SIGN OF WISDOM

A wise person not only knows his actions but also anticipates the possible consequences of those actions. This is aptly described in the axiom: ‘The wise man is he who knows the relative value of things.’

A British writer, William Ralph Inge (1860-1954), rightly remarked, ‘The wise man is he who knows the relative value of things.’

One form of knowing the ‘relative value of things’ is that a person knows the possible results of his actions. If unawareness of the possible results of one’s actions is evidence of foolishness, awareness of the possible results of one’s actions is wisdom.

Once, it so happened that a person’s friend cheated him of a large sum of money. This person had now a burning desire for revenge, so much so that he wanted to kill his former friend.

This man happened to meet me. I said to him that before taking revenge, he should think of the consequences of such an action: Revenge would be taken for revenge. If he killed his former friend, then the man’s sons might kill him. In this way, a chain of enmity and revenge would begin between the two families. I said to the man that one mistake of his had given an opportunity to his former friend to cheat him. The right thing now for him to do was to accept this mistake and to reform himself for the future.

To take revenge is to turn one’s ‘first mistake,’ as it were, into a chain of continuous destruction. On the other hand, to not take revenge is to nip one’s mistake in the bud. A foolish person knows only his actions, while a wise man knows not only his actions but also their possible consequences.