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One of my colleagues has just retired.
For a long time I had a very sour relationship with him.
For I felt, he stole my work,
and ate the fruits of my labour,
driving me away from my legitimate position in office,
by maligning, politicking, et al.
I was always under the impression
wrong doers are punished
and I shall be vindicated one day.
But nothing of that sort happened in office
in the few decades I worked in office.
When your bosses do not care,
you are helpless.
There were certainly lacunae on my part
or people were too selfish.
People are not motivated
by oohs and aahs
unless they go through the same sufferings.
So, I made up with this colleague of mine
telling myself,
he was grinding his own axe,
used unfair means too,
but if I could not protect myself,
it was my fault too,
my lack of knowledge of people
and worldly affairs.
I paid for my lack of knowledge.
People who were with him
during the days of my wretched helplessness
kicked him when my colleague's time for retirement was imminent.
And I who was wronged
found myself beside him
during this trying time of his.
This colleague in his last few weeks
queerly tried to emphasize
that he has always stood principles!
So in his farewell lecture
when I had to speak for my friendless colleague,
in fact he requested me,
I said, my colleague always said,
he always stood for principles,
whereas I thought I always stood for principles,
I learnt this lesson of my life:
Two persons can claim
that both stand for principles,
but principles of the two can be different!
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