All of us have a right to live in our own way but we should not do something that spoils our or other reputation. A good name is what others think of you. They view and value you depending on your reputation. It is not proper to wish or try to do bad to others.
The following story would show how dificult it is to set rigt an evil, once it has spoiled someone's reputation.
One day a lady came to a holy man and said that she spoke ill of someone and that she was now very sorry for it. She wanted to know, what she could do to retify her mistake.
The holy man listened to her patiently, He then asked here to go to the market and fetch a fowl from there. He insisted that she plucked its feathers and cleaned it before coming back to him.
The lady followed his advice stritly. Very soon she came back to the Saint with a fowl having plucked all its feathers and cleaned up. The holyman now asked her to bring all the plucked feathers which she had thrown away. The lady was surprised to hear his words. She said that it was impossible to gather all the feathers now. The feathers, she argued, must have scattered in all directions.
It is only then that the holy man told her that just as it was impossible to collect the scattered feathers now, in the same way it would be difficult if not impossible to undo a wrong done to someone. Then she realised the seriousness of her mistake and held her head in shame.
We must remember that it is not for us to judge our fellow brothers and sisters. It is only God who can do justice to all of us by judging us properly. Therefore, we should not ourselves spoil good names of others in order to punish them for a deed which we think is wrong. Let us rather leave these judgements on God. In the mean time, let everybody maintain his or her reputation.
