The Thin Line Between Ego and Self-Respect

Mohan was a studious and promising student. The whole school knew that he had a bright future and he also tried very hard for it. But Mohan was very naughty. Many teachers liked Mohan because of his studies, but there were some teachers who disliked him because of his naughtiness. Among them was the school principal Baghel who did not like Mohan. There is a story behind this too. What happened was that Principal Baghel had been transferred to this school as the new principal. His two hobbies were famous in the entire school. First was eating paan (can also refer to a smokeless tobacco mixture that's wrapped in a betel leaf and chewed. This mixture is also known as "betel quid" or "gutkha" and often contains betel nut, herbs, spices, and tobacco. It's a popular after-dinner treat in India.) and second was applying a lot of perfume or say spraying it on himself because as soon as the principal was on rounds, the children would smell the fragrance of his perfume and find out where the principal was right now. So once the principal saw Mohan running away from the school but he couldn't catch him because there was an iron mesh wall between the principal and Mohan. Mohan got scared when the principal saw him. The principal looked at Mohan with angry eyes and asked him to come inside but Mohan was an equally naughty boy and on the pretext of coming inside he hid behind the wall. When the principal also went towards the wall, Mohan took advantage of that and succeeded in running away from the school. After this incident, Mohan comes into the notice of the principal but who can control so many children, Mohan remained safe for many days but one day because of the free period, the children were making noise, so the fellow class teacher punished the whole class by making them raise their hands on the ground, just then the principal came out on rounds and saw the whole class standing on the ground with their hands raised, the principal also reached the same place where the principal recognizes Mohan and all the children are asked to go to the class, but the principal stops Mohan right there and Mohan was beaten badly and was made to stand like a rooster, Mohan remained like this for about 1 hour, he suffered a lot but he had committed a mistake, he had to be punished. After getting punished for his mistake, Mohan thought that it was all over now, but it was a misconception. During the punishment, Mohan did not let the principal feel his pain as if he was enjoying the punishment. This must have been the reason that the principal took Mohan's mistake as a sign of arrogance. This led to Mohan being demotivated, he was removed from many competitions and Mohan was humiliated on one pretext or the other. The teachers who hated Mohan were now emboldened. Due to which, no matter how much Mohan tried to be good, the teachers ignored his efforts and on the contrary, Mohan started getting punished for every little thing. But even then Mohan came 2nd in the 9th class, which naturally annoyed the teachers who hated Mohan. Now Mohan was being targeted even more. Due to which the teachers' group was divided into two groups, but who would speak in front of the principal, how long could Mohan tolerate this? Finally, being fed up, he and his friends planned to puncture the principal's car, but someone punctured both the tires of the car before that and when a search was conducted, Mohan's name came up and he was brought in front of the principal. Many teachers tried to convince the principal that Mohan is a promising student, his career will be ruined, he has board exams, let him take them, but the principal did not listen. By then a teacher caught the real guilty student, when the whole truth was known, our guilty child was also expelled from the school and the same condition was put before him too and that student bowed down but still Mohan did not agree and why should he agree, it was not his fault. So Mohan was asked to bring his father the next day and it was decided that the TC will be given in his hand. One's ego is so big that he can ruin a child's career in the intoxication of ego. And Mohan was expelled from school that day without any fault and hence he was not able to study further and even today he does small jobs and feeds his family. Now you have to decide who is right among the two. That Principal Baghel or Mohan who did not go to get the TC the next day and never took it, because that day he had heard the Principal talking that let Mohan's father come once, he will make Mohan's father apologize in front of Mohan and will humiliate Mohan. Do you think Mohan should have given in for a better future? About a year ago I met Mohan who works as a supervisor in a factory and runs his household with the money he earns with self-respect. Of course, even today he lives in a rented house and suppresses many high aspirations before they are born in his heart, but even today Mohan has no regrets about that day. The decision taken that day was, is and will remain the right decision in Mohan's eyes.

But from my point of view, who benefits when someone's self-respect gets hurt due to someone's ego? After all, there is a thin line between the two which starts to blur as one goes on and who knows when self-respect takes the form of ego and when ego will call it self-respect.