A person’s growth takes place stage by stage. First he understands one mistake of his and corrects it with…

A person’s growth takes place stage by stage. First he understands one mistake of his and corrects it with difficulty; then he discovers a second flaw and strives to get rid of it. Freeing oneself from a fault does not happen quickly: it passes with pain, with struggle, with tears. Sometimes even trying again and again does not yield the expected fruit. It is not for nothing that we are called first an infant, then a child, then a little one, then a teenager, then an adolescent, then a young man, then a grown man, then an old man, an elder. Each stage has its own features: the infant cries and understands nothing; he knows nothing about eating, washing, and so on. The child cannot put on his trousers, asks questions, runs, falls; the little one gapes at everything, asks questions, is curious; the teenager gets carried away, gets angry, gets nervous, tries to deceive, is displeased with everyone; the adolescent trusts himself excessively, regards no one, finds fault with everyone, loves to talk on and on, strives to show himself off, tries to present himself as a good and perfect person; the young man feels his strength, strives to be composed, slowly begins to understand the difficulties of life, tries to think before he speaks, learns to live with responsibility; the grown man settles down, becomes sedate, gives up all sorts of dreams, moves away from rashness, hot-headedness and shortsightedness; the elder, the old man, no longer hurries, thinks of the Hereafter, worries about the future of his family, passes on his experience to the young and spends his strength protecting them from various calamities, and so on. A person’s growth takes place roughly along such steps of a staircase. Many young people present themselves as people who have achieved some result, who are intelligent, who understand everything, who have repented of their sins, who have put their lives in order, whereas it is all artificial makeup, that is, decor. This is proof that they are in a childish mindset, that is, an infantile mentality. It is torment and suffering, more than advice, that makes a person grow. We are compelled to leave to themselves those who do not listen to advice and admonition, who say, “I know best”: in this state of theirs very great suffering awaits them, anguish lies in wait for them. What can be done — if such a stumble, such a hitting of the forehead against the wall, has been written for him, we have no choice but to say, “Bon appétit.” But some young people, through an inner sense and ability, discover that they are no one. Whether he opens a school, becomes the owner of a company, brings goods from abroad and sells them, or defends a PhD, he lives saying, “I am no one.” He finds a guide and bows his head to him; for the teacher keeps advising him, and that advice serves him as a map of the road: now he sees the calamities and disasters, the pits and holes, goes around them, and reaches his hopes and goals unharmed.

Akrom MALIK