Accepting my own fault.

Last Sunday's Malayala Manorama edition had a small but interesting article under the section "Innathe Chintavishayam" ("Thought for the Day"). The topic was "Blaming and accusing others". An interesting piece of thought. It said that this is one trait seen amongst all people and societies irrespective of age, sex or religion.In the Bible it is said to have started with the first human being. And since then it has continued. It also said that only very few people can accept their own fault and openly admit it.

In road accidents,a study had shown, every driver involved would blame the other guy for the accident. None of them would accept their own fault.
In politics you always hear that the difficulties and problems the current government faces is due to the bribery, carelessness and hopeless spending of the previously ruling government. They too, don't accept their own faults.

Looking into family relations, the situation isn't much better.
The drunkard husband blames his wife for his drinking. The wife blames him for the miserable situation at home. A spoilt son careless in his studies blames his parents for his plight. There too, noone accepts their own faults. This is the situation we all are in.

A Christian philosopher once wrote "It is often our own flaws and shortcomings that prompt us to accuse others of their shortcomings. Because of our love for ourselves, we do not see the love others have for themselves. And sometimes it makes us accuse people of things they didn't do actually.

There was a woman who always complained about other people and she was looking at her neighbour's home through her window. And she exclaimed "See the dirty windows of my neighbour.She doesn't know how to keep her home clean." One day when she told the same thing to the priest, he asked her to clean the windows of her own home. She followed his advice and then exclaimed. "I cannot believe it. When I started cleaning my windows, my neighbour also started cleaning her windows." The actual truth was that the neighbour's windows were always clean. But because this cribbing woman's windows were dirty, she saw her neighbour's windows as dirty too.

Due to our complaining nature we can never see other people's good nature or achievements. Jealousy often plays a role in that. Rather than watching what other people are doing or not doing, we should look at ourselves and see what shortcomings or failures we have so that we can rectify them. To accept one's own mistake is a symbol of greatness. And to rectify that mistake is a step in the right direction. To find the goodness in other people, congratulating and exchanging words of appreciation and encouragement with them should be our goal. Then certainly our life and relationships will improve, no doubt !