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man of dignity does not want respectability. He has his own dignity. He respects himself; he does not need anybody else's respect. He will say whatever is true, and he will say it as clearly as possible. Even if it hurts, he is not going to dilute it. All surgery hurts, and if a cancer has to be removed the surgeon cannot go on supporting the idea you that you don't have any cancer.
I had a relative.... His wife came to me one day, crying, and she said, "You have to do something. My husband will listen to nobody. He is not willing to call the doctor and let him examine him. And everybody in the house, in the neighborhood, feels that he is continuously becoming weaker, looks pale; there is something wrong. But he says, `I'm perfectly healthy. Who says that there is something wrong? Why should I call a doctor?'"
I had to go to his house. I told him, "You are absolutely right. You are at the prime of your health. Who says you are sick?"
He smiled and he said to his family, "Look. And you are all harassing me, saying that I should go to a doctor, or I should call a doctor."
I said, "There is no need for any doctor; you are perfectly healthy. But just to convince all these people, you come with me to the doctor."
He could not deny me, because I was his only supporter. So he went with me to the best doctor. On the way he said, "Is it really necessary to go? Can't we just return, from half way there? You will have to lie -- that is true."
I said, "I cannot lie. I did not lie before those people, I told the truth. They were all saying that you are becoming sicker every day, and every day you are becoming weaker; and I see that you are becoming every day healthier, younger. Just to convince them, I have to get a certificate from the doctor, so the whole problem is finished forever."
He said, "Okay."
And he had cancer. The doctor told me, "You have brought him in time; otherwise it would have been too late."
Returning home he said to me, "This was the reason that I was not going to the doctor. I was afraid, who knows? -- the doctor may find something wrong with me. And now he has given me cancer!"
I said,
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