Adamancy

A man shares his life learnings with his granddaughter, he starts with the typical example “the strongest trees will break if it fights the wind, it is those which bends, can weather the storm.” Then he asks the girl, what she learns from this, the girl replies “we have to be humble and adaptable, otherwise we get uprooted like a tree.” Grandfather pats the girl’s back. Girl’s father hearing all this gets little perturbed. Again, the grandfather started with the quality of water, he says “a river flows through the various path and eventually cuts the mountain.” “See how important is the adaptability” adds the grandfather. Before the young girl’s mind could process this, his father interrupts “This doesn’t happen in a single lifetime, daughter.”
Sensing his son’s aggression, grandfather says “my Son! Why do you think these teachings are passed down from generations.” Father replies “because the society wants to cherish heroes and for that, it needs to make other humans lesser beings.” “I am not saying that adaptability and humility are the characteristics of a spineless human, they are also important” he adds. Grandfather again asks “Do you think, she should be adamant then.” “for all the right things, Yes!” the father replies. “I believe, instead of just saying, don’t be adamant, we should teach her what is right and what is wrong, so she can decide when to take a stand and when should she let go.”
“But daddy, schools also teach what Granddad is teaching, why is that no one teaches what you are saying” the girl asks innocently. Fathers smile at it and explain “Once there was a great philosopher, Socrates, he said the logic shall dictate the actions and not the gospels, he is most regarded of all ancient philosophers now, but then he was poisoned to death. Society has never accepted the ideas different than its own, and hence they never changed the teachings, even if society itself has changed multitudes.” Father says that there are many other examples of societies intolerance, he mentions “the Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake for believing that the Universe was infinite and that other solar systems existed.” He then tells his daughter about how Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and Thomas Edison were categorized as dyslexics or simply mentally retarded since they were not according to the societal norms. But they will be remembered for centuries to come.
Daughter confirms that she can be adamant on her stand, if she believes she is right. Father proudly replies in affirmation. Father feels guilty for interrupting his own father, but he knows that, if he hasn’t spoken today he would have felt forever, the guilt of not teaching his daughter the right thing.