Try to change someone
and you will possibly fail. Possibly means 90% or more of probability of
failure…
What to do then? If they
are really doing something bad or worse, something that is hurting them or
others, what to do about that?
There is a short tail,
attributed to Gandhi in one of its versions. There was a mother whose child like sugar too much and that was causing
damage to her health. She went to the Mahatma to ask help, as she knew her
daughter liked and respected him. He just looked at the mother silently and
then said: “Come back in one week.” Without understanding why the saint man
would need a week to tell her daughter to stop eating candies and other things with
sugar, she obeyed; next week, she was at the same spot along with her child. Gandhi
welcomed both of them and after a while, he looked at the young girl, went into
silence for a moment and said: “Child, sugar is not good to your health. From now
on, stop eating things with sugar… Instead, eat lots of fruit.” Both, mother
and child were very happy, they left the room and for the next months, the
daughter’s health improved noticeably. It was then that the mother had a chance
to meet the Mahatma, this time by herself, and she asked what was troubling
her: “Mahatma ji, why have you taken one week to tell my child to stop eating
sugar?” Gandhi smiled in a humorous way and told the woman: “Well, I had to
stop eating sugar myself…”
Yes, the only way to
change another person is what should be the simplest way: Change yourself. So, next time you see an error in someone, try at
least for a week to not make any similar error and see the results of that
effort.
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