“Men’s evil manners live in brass, their virtues we write in water.”
When Shakespeare wrote this (and you can find it in the 2nd scene of the 4th act of his play, King Henry VIII), what did he mean? Well, for the sake of this discussion, I will change his brass to stone - the crux of the argument will, however, not be changed by doing so. The words of Shakespeare rings very true. Think about the fact that we are still able to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, not to mention other forms such as the Babylonian cuneiforms, the inscriptions made by the Aztecs, the Incas, the ancient Greeks, as well as the Romans.
The inscriptions these civilisations made, outlasted millennia of other civilizations because they were inscribed in stone. Now, who can produce a single piece of writing etched in water? I thought so. What an absurd question to ask. So what did Shakespeare mean with what he said? It is actually very simple.
We as humans have become so conditioned to focus on other’s wrongdoings. We are able to write pages full of other’s wrongdoings, but when it comes to writing down the good qualities of that same individual, we stutter, we get writer's block… Can you relate? You can live a virtuous life until old age, then commit one single wrongdoing, and the chance is good that your life will be measured according to that which you have done wrong. That is why Shakespeare said that we so easily write the good deeds of others in water, but the bad in stone (for everybody to read for eternity).
I think the reason for us to do this, is because in highlighting the faults of others and hanging that stone around their necks, make us feel better about ourselves. Better for others to lose face than for you to do so.
My plea to you today is that you will strive towards rather focusing on that which is good in other, and not only label them according to the wrongs they have done in life. Let us write the good in stone and the bad in water.
People didn’t see me as being bad at all,
always striving to do good to my fellow human being,
but then I had my great big fall
and now as a wicked one, I’ll always be seen.
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