Saturday, November 20, 2010

Who is checking out your gold? Goldsmith or blacksmith?

If you take a block of gold to a blacksmith and ask him to check it out for quality, what will he do? He will shrug his shoulders and will tell you that you have come to the wrong person.


You may have the best of the best gold with you. But, if you do not find a right goldsmith, it is not going to get a fair value or even fair interest and evaluation.


I was reading some book. The author gave this as an illustration to deal with 'perceived' slights and injustice. 'Perceived' is the key word here. Because, if you take gold to blacksmith and if he nonchalantly says he does not know about gold or does not see you quickly enough or does not treat you with all fan fare, it was not his mistake. It is your mistake to have taken your gold to the wrong person. So, any following feelings of disappointment etc. are solely due to your misjudgment. So, do not be angry about the person who could not see gold for what's it worth. He is not qualified.


If this is so simple, then why we feel let down when someone does not evaluate us (i.e. gold) as we should be? People complain that their bosses do not see their worth. People complain that their spouses and kids do not see their worth and so on. So question is - are those whom you seem to be pissed about goldsmiths or blacksmiths? Have you put your heart (or career or life) of gold in the hands of a blacksmith instead of a goldsmith?


Even after you give your gold to goldsmith. Be patient. It's the very nature of gold smithy that it takes long time to do anything. Even simple things like checking out the purity of gold takes good amount fine work. So, even after seeing a goldsmith, give him enough time to check out your gold and give you back his evaluation. It will be worth the wait when he gives you an excellent feedback about your gold. It will be even better when he offer a great value for your gold. This all will take time.


In life, it's the same. We are all gold but we do not always get to meet right goldsmiths who can value us fairly and treat us fairly. Sooner we realize it and take back our gold carefully from the hands of blacksmiths, better we will be. This means if you work for a poor boss, he is like a blacksmith who is not able to appreciate a golden employee. Get out of it if you care about gold (i.e. yourself and your career). Same thing in other relationships too.


Once you find a good goldsmith, give them time to evaluate your gold and treat you fairly. As said before, anything with gold smithy takes tremendous amount of time due to all the fine work involved. So, be patient. If you are convinced the your counterpart in any relationship is a genuine and qualified goldsmith, entrust your gold (career, heart, life) in their able hands and pray for the best. Things will work out.


This metaphor applies to you as well from the standpoint of you being the goldsmith. As a human being, as your gold is being evaluated by all sorts of people for all sorts of purposes from employment to relationships, you are also evaluating gold of other people for similar reasons. For some people you will come across as goldsmith and for some others you are going to surely come across as a blacksmith.  That's fine. Just do not try to be what you are not.


In Hindi, there are a couple of great sayings to illustrate the differences between blacksmiths and gold smiths.


"Sonar ka sau maar aur lohaar ka ek maar." - This means that it takes hundreds of delicate and intricate strokes of artwork it will take a goldsmith to craft a beautiful jewel. But, it will take just one hit of heavy hammer from blacksmith to destroy that fine piece of jewelry.


"Zhaveri hee jane khare sone ka kimat. Lohaar nahin." - Only the best jeweler knows the value of pure gold. Not the blacksmith.


Cheers to being a golden person and finding the right goldsmith who appreciates your gold.



Powered by Qumana


No comments: