When we feel tempted to grieve over the negligence of others we must learn to turn our thoughts instead towards God. There is a Persian saying which Bahá’u’lláh quotes to the effect that “should all the world turn infidel, not one speck of dust would soil the robe of Thy Grandeur”. We are not responsible for the negligence of others. That
is a matter between them and God, and God leaves them free to choose whether they will turn to Him and walk in His path, or wander in ways of their own choosing. There is only one life that each of us is responsible for, and that is our own, and that responsibility is quite enough to absorb all our attention and energy if we discharge it
properly. Is our own life perfect? Are we reflecting pure and unsullied the Divine Attributes? Have we got rid of the last trace of selfish and worldly desire? Have we complete knowledge of the Divine teachings and is our obedience to them flawless? If not then it is a waste of time for us to be fretting about the dust on other people’s
mirrors when we ought instead to be polishing and adjusting our own.
“Why hast thou overlooked thine own faults and art observing the defects of My servants?”
(29 April 1925 to an individual believer from a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi)