Words of Wisdom

“It is indeed hard for the strong to be just to the weak, but acting justly always has its rewards” – Eamon De Valera (1882 – 1975)

De Valera said this during his 1945 speech he made regarding Ireland’s neutrality in WWII. These specific words were directed towards Winston Churchill of Britain, who despite his dislike of Ireland’s neutrality, did not abuse Britain’s power by forcing Ireland to help British fleets in the port’s of Ireland.

While this statement was strong when directed towards Churchill, it is also great words of wisdom for us to always keep in mind today. The original context of these words were regarding the powerful and the weak countries, but I think we should look at it on a much smaller scale. We can reflect back on these words when dealing with a minority group, or minority individual; or even merely someone that is weaker-willed. It is easy to be unjust to someone or some group that may be considered weaker, but it shows a great deal of character to treat them fairly – especially when you don’t necessarily have to.

If one has a sense of power or strength over someone else, they tend to abuse that power by treating that person with less respect. This can be found in many situations that we all face. One example is the work force: Assume John has been with Company X for 5 years, and Tim has only been there for a year. John may show some sort of arrogance towards or around Tim…. Keep in mind this is not necessarily out of cruelty, but out of habit or simply human nature. I interpret the difficulty for the strong to be just to the weak as having to be human nature – because other wise it wouldn’t be hard.

As I said, we should all remember these words of wisdom given to us by De Valera, because no matter if you play the role of the weak or the strong, it is a good message: the strong to have awareness and to be humbled once and awhile; the weak to remember that it isn’t always personal, but a flaw in human nature.