A fox was being
chased by huntsmen and begged a wood-cutter who he saw to hide him. The man
told him to go into his hut. Soon afterwards the huntsmen arrived and asked if
he had seen a fox pass that way. He answered ‘No’ – but as he spoke he jerked a
thumb towards the place where the fox was hidden. However they believed his
statement and did not take the hint. When the fox saw they had gone he came out
and made off without speaking. The woodman reproached him for not even saying a
word of acknowledgment for his deliverance. ‘I would have thanked you,’ the fox
called back, ‘if your actions and your character agreed with your words.’- (Fables of Aesop)
Every culture
detests incongruence of words with actions. All civilized cultures, with
passion, dislike what the worldly politicians would call ‘diplomacy’ but what
the moralists would refer to as 'hypocrisy'. Even the animal kingdom gives thumbs-down
for a life given to disparity between words and actions as it appears in our
opening lore. Nature as a whole does not conform to it either. It subjects its
proponents to ridicule, embarrassment and disgrace. It causes rift at homes;
breeds bad blood in the society, fans ember of disharmony and disaffection at
both national and international level, and above all, God the Exalted loathes
it because it is the way of the hypocrites.
Ká sọ̀rọ̀ ká ba á bẹ́ẹ̀ niyì ọmọnìyàn. (Yorùbá Proverb)
It is
honourable for a man to always stand by his words.
No comments:
Post a Comment