Flowers for the Women Wearing Veils - Volume I — Page 184
! ! 184 and solemnly reply that they did not use harsh words at all. This is the result of childhood habit s, and al though they may be aware of the immorality of these habits, they cannot help themselves. Haz rat Khalifa t - ul - Masih I ra related , “Once I was informed that a person had the habit of cursing. One day , I advised him in private that I had heard he was in the habit of using bad language. I said that he should refrain from this, because it damages one’s own morals, and hurts others. Upo n hearing this , he spontaneously uttered an extremely foul expletive and asked, ‘Who says I utter obscenities ?’ At that point , I understood that this person wa s helpless , and he unintentionally used foul language for it was not his intention to swear , but he did so inadvertently. He was wholly unaware that he had just uttered an expletive. ” Thus, when someone acquires a bad habit , he does not believe it to be immoral and e ven if he understands it to be immoral, he does no t recognize himself to be partaking in the act. Even when these people are counseled, they refuse to acknowledge that they have acted in such a way. I have experienced this on many occasions because I deal with people every day. I have seen many people who find faults in others, all the while saying, “We are not in the h abit of picking out flaws , but this is a fact. ” In all probability , if they discuss other people’s faults a thousand times a day , each time they will insist that they are not in the habit of finding faults. Although, half of their conversation consists of picking out flaws in others, and yet they remain unaware of their habit. If they had been reprimanded during childhood, they would have not fallen into such a stat e. Thus, childhood is the best time to learn outstanding moral values. The best way for people to advance their moral values and good conduct is to reform themselves, but in p articular , reform their children and watch over their moral character. A child can easily and quickly learn good morals during childhood. I f he is not watched closely and his morals are corrupted, the result is d angerous because other children’s morals may also be corrupted. Adults can see a vice as immoral , which is why they strive to avoid it, but as children tend to copy others , they will mimic other people’s actions. If a boy is in the habit of lying, using foul language , or stealing , those in his acquaintance will attempt to imitate him. Consequently , they will