Excellence

A gentleman was once visiting a temple under construction. In the temple premises, he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he saw, just a few meters away, another identical idol was lying. Surprised he asked the sculptor,” do you need two statutes of the same idol?” Said the sculptor, “we need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage.” The gentleman examined the sculpture. No apparent damage was visible. “Where is the damage?” asked the gentleman.“There is a scratch on the nose of the idol,” replied the Sculptor.

“Where are you going to keep the idol?” asked the gentleman. The sculptor replied that it will be installed on a pillar 20 feet high. “When the idol will be 20 feet away from the eyes of the beholder, who is going to know that there is scratch on the nose?,” the gentleman asked. The sculptor looked at the gentleman, smiled and said “The God knows it and I know it!!!”

The desire to excel should be exclusive of the fact whether someone appreciates it or not. Aristotle rightly said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” It was in the mind of the sculptor to thrive for perfection.