Need to Live in Harmony

NEED TO LIVE IN HARMONY find unbearable if someone behaved with you in the same way.) The message contained in this couplet is a most vital principle for social life. If we can only call it to mind at crucial moments, both inside and outside the home, all frictions might disappear. Every incident can be viewed from different standpoints, and it is a mistake to think that one’s own is always the correct one. However, if we were all to stop and think that there might just be some aspect of another person’s argument that is worthy of consideration, instead of exaggerating the virtues of one’s cause and the vices of the other, there would likely be much less ill-feeling in society and then the causes of quarrels, when viewed coolly and in a spirit of tolerance, would often disappear. In many multi-religious societies, the factor most undermines inter-community harmony is an atmosphere of doubt and suspicion that has grown out of complex historical factors. If only this barrier could be crossed, people would likely discover that many communal problems have been resolved. This no doubt requires great self-control and mental effort, but the results would be wonderful to behold. It would be like an aeroplane which takes off in dense fog but slowly climbs above it to an altitude where all is brightness and sunshine. In reality, many of the problems of this world arise from sheer ignorance, and it takes real wisdom to solve them. This is particularly true of inter-community problems, in which the element of ignorance on the part of miscreants often sparks disputes. If this could be properly understood