IN TODAY’S world, many of us find it really hard to see the good in ourselves as well as in others. We seem to prefer to talk about our weaknesses and not our strengths, to highlight ourdarker traitsor vices,asopposed to thebright side i.e., our good side. Perhaps this has something to do with our childhood, when we were being told on many occasions by our parents or relatives that, don’t blow your own trumpet else you'll just get a big head! Or maybe we learned to easily identify our failures by watching and listening toothersand therebypickedup thehabit of seeingonly the failures and weak nesses of others.

 

Or maybe we grew up with someone whose approach towards life always highlighted the negative and who delighted in seeing the vices of others.Well! a question that comes to mind is that – which sensible person would choose to ignore the positive and accentuate the negative? Would any of us consciously choose to be a negative person? Notreally!What most of us seldom recognise is a simple principle that- what you see in others is what you create within yourself in that moment.

 

As the old saying goes 'what you spot is what you got'. So, if you didn't have the trait or tendency that you see in others within your own personality, you wouldn't be able to spot it in 'the other'. That's why it is essential that we find the good, however small within ourself, tend to it, nurture it and nourish it - just as one would do to the plants in the garden. Remember! when we focus on the good, the positive within ourself, we give it a life, permission to grow and to get restored in our nature. MahatmaGandhihad said-‘Be thechangeyou want to see in the world’, which in simple words means that if you want to influence change in the world then be the change first, if you would like others to be good, better and great, then be good, better and great yourself. But what we see today is a sad scene, where the world is more conducive to those who are manipulative and practical and those who chase rewards than to those toiling hard with faithin the return of good actions.

 

In such a scenario many people get disheartened and start asking questions like- what is the point of being good in a mad, bad, sad world? because every good anyway gets ‘lost’, as many of us have come to believe. Just like everything becomes dark at night and a lone flower in a thick jungle remains unseen, the little goodness flickering here and there in the world seems to be of no use. History presents us with innumerable examples of times when the bad seemed to be all pervasive, when powerful conquerors looted and trapped the massesin anundignifiedlife.Andyet, from these very masses emerged a small courageous group of awakened peoplewholed arevolution against injustice and finally turned the tables on their oppressors. But of course, all acts of goodness do not amount to a revolution, for they do not always aim to blow strong winds of change. But nevertheless, they work like a cool breeze in a hot desert, or a drizzle on parched land. All of us have had an experience where we had lost all hopein everything and everyone around us.Our faith had worn thin and we thought there was nothing left in life.

 

And then one act of kindness by someone somewhere ignited a ray of hope; it became the last straw that we clung to until the scene changed for the better. So, what we need to understandis that, no goodnessis really wasted. It may go unheeded at times and could be overpowered by negative forces, but is never wasted, for sure.Ifgoodness can survive through troubled times,itcanbe suretobloom fullywhen favourable circumstances arrive. So, an honest person must hold on to his virtue with courage and patience in testing times. He must empowerhimselfwith theunflinchinghope that asnight is followed by day, better times will inevitably follow,itis just amatter of time before the clouds will give way to clearer skies. So, keep the faith until the new day arrives.