OUR BLIND SPOTS







Pic. Usha Prasad


“Our humility comes from our character strength... a healthy self-esteem,” I was telling our young PD students, this morning, “But, our submissiveness – non-assertive behavior – comes from our weakness... a low-self-esteem.”

I have spent so many years teaching so many of college students, that, sometimes, it is not easy for me to be ‘teachable’ when somebody points to me my mistakes.

Do I make mistakes in my routine work?

Oh yes, plenty!

Then, why is it not easy for me to accept my mistakes when someone points them to me?

 Because of lack of humility... 

But, many a time, it is because of the way someone tries to correct me… his tone, words and intention have a big role to play… I have seen, that if the tone, words and intention of the other person are good, I gladly offer myself to be corrected… I thank the person profusely… and feel really good about it. On the other hand, if someone tries to undermine my goodness, tries to be extra-smart, makes me feel dumb, stupid, no sir, I throw resistance for any change…

I hope, I am not alone in this…

Go back to the second last para above… I have written, ‘Many a time’. That’s not how it would have been had my dear friend and a well-wisher, Abha Sah, not brought to my notice a grammatical mistake I had been making for years without ever realising it. “Many a times,” was how I was using this English phrase. No one had ever pointed it out to me… It was my blind spot. Someone had to point it out to me… and, the other day, Abha did it so gently, so lovingly and with such good intention… that, I could just feel her deep wish to help me (as I blogged daily, and as my posts were read by many, wide and far). She had chosen to bring it to my notice quietly by in-boxing me… had taken care not to offend me or hurt… Yes, it was very evident; I could sense that. I instantly appreciated and thanked Abha for the concern… I checked it on the Net, and she was absolutely right. I could see a blind spot of mine, just because, I was ‘teachable’…

A teacher appears when student is ready!

Learning from someone takes great amount of humility; and yes, humility comes from our character strength…our healthy self-esteem.

Similarly, when we try to teach or correct someone, how we go about it, yes, that, too, can come from our character strength, our healthy self-esteem, or, it can come from our weakness, our low-self-esteem,too…

My friend and a well-wisher, Abha, did it with her great strength…

I wasn’t feeling any inferior when I wrote to her, “Thank-you so much ma’am… Only a true well-wisher would point to us our blind spots.”

And, I meant it.


GERALD D’CUNHA



Comments

Nitesh Kapoor said…
Humbled!!
April 22, 2015 at 1:00 PM
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