<p>We either confront that person or start a quarrel or call him names in our turn, just to get even and prove ourselves justified in front of others. <br /><br />There are other times we lose our peace of mind and have sleepless nights because so and so has called me this or that and has falsely implicated me in wrong doings which were never in our purview. Instead of losing our cool in such situations, it is much better to say to ourselves this does not fit my image. <br /><br />People can easily see through this and I need not bother. As the saying goes if the cap fits you wear it but why bother if it does not? The accuser will have enough sense to retract what he has said and there would be people who made make him eat his words. <br /><br />So why should you lose your peace my friend. Go about your tasks quietly and let them bark as they will because barking dogs seldom bite. What is important is: do you do everything according to the dictates of your conscience or do you do things just please yourself or please others?<br /><br />Do you do it because this is how God wants you to act for the good of your neighbour and if you are a married person in a family, whether this or that which you have decided is for the good of your family? But sometimes we get carried away by the excitement of the moment and forget our important duties by our family and friends and seek only what seems to please us at that fleeting moment.<br /><br />Sometimes it can happen that we would have to be ready to defend our friends, even at the cost of our life. Jesus says: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15.13). This is what soldiers do while guarding our county from enemies; this is what any citizen should be able to do against terrorists who threaten the innocent lives of others. <br /><br />Besides these we are at times called to defend the reputation of others. But at times we avert our eyes and do not go the assistance of our neighbour who is in dire need (Cf. The parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10.29-37).<br /><br />At the same time we need to have the humility to accept our faults and failures. When our faults are pointed out, let us be quick to apologize if it were true but keep silent if it does not spoil someone else’s reputation but perhaps only casts aspersions on us. Some day or other the truth will come out and we would be vindicated.</p>
<p>We either confront that person or start a quarrel or call him names in our turn, just to get even and prove ourselves justified in front of others. <br /><br />There are other times we lose our peace of mind and have sleepless nights because so and so has called me this or that and has falsely implicated me in wrong doings which were never in our purview. Instead of losing our cool in such situations, it is much better to say to ourselves this does not fit my image. <br /><br />People can easily see through this and I need not bother. As the saying goes if the cap fits you wear it but why bother if it does not? The accuser will have enough sense to retract what he has said and there would be people who made make him eat his words. <br /><br />So why should you lose your peace my friend. Go about your tasks quietly and let them bark as they will because barking dogs seldom bite. What is important is: do you do everything according to the dictates of your conscience or do you do things just please yourself or please others?<br /><br />Do you do it because this is how God wants you to act for the good of your neighbour and if you are a married person in a family, whether this or that which you have decided is for the good of your family? But sometimes we get carried away by the excitement of the moment and forget our important duties by our family and friends and seek only what seems to please us at that fleeting moment.<br /><br />Sometimes it can happen that we would have to be ready to defend our friends, even at the cost of our life. Jesus says: “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15.13). This is what soldiers do while guarding our county from enemies; this is what any citizen should be able to do against terrorists who threaten the innocent lives of others. <br /><br />Besides these we are at times called to defend the reputation of others. But at times we avert our eyes and do not go the assistance of our neighbour who is in dire need (Cf. The parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10.29-37).<br /><br />At the same time we need to have the humility to accept our faults and failures. When our faults are pointed out, let us be quick to apologize if it were true but keep silent if it does not spoil someone else’s reputation but perhaps only casts aspersions on us. Some day or other the truth will come out and we would be vindicated.</p>
