Safe Harbour On Both Sides

him a raise when money became available. But those few harsh words changed everything. Love turned into bitterness, and friendship turned into enmity. As a result, the owner withheld the salary further and eventually dismissed the man from the factory. What followed was thirty years of tension and bitterness between the two. Had the man simply remained silent, he would have gained much. Instead, by speaking in anger, he invited loss. All of this happened because he couldn’t control his tongue. There’s a Western proverb that says: “Choose the lesser of two evils.” In life, it’s rare to face a choice between something completely good and something completely bad. Most of the time, we must choose between two difficult options. This man had two choices: • A temporary delay in salary. • Or a long-term loss of career and goodwill. He couldn’t bear the temporary hardship and ended up choosing the permanent damage. A Hindi poet once said: “A wound from a word hurts more than a wound from a whip.” The wounds of words don’t bleed and don’t break bones— but they can hurt far more deeply than sticks or swords.