A woman once came to Mahatma Gandhi with here little boy. She asked, “Mahatma-ji, tell my little boy to stop eating sugar.”

“Come back in three days,” said Gandhi.

In three days the woman and the little boy returned and Mahatma Gandhi said to the little boy, “Stop eating sugar.”

The woman asked, “Why was it necessary for us to return only after three days for you to tell my little boy that?”

The Mahatma replied: “Three days ago I had not stopped eating sugar.”

As told by Baba Ram Dass in the classic Be Here Now.

This speaks to me about the integrity of Gandhi, and his realization that even though the teacher doesn’t need to be perfect, the teacher does need to have walked in those shoes.