And they forget that lessons are not meant to be taught. Lessons are meant to be learnt.
To BE BETTER is to have learnt from the lessons. We must learn the lessons for ourselves. We need to sift the grain from the chaff. We have to begin with cleansing our own minds of prejudice and hate. We need to initiate and participate in dialogues to undo the divisions within human beings. We must strive to BE BETTER as human beings by actualizing the humane values of sensitivity, tolerance and peace.
The lessons of history are meant for learning, not fighting…
Prejudice can never be the path to BE BETTER as a human being.
yours-in-hope
Pravin-da
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