UNIT - IV

UNIT – IV

SKILLS ANNEXE

4. HUMAN VALUES AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

SUMMARY

                              ‘India’s Contribution to World Unity’ is a short extract from a lecture by the well known British historian Arnold J.Toynbee on the human values that he finds characteristic of the Indian people. The historian writes that these values could very well be of great relevance to the rest of the world.

                               Toynbee says that Indians have a characteristic attitude towards life and towards the handling of human affairs.

                               Indians are free from rancour and do not hate their adversaries. Toynbee quotes the example of India’s struggle for freedom. Once the struggle came to an end, the Indians did not brood over the past and didn’t nurse any grievances against the Britishers. He also points out that he was delivering this lecture at a commemoration held in the memory of an Indian of Muslim religion. And Muslims also invaded India before the Britishers.

TOYNBEE’S VIEWS ON GANDHI

                                 Toynbee recollects his last visit to Delhi when he paid his respects to Gandhiji at his shrine. Standing here, he wonders whether there has ever been any leader like Gandhi, who is a successful struggle for political liberation, has been a benefactor not only to his nation but also to the nation from whose rule he helped his own people to free themselves. Gandhiji made it impossible for the Britishers to continue ruling India and he did it in such a way that the British withdraw without any disgrace.

                                     Toynbee praises Gandhiji because in his struggle for liberation, he not only helped the Indians but also saved the Britishers. If only the struggle had taken a violent form, neither of the nations would be happy. Several such struggles remained as common tragedies of history. Gandhiji saved Britain as well as India from such a tragedy by inspiring the people of India to carry out their struggle on a spiritual plane.

  TOYNBEE’S VIEWS ON NON-VOILENCE

                                    According to Toynbee, Non-violent revolution is a characteristic Indian accomplishment. After the successful independence struggle, non- violence has found a new field of action in India’s domestic life. Here Toynbee gives reference to the Bhoodan movement. He also refers to Emperor Ashoka who substituted religious propaganda for military aggression as an instrument for unifying the world. 

                                        Speaking on the importance of non-violence, Toynbee recalls the year 1945 when atom bombs were dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki. He says that in this atomic age, mankind cannot save itself from self-destruction unless we all practice non-violence ignoring all provocations.

                                          Toynbee points out the hostile relation between India and China. He says that the Indians should remember that it their obligation to go on setting an example of non-violence to the rest of the world. Hence a great spiritual responsibility rests on India to guide mankind towards self-preservation and not self- destruction. 

                                              The spirit of non-violence is inspired by a moral ideal. The moral ideal is bound with the intellectual belief that human beings have more than one approach to truth and to salvation. While ‘truth’ is a glimpse of absolute Spiritual Reality, ‘salvation’ is attaining harmony with Reality. This broad-minded approach to Reality is a characteristic of India. A devout Shaiva or a devout Vaishnava may claim that his own way is better than the others. Yet they recognize that both are seeking the same truth and salvation in their own ways and both ways are genuine. This Indian appreciation of variety is a good ideal for the rest of the world. 

                                               Toynbee reminds us that we are living in an age of technology where we are physically neighbours but psychologically strangers. If we need to avoid mutual destruction and to create good relationships, we should value the variety of our human heritage. This is the reason why India’s achievement of variety –in-unity is of worldwide importance.

                                            Lastly Toynbee points out that Gandhiji, in spite of his very busy schedule, always made some time for contemplation. This is also characteristic of the Indian tradition. He says that today’s Indians irrespective of their urgent tasks, should take Gandhiji as an example and should not allow these tasks to disturb one’s spiritual life.

                                                   Toynbee concludes that the unfortunately the Western people did not recognize and practice this virtue of contemplation as in the Western Middle Ages. They have almost lost this art of contemplation which is nothing but the art of living. The spiritual gift that makes man human is still alive in the Indian soul. The Indians should go on setting examples of it and save mankind from self destruction.   

Q) HUMAN VALUES CHACTERISTIC OF INDIAN PEOPLE( main points)

1. freedom from rancour (hatred and anger towards adversaries)

2. do not brood over the past

3. do not nurse any grievances

4. spirit of non-voilence

5. belief in more than one approach to truth and salvation

6. appreciation of variety, achieving variety-in-unity

7. always making some time for contemplation

Q) Write a paragraph on “Human Values” . (EXTERNAL EXAM - JUNE 2014)

EPITOME OF WISDOM

4. THE LAST LEAF - O. HENRY

“The Last Leaf” is a short, amusing story by O. Henry . O. Henry’s actual name is William Sydney Porter. He is famous for his unforgettable short stories. O. Henry’s stories are well known for their wit, wordplay and unexpected ending.

SUMMARY

          

              Johnsy and Sue are artists who move into Greenwich Village and start a studio on top of a three storeyed building. All the tenants in their colony  are young authors and artists drawing or writing for magazines. All the artists hope to paint a masterpiece some day. As winter approaches, the weather gets colder and Johnsy falls ill with Pneumonia. She is nursed by her roommate Sue. The doctor visiting her tells Sue that Johnsy would recover if only she had the will to survive.

            

            The sick girl lies in her bed staring out of the window. On a rainy November day, while staring out of the window, she observes the leaves falling from a vine on the opposite building wall. She develops a strong belief that she will die when the last leaf falls.

           

           Sue is panicked and does her best to cheer up Johnsy but the sick girl refuses to improve. In vain, Sue visits an old drunken artist Behrman living downstairs. She tells him that Johnsy needs a reason to live. But the old man scoffs at this suggestion.

           

           The next morning Johnsy observes that there is still a last leaf on the vine in spite of the night’s heavy rain. Johnsy realizes that her thoughts were wrong and she changes her mind. Soon she starts recovering. The doctor assures her that now there are better chances of her survival. He also tells them that the old man downstairs is stricken with Pneumonia and has no chance of survival.

           

            Sue tells Johnsy that after the night’s heavy rain, the janitor found Berhman lying sick, wet and cold. Outside, near the wall, there was a lantern, a ladder and his palette of paints at the place where he had painted a single leaf on the wall – a leaf that will never fall. Cold and wet from painting in the icy rain, he catches pneumonia and dies. It was this last leaf which gave the girl the will to survive.

            The story points out the power of the will to survive. It ends in the surprise ending with the old man’s ultimate sacrifice for the girl. It also points out that a ‘masterpiece’ is not just something which makes one famous. Anything which has its good effect even on a few people is also considered a masterpiece.

Q) How did Sue and Joanna become friends?

Ans.  Sue and Jonsy met each other at the table d’hote of an English Street Delmonico’s.

One of them was from Maine and the other was from California. They found that their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves were congenial. So they became friends and started a studio. The two girls shared an affectionate bonding between them.

Q) Describe Greenwich village?

Ans. Greenwich village lies in a little district to the West of Washington Square. The streets here were crazy at broke themselves at strange angles and curves into small strips called ‘places’.

                                Some artists came here looking for the houses with north windows, eighteenth century gables, Dutch attics and low rents. They imported some pewter mugs and chafing dishes from Sixth Avenue and settled down here as a colony.

Q) Who was Behrman?

Ans.  Bherman was an old painter who lived on the ground floor of the building where Sue and Johnsy lived. He was past sixty with a beard like that of Michael Angelo’s Moses. He was a failure in art. He never painted anything worthwhile except for some ads. He earned a little by serving as a model for the young artists in the colony. He drank gin to the excess. He was fierce and scoffed at softness in any one. He always dreamed of painting a masterpiece but never attempted to accomplish it. There was a blank canvas on an easel in his room for the past twenty five years waiting to receive the first line of his masterpiece. He regarded himself as a mastiff in waiting to protect the two girls in the studio.

               

Ultimately he sacrifices his life for saving Johnsy and paints ‘the last leaf’ which is indeed his masterpiece.