Being wronged

The investigating police officer said:

• You are the person who took the victim to hospital for emergency treatment?
• Yes, that's right.
• Are you the person who hit the victim with a vehicle?
• No, I was just passing by and saw her lying in the middle of the road, still alive, blood everywhere, still breathing, so I hurriedly lifted her onto my vehicle and rushed to the hospital.
• Our men asked around the area and nobody saw her being hit by any vehicle, and nobody saw you hit her either, but only your vehicle was at the scene. How do you explain that?
• I don't need to explain. I'm only the person who rescued her; finding out which vehicle hit her is your job.
• She is still in a coma and hasn't woken up, so she can't give a statement yet. In the meantime we ask that you do not leave the area, and please cooperate with the investigation.
• Yes, I'm ready.
  Minh walked out of the police station. Vân was waiting and said:
• Abroad, when there's an accident like that, people just call 911 and don't dare touch anyone for fear of being suspected of causing it.
• Yes, I know that too, but seeing her injured like that, a delay in getting her to hospital would have meant her death. I accepted the situation of being wrongly accused, but I'd rather have saved a life. 🎀

In life we are often misunderstood and falsely accused. Let us simply assume that in every lifetime we ourselves probably misjudge others too. But what matters is our attitude and state of mind when we are wronged.
There are two cases in which we are wronged: one is a pure wrong, with no reason at all; the other is a wrong we accept in order to achieve a higher purpose. The story above is a case of being wronged in order to save someone. Because the motive is goodness, the character has a calm, accepting attitude. When there is no noble motive, most of us suffer a great deal, with distress, vexation and anger. Some people who were wronged and could not explain themselves have taken their own lives.

Those who cause others to be wronged are also of various kinds. Sometimes it is only a misunderstanding, but they are stubborn and fierce and blow it up. Sometimes, deliberately wanting to harm someone, they stir up false accusations to slander them, frame them and push them into desperate straits. There are political organisations that specialise in making up all sorts of things to speak ill of their opponents. There are foreign organisations that want to interfere in a country's internal affairs to disrupt and overthrow it, and so invent shocking stories to accuse the government, then call for an international resolution agreeing to an armed attack to seize another state. Sometimes friends just make things up to tease each other for fun.

Anyone can be the victim of a wrong accusation, so living in this world we need the skill of bearing and handling being wronged.
The first skill is to stay calm and unruffled. We should fear only if we are truly at fault; if we are not truly at fault, it is enough that our conscience is at ease. But the reason we suffer is that we ARE AFRAID OF EVERYONE THINKING BADLY OF US. Do not be afraid of being thought badly of; accept being thought badly of in order to repay a debt from the past, as long as we ourselves know we are not wrong.
The second skill is not to react in a rude, aggressive, uncultured, foolish way that harms ourselves further. When causing a wrong, a bad person very much hopes we will react foolishly and harm ourselves. We are not so foolish as to do exactly what the bad person wants, so we calmly gaze at the lonely sky. Nor should we curse crudely, which lowers our worth and makes everyone all the more sure that the matter is true. We must keep our dignity and uprightness all the more.
The third skill is that if there is a chance to clear our name, we should do so, rather than being defiant and not caring what anyone thinks. Many innocent people unwittingly misjudge us, and they too bear the guilt. So if we clear our name so that many people do not bear unwitting guilt, we should clear it.

We also vow to ask the higher powers for their protection so that we do not wrongly think ill of others. Why ask the higher powers? Because matters of right and wrong, true and false, go beyond human wisdom. We can only humbly pray.