Communal Egos and Inter-Community Conflict

Communal Egos and Inter-Community Conflict T here was once a man who was very strict with his children. He used to constantly scold them. No one had ever heard him speaking kindly with them. His children were so terrified of him that they did not have the courage to even open their mouths in front of him. As soon as he entered the house, they would fall silent and run away. One day, the man climbed up to the terrace of his house. When he got there, he saw, to his shock, one of his sons perched high up on an electric pole. The boy’s kite had got stuck on the electrical wire and he was trying to get it down by climbing the pole. As soon as the boy saw his father, he was terrified. But, instead of shouting at the boy as he normally did, the man spoke to him very gently. “Son, what are you doing there?” he asked. Then, very lovingly, he requested the boy to slowly climb down the pole. Later, the man related this incident to somebody, explaining, “I smiled and spoke in a very gentle manner with my son because I feared that if at that delicate moment I scolded him, he would fall down and injure himself, or worse. This delicate situation compelled me to speak to him sweetly, contrary to my habit.” This example has valuable lessons, not just at the individual level but also at the social level. It applies to entire communities, too, just as it does to individuals. If you are conscious of the sensitiveness of a situation and are