DO NOT BE AFRAID OF CRITICISM (contd)

Whenever you are criticised you will do well to follow the strategy which Lincoln adopted towards his critics. During the American Civil War, Lincoln was severely criticised. But he did not lose his nerve and start hurling counter jibes at his critics. Instead, he displayed tremendous tranquillity of mind. The only reply he gave to his critics was this: “If I were to try to read, much less to answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know … the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won’t matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing

I was right would make no difference.”

Lincoln, as we know, is hailed as a saviour of America. His critics had to reconcile themselves to his great achievement. They got convinced that their clamour could not obscure the worth of his greatness. You should not let your critics have the upper hand and block your way to progress. Sheila kept her critics at bay by turning a deaf ear to them. When she was preparing herself for the IAS examination, many persons of her locality started poking fun at her. Did she feel embarrassed? Not the least. In fact, she showed as if the critics did not seem to exist for her. Finally, she was selected as an IAS officer. Her distinctive achievement served as a rebuff to her critics. Some of them became her articulate admirers even.

Criticism is often a disguised compliment to one’s ability. Talented persons always do something out of the ordinary. Their activities sometimes rudely jolt the ignorance of other people or are an assault on the social evils. The conformists look upon their activities as a sacrilege. They show their resentment by releasing a barrage of criticism against them. Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar is now hailed as a great social reformer. But when he assailed the Hindu custom which prohibited widows to remarry, he was severely denounced. Gandhiji had to encounter tremendous hostility in his campaign against untouchability. Both these leaders displayed great courage in the face of monstrous opposition.