Mahatma Gandhi
A woman worried about her son’s eating habits approached Gandhi, “My son eats too much sugar. It is not good for his health. Please can you advise him to cut it down?”
Gandhi listened to the woman carefully, thought for a while and replied, “Please come back after two weeks. I will talk to your son.”
The woman looked perplexed and wondered why he did not ask the boy right away to stop eating sugar. She took the boy by his hand and went home.
Two weeks later they revisited Gandhi. He looked directly at the boy and said, “Boy, you should stop eating sugar. It is not good for your health. I know that it is difficult to give up sugar, but it can be done.”
Gandhi’s words had an immediate impact on the boy. He promised he would not continue this habit any longer.
The boy’s mother was thankful. But she could not stop herself, so she turned to Gandhi and asked, “Why didn’t you tell him this two weeks ago?”
Gandhi smiled,“Two weeks ago I was eating a lot of sugar myself!”
Mahatma Gandhi was not a great orator yet his words were so effective that millions followed him. The main reason for this was that he spoke with utter honesty. For him honesty was not just about well-meaning words but also about action. If we want to be effective we must also follow Gandhi’s lead and make sure that our actions back our words.
Credits: This story has been adopted from the story found here.