Consistent Character

when, in short, people fail to treat others as they would have others treat them. A society will only prove to be strong if its members prove to be human beings in the real sense of the word, if they display the character that is expected of them as human beings. Where resolve is required, they should remain as solid as steel; where pliability is required, they should be as soft as running water. They should remain as still as stones when silence is expected of them and as firm as mountains when constancy is the order of the day. When strong initiatives are required, their enthusiasm should cascade like a torrent. It is such people, who speak and act as true human beings, who constitute a strong and stable human society. Individuals of this nature are as indispensable to human society as commodities like petrol and steel are to human civilization. If the things that contribute to civilization did not do what was expected of them, civilization as we know it could not survive; so if people were not to show consistency, reliability and predictability in their character, human society would crumble. Working on the Individual A man was riding his bicycle one day when, all of a sudden, his brake jammed. Luckily, there was a cycle repair shop nearby, so he took his bike there to have it fixed. Thinking the mechanic would fix the brake at the point it was jammed at, the cyclist was surprised to see him tap away with a small hammer at a completely different place. Before he could even express his surprise, however, the mechanic handed the bike over. "That's fixed. You can