From morning till evening, I find hundreds of people indulging in calumny of one another. How quickly do we decide about others! In fact, nothing is more difficult than deciding about others. Perhaps no one, except God, has a right to pass judgement on others, because who else, other than God, possesses the necessary patience to judge a person, a small and very ordinary person?
Do we know each other?
Even those who are very close to each other, do they know each other?
Do not even friends continue to be unknown and strange to each other?
But we claim to understand even the unknown and take decisions so quickly about them !
This haste is extremely ugly. But that person who keeps on thinking about others totally forgets thinking about the self; and such haste is utter ignorance also because with knowledge goes patience.
Life is very mysterious and those who get into the habit of taking hasty decisions without proper thinking fail to know it.
I have heard a story. It relates to the first world war. A commander told his soldiers: "Soldiers, Five of you are required for a very dangerous work. Therefore, those who are prepared to take the risk voluntarily make take two steps out of the line".
He had just finished his talk when a horse rider came and diverted his attention. He had come to deliver a very important message to him. After reading the message, he lifted his eyes towards the soldiers of his unit. Finding their lines intact, he was enraged. His eyes started burning and he cried: "You cowards, impotents; Is there not even one man amongst you all?" He showered many other abuses also. He also held out threats of punishment; and then alone he observed that not only one but all soldiers had come out of the line by two steps!
OSHO
from : The Earthen Lamps
Year published: 1968