This is an oft repeated maxim which gets its accolades in theory but disdain in practice. In a way, even the nature doesn’t support this view. How? A man has two eyes and two ears. The eyes have lids on them but the ears have no flaps. An action gets seen only with eyes open but there is no way to close one’s ears organically. You can close your eyes to action but not your ears to words.

Words precede action. And in just about a majority of situations, things never reach the pass where an action is required. Mostly, it is a world of words only in which the modern day man spends his time. Knowing how to speak is akin to the art of converting precious metals into ornaments but what to say, is the precious metal itself.

There is an ancient Eastern parable which goes on like this:

There was a Kingdom in ancient India with a King and his subjects. Once the Chief Astrologer of the Kingdom announced in the King’s court that the next week beginning would see the doomsday. The King for the most obvious reasons was the most worried man to hear the news. After all, he was the one with the most to lose. He invited the Chief Astrologer in his personal chamber and asked him point-blank ‘Will I die too?’. ‘Yes, my lord’ was the succinct but fatal answer of the old wise man. The King immediately got angry with the reply and summoned the guards with a clap, and thundered ‘I will die next week but you shall die today’. The guards stepped forward, arrested the Chief Astrologer and took him away to carry the order.

The King was still very worried after the prophecy of the Chief Astrologer. To take a second opinion, he called his Chief Minister. He asked the same question ‘Will I die on the doomsday?’ The Chief Minister was a seasoned politician. He replied ‘O, my King. Nothing is going to happen to you till the last person in your Kingdom was alive.’ The King was very pleased with the answer and he made the Chief Minister take his position as a King for the day.

Scoreven because Life at the receiving end of the stick is no fun