The good, the bad, and the ugly…
There are only two kinds of people in the world: those who make you
feel good about yourself – and those who don’t.The ones who make you feel good about yourself are the ones in whose company you begin to feel enhanced, understood, connected. Somehow, on leaving their
presence, you come away congratulating yourself on how bright you really are. If you are lost and confused, you think you have a solution to your issues. And, if you have been feeling lonely, then their company makes you feel less alone.All the greatest men of our time belong to this category. And it takes one to recognize another. At the conferring of a Wharton honour on the late Dhirubhai Ambani, many people spoke of the industrialist’s impressive qualities. But the speech that made the most impression on the audience that day was Amitabh Bachchan’s. “Mr Ambani has a
quality that makes you forget your problems in his company. He gives you strength. I remember during some of my darkest days, I spent half an hour with him, and came away feeling stronger. How great that qualitiy is in a man whose mere presence can impart hope in someone else”, he said.Religious leaders have this quality in abundance. I have seen men of learning and degrees – scientists, doctors, academicians and the like – falling at the feet of gurus and hanging on to their every word for that fleeting sense of security that these spiritual leaders can bestow on their devotes. The presence of a superior being can transform a person wracked with headaches, physical ailments and worries – along with the climate and the very atoms around him – in to positive energy.And then there are those who do just the opposite.Have you ever been in the presence of somebody, who even while they are complimenting you –telling you how wonderful you are, how much they love you – makes you feel uneasy, hopeless and insecure? It is as if on some level some part of you is uncomfortable because it senses danger, knows it is in the presence of negativity picks up the bad vibes.These are the people in whose presence you feel reduced, belittled, and lesser than you are. They’re the nit-pickers, the nay-sayers, the ones who build themselves up by putting others down.Petty people themselves, the milk of human kindness seems to have curdled in their chests, and they bring to anything they do or touch an air of hopelessness, anxiety and threat.Two kinds of people in the world: the ones who make you fly – and the others who cut your wings to try and trip you up.Which kind you are?