MODERATION

      "I stand astonished at my own Moderation", came across this quote by Robert Clive in an article. Have read quotes by many great personalities, but this stupid quote kept ringing in my mind as stupids get fascinated by stupid things.

       Remember reading about Robert Clive in secondary school history books. A one liner stating Clive helped the East India Company to establish their rule in India after winning the "Battle of Plassey". Credits to our historians who glorified Clive as a simple pale young man who came to Madras as a clerk and eventually established East India Company rule in the peninsula. The books never mentioned his ruthlessness and greed to appropriate huge wealth. After pondering India he went on to settle in England. There he was put under trial in the parliament for his plundering of India and being the cause for Bengal famine. During his trial, Robert Clive uttered this stupid statement, "I am astonished at my own Moderation". The trial went on and he was acquitted, that's history. Robert Clive uttered these words and went on to rest in his unmarked grave.

        But those words; don't they reverberate in every walk of our life, don't we utter these words everywhere at schools, homes, workplace and even hear from everyone in our families and friends. We all try to establish that "I am the modest one among all those I am connected with". Haven't we admired our own modesty many times.

        Modesty is not a virtue but a practice, whereas most of us end up pretending rather than practicing. Pity is that we never accept doing so, an old joke says,"I used to lack modesty, but now that I have it, I'm perfect". 

        Most of us show modest behaviours with people who are more powerful than us in the society or work place, but never practice the same with those less influential or our subordinates. Moderation should not be choosy but perennial. Modesty doesn't mean giving up, which rather is a kind of cowardice but modesty is a way to accept things the way they are and not forcing ones opinion over others. Ego is inversely proportional to modesty and most of us carry the baggage of ego in one way or the other.

         A person cannot be modest all the time, but if we wish to be we should first start at home, with our own children, spouse and our elders. Developing patience to just listen will help us understand how this world thinks about every little thing in every possible different way. If we can accept that others can be right, it helps us to get moderation as a practice. But nothing to be astonished about, as  always there will be someone else who think or see things the other way.

         The above suggestions are not done after any detailed study or research, but rather with a concern. Robert Clive's astonishment towards his own Moderation has been laughed at for centuries. Let's not make ourselves laughing stocks among our peers, friends and families.

        Let the society be astonished at our Moderation.

              -   A thought the other way round.