One year ago... how my writing was...

Below is an essay that I wrote on January 28, 2009 just over a year ago. Let's see how different my language was.

“Experience is the name that everyone gives to their mistakes”
-
Oscar Wilde (1892)
When your mind and body are at war with each other, when the societies are at crossroads with each other, when nations are living in perpetual hatred for each other, a mind which is honest can bail us out of trouble. When things are done against the wishes of God (or any philosophy that guides the mankind), we know that dishonesty has taken prominence. Actions done cannot be undone and scars rising out of dishonest actions cannot be effaced. The ubiquitous Godliness asks us to be honest
and it is our conscience which chooses either heaven or the forbidden fruit. Honesty leads us to contentment, peace of mind and heaven in the longer run. But man’s ambition may at many times choose dishonest ways to attain glory. That’s why John Milton wrote, “Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven”, in his “Paradise lost”
The world as seen now is restless and destined to scale the heights of doom if dishonesty prevails. Our history teaches us the success of honest men and the destruction of the dishonest ones. Mahatma Gandhi is honesty personified and his life is a testimony to that fact. When death invited him to the annals of history, he was raised to the position of the spiritual father of all Indians, born and unborn. But when Hitler chose to leave this world on his own, people celebrated his travel to the unseen horrors of hell.

Honesty is remunerative. It pays you for your un-tilted conscience and actions. Though I don’t see myself as an honest person, I can recollect incidents from my memory when I was praised for being honest. At the same time, I can also remember those incidents which revealed a darker side of my character and I was pulled up by my elders for being dishonest. This proves that the various circumstances chose my actions. What shall we do to be constant like the North Star? A total disregard for the consequences of being honest and a mind that tells you to follow the truth is
necessary for being honest. Spiritual enlightenment and dissolution from the physical pleasures of life lead you to such a state. Swami Vivekanandan is a glowing example to the above argument. His life was dedicated to the service of God, and through God, the goals of honesty and truthfulness.

I believe that sometimes experiences (or rather your mistakes) will lead you to honesty. A feeling that the misfortunes in life were a reflection of the dishonest ways followed can turn a dishonest and mean rogue to an honest a caring saint. Saint Valkmiki was a transformed man who later spread the truths of life through his epic Ramayana. “All animals are equal. But some animals are more equal than others”, wrote George Orwell in his “Animal Farm”. When one sees all and measures all with the same eyes and scales, then he is an honest man. Honesty is a journey is the
roaring sea of dishonesty. It is rough and difficult. But once you follow it like a sinking star, you will reach a world beyond the horizon, unseen by dishonest men, but you.