Poet and prose writer Sergei Gandlevsky about (innate) nobility and responsibility … for oneself.
“Following this commandment is not at all easy: it requires either innate nobility or vigilance. Let’s take the most common case. The boss was rude to N, and he, swallowing the insult, returns home, where he takes out his annoyance on the impudent teenage son. But if the subordinate had plucked up courage and urged the authorities to observe decency (“hit up”), N’s pride would not have suffered, and the pleasant consciousness that he had not blundered would have allowed him to turn the quarrel with his son into a joke (not “hit down” ). As a result, all the participants in the “little tragedy” would have benefited. The chief, perhaps, would beware of being rude in the future. The son would appreciate the father’s generosity. N would have fallen asleep with the sleep of the righteous, and not gnashed his teeth all night long, calling himself «insignificance.» So I think. But «it is easy to think — it is difficult to be,» as another thinker, Friedrich Nietzsche, has already said.
* Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936), English writer and Christian thinker.