It is very difficult to notice our faults and mistakes. So we should imagine that other people’s faults and mistakes are a mirror image of our own.
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There is a proverb by which I try to live my life: “By other’s faults, wise men correct their own.”
This proverb, like all other proverbs, is a short, well-known statement that contains advice about life. “By other’s faults, wise men correct their own.” Like me, many of you have probably heard this saying many times before in Japanese: “人の振り見て我が振り直せ”.
Tonight, I’d like to take a closer look at this important proverb.
Yes, many of us have heard this before, but did we ever stop to think about what it really means?
I think it means that it’s easy for us to find other people’s faults and mistakes. And it’s easy for us to point these out. But it is very, very difficult to notice our faults and mistakes. So we should imagine that other people’s faults and mistakes are a mirror image of our own. If we do this, we will become aware of the same faults and mistakes within ourselves. And then we will be able to correct them within ourselves.
Now it’s easy to see that if we apply this proverb to our own daily lives, we will learn a lot of valuable lessons from other people!
Well, how did I first hear about this proverb? My mother taught it to me when I was a first-year elementary school student. In the beginning, my mother’s proverb had zero impact on me. Of course, I was just a little girl then, so I didn’t understand what it meant.
But my mother didn’t give up. She told me this proverb again and again, almost every day. “Hiroko-chan” my mother would say, “by other’s faults, wise men correct their own.”
I would just say, “OK, mom. I’ll try.” We had the same conversation many, many times.
Well, many years later, after I started working, this proverb finally became meaningful for me!
One day at work I was really hurt by something unkind that one of my co-workers said to me. I felt confused. But suddenly, I remembered what my mother told me when I was a little girl: “By other’s faults, wise men correct their own.”
“OK, mom! I’ll try!”
Yes, my co-worker had said something unkind that hurt me. But, if I just pointed that out to him, nothing else would change. So, I decided that I would imagine his mistake was my own.
I thought about it. Yes, I sometimes made the same mistake! I sometimes said unkind things, but I didn’t know it. I could see his mistake in myself. Then, I became aware that I should always be careful about my language with others.
I wasn’t a little girl who didn’t understand anymore. I was a woman who was using the proverb that my mom taught me! I finally understood!
After that experience, I decided to keep this proverb in mind every day, so that I would constantly improve myself.
This February, I became a student here at Mayflower. I would like to speak English fluently, and enjoy global communication. And yes, every day I am here studying at Mayflower I will keep in mind these words to live by:
“By other’s faults, wise men correct their own.”
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Mayflower英語教室
週末は英語漬け!
http://msoe.jp/
