The Moral Vision
Starting from Scratch
~ 110 ~
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
“I have reached my present position by climbing a
ladder and not by coming up to it in a lift.” This
observation was made by a tailor who had started
with nothing but his own two hands and the will to
work, and who had become eminently successful in
his line of business. “Making a good coat is not
child’s play. The whole process is so complicated
that without detailed information as to how to
proceed, long experience and a high degree of skill,
it is almost impossible to accomplish. It is only after
a lifetime of hard work that I have succeeded in
running a prosperous shop in the city.”
The tailor went on to explain how he had served his
apprenticeship under the guidance of an expert
tailor. Just learning the art of cutting and sewing
had taken him five long years. When he opened his
own little shop, he discovered that he had difficulty
in giving his customers a good fitting. This was
because during his apprenticeship he had never
really grasped the fact that people could be of such
different shapes and sizes. He therefore set himself
to the task of studying human anatomy, but it was
