OLD IS GOLD

             In our craze for new-fangled ideals and fashions, we should not discard what is old and time-tested. Our traditional values and customs are a precious heritage as they have been passed from generation to generation. We must treasure them and keep them alive. We should try to stick to them without considering them outdated or obsolete because they have survived for centuries. At the same time, we should be able to distinguish them from superstitions and blind beliefs that have outlived their utility and hinder our progress and development. Once we are able to this, we shall discover that old is really gold. It will become the guiding light of our existence. 

A BIRD IN HAND IS WORTH MORE THAN TWO IN THE BUSH

         We should be satisfied with out lot and keep on making efforts to improve and progress in life. We should not aspire for what others have and feel jealous. We should keep our greed in check because aspiring for things we cannot possibly possess will lead us to misery and dissatisfaction. It is not wise to give up something that we have for an imaginary position. Our running after mirages in real life is like going to the forest for hunting. It is better to safeguard the one bird that we have already captured than leaving it and running after two birds in the bush, for in running after them we may lose the one bird that we have in hand. The same thing is applicable to our life also.

HANDSOME IS THAT HANDSOME DOES

           A person is not liked on admired merely for his looks or handsome appearance. He is known for what he does for the good of society and mankind. Abraham Lincoln was not very good-looking; Napoleon was short-statured; and Mahatma Gandhi was an ordinary-looking person. Yet they are all remembered, not for their handsome or striking appearance but for their deeds and actions. Looks and glamor are short-lived, but man’s actions live long after him and make him famous. We should not, therefore, be impressed by a person’s outward appearance but by his qualities of the head and the heart. We must always keep in mind that handsome is that handsome does.

A BAD WORKMAN QUARRELS WITH HIS TOOLS

         If a person thoroughly knows his job, he does not come up with excuses for not doing it well. In short, he does not blame his tools or the work environment. Only those who are ill-prepared or inefficient put forward pretexts for not getting on with the work in hand. They forget their own shortcomings and drawbacks, and they end up by blaming their employers or the nature of work that they are assigned to do. Really knowledgeable and efficient workers go about their jobs with the minimum of fuss. They are meticulous and careful in performing their assigned tasks in the given time because they are not shirkers or ill-equipped for their job. They are serious and they mean business unlike those who keep finding fault with everything around them.

IF YOU WANT PEACE, BE PREPARED FOR WAR

             There is an old story of a prosperous farmer who carried a gun with him wherever he went. When someone asked him why he carried a gun when all his neighbours were peace- loving, he replied that he carried the gun specifically for keeping his neighbours peace-loving. Lack of show of strength is often taken as a sign of weakness. However strong and mighty a country be, others do not take it seriously unless it periodically indulges in a show of its strength and might. If India has made a show of its nuclear and economic power recently, it is to show to the rest of the world that it is not longer militarily weak or economically underdeveloped so as to be ignored in the international arena, and not because it wants to wage a war against the weaker nations. A great votary of peace and international brotherhood, India has demonstrated its strength so that it is not taken lightly or its opinions ignored on the global scene.