The Neighbor’s Children
Rabash
A person may see faults in his neighbor’s children,
but not in his own.
And when someone mentions some faults
in his children,
he immediately resists his friend
and begins to declare his children’s merits.
And the question is, which is the truth?
After all, there are merits to his children,
and hence he is upset
when others speak of his children.
The thing is this,
as I had heard it from my father:
Indeed, each person has advantages
and disadvantages.
And both the neighbor and the father
are saying the truth.
But the neighbor does not treat the other’s children
like a father to his children,
since he does not have the same love
for the children as the father does.
Hence, when he considers
the other’s children,
he sees only the children’s faults,
since this gives him more pleasure.
This is because he can show
that he is more virtuous
than the other
because his own children are better.
For this reason,
he sees only the other’s faults.
What he is seeing is true,
but he sees only things he enjoys.
But the father, too,
sees only the truth,
except that he regards
only the good things that his children have.
He does not see his children’s faults,
since it gives him no pleasure.
Hence, he is saying the truth
about what he sees in his children.
And because he regards
only the things that can please him,
he sees only the virtues.
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