8# What do you want to be? Diplomatic or Real?

“No legacy is so rich as honesty.”- William Shakespeare

“Always stand on principle … even if you stand alone.” by John Quincy Adams (the 6th US president)

We think, someone is honest, narrow or real while he/she is dealing with the life situations? Is it so? Or Is she/he “practical”, open or diplomatic?

We have always been taught that “honesty is the best policy.” but in real life situation are we able to stand on those principles?

Being honest or real for someone is to be courageous (great quality) and most of the time it is risky (drew back) too. It is risky to the relations, career and life but on other side it is rewarding too.Being honest in the life situations may be bitter as truth however it may reap good rewards if it is taken positively. For example, An academically poor student has been told to get improved in academia may be bitter for a student in the student life timeframe but they will appreciate the importance of good education and learning in the life once they will be benefiting from that education. The major risk is to the “truth speaker”, in above example is teacher or parents, to lose their nice and glossy image in front of those students and sometimes fear of getting hurt their own ego due to the opposition or disobedience. However in longer term the “truth speaker” will be remembered for his/her views as compared to the person without expressing any views or pampering the students.

Being diplomatic may be sweeter than a honey however it may create your impression as “fair weather person” or “person without principle” among general people. Taking the same example if students are pampered regardless of poor academic performance just to keep nice and glossy image of teacher up in front of the students, he/she will be cursed once they will need to use the learning from that academia. Then  the teacher loose his/her lovely  image forever. Only people were remembered in the history who lived  and stood on their principles. Even politicians, who have been too diplomatic, never been remembered by the history.

In Indian epic Mahabharata, while there was a time for Dharma Yuddha -“War between good and evil”, Shri Krishna, godhead personality, himself took the stand on his principles and truth, so he supported the Pandavas – the five brothers who were fighting to regain their kingdom which was denied to return by Duryodhana and his brothers – Evil minded cousins of the Pandavas. On the same time Shri Krishna’s brother Shri Balrama, who was equivalent in the strengths to Shri Krishna, had chosen to be reluctant to participate in the war because he was supporting both of them. Later in the war, he cursed Bhim-the strongest Pandava for killing Duryodhana by not following rules of warfare then Shri Krishna told him politely not to intervene as he had a chance to stand on his views but he avoided to join the war of Mahabharata and he chosen to be good to both parties.

Sardar Patel-First Union Home Minister of India took his stand on uniting over 600 princely state into the one independent India. His bitter views about merging the states into new country and principles were opposed by Nehru and many other politicians otherwise there would be chaos in the region. He is now being appreciated by current generations ,While on the other side initially adored Nehru is being cursed for dividing the one nation in two nations -India and Pakistan. Gandhi is also being blamed for not doing enough to stop this divsion.They never regarded well in the history for this cause.

Being diplomatic is still good for the person where you need to treat each person equally at the work without standing on his/her own views. For example as a professional employee you generally stand on your employer’s view points and values same as politician who stand on his/her party’s principles.

But on the other side you need to understand and justify to yourself and the world how good are your principles overall or is it just your ego?

It is risky , It is scary , There is a possibility of being hurt even though be yourself however it doesn’t mean you hurt others.

What do you want to be diplomatic or real ?