It is important that children learn and practice simplicity, compassion and love while in a classroom. These are important characteristics that every child should learn as they form the underlying principles of developing leadership. Most of us think that simplicity, humbleness, truthfulness and love are already in us. But how much is it in us? When do we deviate from those characteristics? Do we know how to use them in our daily life?
Truth, simplicity, compassion and love form the underlying principles of developing leadership. There are two kinds of leaders. One is a popular leader and the second is a police leader. I have come across confused leaders also who are not popular. They want to be a popular leader by virtue of their position.
By virtue of various positions people have to listen to their bosses. ‘I will give orders to you, you have to obey.’ ‘I will direct you, you have to follow me.’ What do you think will happen?
When you direct, do you think others will do as instructed? When you order do you think others are going to follow? Do you think all those people who work under you is going to imbibe it into their minds and do what you want to be done? I don’t think so. They may do it mechanically.
What do you mean by doing things mechanically? People tend to work mechanically when they do not put their heart into the issues they are dealing with. They do their work because you asked them to do it and they have to oblige by virtue of their job profiles and job roles. And what happens at the end of the day? Will you be a winner? Partially because they did not do things the way you wanted.
The journey of achievement is a pleasure only when the people who work with you put their heart into their job. Their happiness, their working happiness, and the delivery happiness happens only when their hearts merge into one purpose. Therefore, by giving orders or directions, they will work but there are huge limitations to it.
How can you make people work with you? Let us consider Mahatma Gandhi’s role in the liberation of India, for instance. There was nothing to empower him. He was put in various positions in the Congress but never did those positions help Mahatma Gandhi to unify people who spoke different languages and followed different cultures. What helped Mahatma Gandhi to bring people of India together was truth and non-violence.
Perhaps, the biggest weapon a person can have in life is non-violence. And what is non-violence? We call it ahimsa. And what is ahimsa? In the simplest form, it is not to give pain physically or mentally. To give physical pain, you need power. What about mental pain? Have you ever thought in a day how many times you give mental pain to others and why it happens? Have you ever thought why it happens?
Compassion and non-violence are very close to each other. But what is the fundamental of compassion? What’s the fundamental of non-violence? What is the fundamental to unconditional love?
The fundamentals of compassion, the fundamentals of kindness, the fundamentals of love, and the fundamentals of non-violence is dependency on truth.
You don’t have to think too much to use these policies and principles in life. All that you have to know in life is just step into the shoes of the other person. Imagine you are that person. Think from his perspective. A new world opens up for you. Oh, this is not what I thought. How hard is his life? How time-bound is his life? How fearful is his life? The two hearts unite through simplicity, through humbleness, through compassion, through non-violence, and through reliance to the truth. If this is the way of dealing and working with people the world would become a heaven – a happy place to live in. This is a big challenge but we have to do it.
We have to come out of the shoes of army and policemen who order and give directions and think about people. If do so, then everyone would be happy to work with you.
What kills the happiness? Nothing but ego! If individual egos were not there, people can understand each other and shoulder responsibilities. If ego did not exist, the world would have been united and all would work hard towards happiness and towards building a new world. Clash of egos should be replaced by simplicity, humbleness, compassion, non-violence, truth of understanding and believing in each other and reliance to truth.
Where should this correction begin? Where did it go wrong? Is it because of friends? Is it because of the community? Is it because of the environment? Is it because of home? Or did it begin in the classroom where the child spends the maximum time. The answer to the question is the classroom.
What happened while learning in the classroom? What happened when a teacher struggles to teach concepts? What happened when the teacher was racing with curriculum and textbooks? Were these vital aspects of futuristic successful living handled? Could the teacher connect it to the values? When a fellow of your classroom could not understand, could you understand his mindset? Could you understand his problem?
This feeling of problem of another person should happen in a classroom. When the teacher teaches a concept, if I can understand but my friend cannot it is because he has different problems. He may be worried or he may be in pain. We need to think: “Did he eat, is he in comfort, is his father and mother in good relationship, what worries him? Why his mind is not working like mine? Is it because he is stupid?” No, certainly not. Nobody is stupid. Maybe he can understand only through pictures. Out of simplicity, out of humbleness, and out of truthfulness, one should understand his/her problems and help him/her. This is beyond collaborated learning,
If the children in the classroom can understand the mindset of their classmate they would have collaborated, they would have learnt well and they would have learnt the most important thing in life which is understanding each other’s mindsets. If this happens the world will be different and a happy place to live in.
