cover story
The road taken...

By Naeema Akram

There is a teacher who has a very peculiar way of greeting his students: "How are you and how are things?" The query is immediately followed by, "I hope you all are fine and things are fine too, but does your being fine depend upon the things being fine?" He thus poses another question to his students. And I believe this is not merely a question. It is the first stone dropped into the stream of the students' thought process and yes, it does create a ripple too...

Circumstances do play a significant role in our lives, but more significant is our attitude towards them. Life, in this post-modern era is nothing but dreariness for many. A burden that burdens the souls of countless people around the world. What is more alarming is the fact that this dreariness is fast creeping into the attitudes of our youth. A friend and I were recently talking about this matter. Being a journalist, who works for a youth magazine, she told me that there is a feeling of hopelessness in the writings of today's youth. As compared to the olden days, people have become more inclined towards sharing their bleak experiences - the phases of depression that they go through, their attempts to commit suicide etcetera. I was surprised at hearing this because a suicide attempt is the height of pessimism. The kind of pessimism that takes us to a point from which there is no turning back. A pessimism that renders the most precious gift of God - Life - futile. And what happens when the youth of a nation turns pessimistic? Let alone this nation's progress and prosperity (which by the way, is not only material), its very survival is put to stake!

The most important things...

A sage once remarked, "The most important things in life are not things!" This seemingly weightless phrase indeed carries a lot of weight. An entire philosophy of life, if I may be allowed to say so. The cobweb of materialism, in which we are presently stuck, is imperceptibly doing a great harm to all of us. We do not realise, but with every passing day our desires are taking the form of necessities. Once these 'necessities' are not met, we tend to get restless. 'Asking for more' means 'wanting' more. And once we begin treading the path of 'wanting' more, we end up in a boundless main of desires - an ocean in which, once submerged, it becomes extremely difficult to emerge. There is no harm in wishing for an 'easy' (in the literal sense of the word) life. But then again, there has to be a demarcating line between an 'easy' life and a 'commodious' life. Most of the time, we tend to mistake commodious living for easy living and this is the root of the problem. When we do not get all that we desire, we begin treating life negatively for we mistakenly start believing that it is life, which has a negative attitude towards us!

Thus, the need of the hour is to set our priorities straight. A realisation must dawn upon us that mostly it is the intangible elements of life that shape the tangible ones!

Past - passed!

Past - Time that no more has any reality. However, thinking too much about it makes it real enough to affect our present. Obsession with what has passed is another major factor that has contributed to the lowering of enthusiasm for life in youth. A wrong that took place in the past cannot be amended. And what is 'wrong', anyway? Every experience, either good or bad, unfolds before us a unique facet of life that we had never seen. Thus there is no need to keep on fretting over the past, which is no more there nor would it recur. In order to move ahead in life, we must focus on the road that lies before us and not the one we have already travelled. This, in no way suggests that we should completely ignore what we experienced in the past for it is always the realisation of mistakes that help us avoid them in present. Conclusion: realisation of the past is fruitful, obsession; fruitless!  

Future, what thou art

'Securing the future' is a common phrase used by many. The curiosity to know what future holds in store is inherent in human nature. However, this is not something over which sleep should be lost. It is very much a fact that the decisions we take in life do affect our future, but then what shall be, shall be! The years unborn cannot be perceived, so why worry about something that has no existence. They say, "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst". I ask, why? Why should not we only hope for the best? Does not 'preparing' for the worst negate the idea of hoping for the best? Does not this very phrase places hopelessness and hopefulness side by side? Can these two opposite traits ever exist together? So why not only hope for the best and perform our actions accordingly? A teacher once remarked that it was absolutely true when said, 'tomorrow never comes' for when tomorrow does come, it ceases to be 'tomorrow'. It is 'today'!

Look to this day!

For it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course

Lie all the verities and realities

of your existence.

The bliss of growth

The glory of action

The splendour of beauty,

For yesterday is but a dream

And tomorrow is only a vision,

But today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day!

Such is the salutation to the dawn.

Kalidasa

Purposefulness

Now this indeed is a vast topic to handle and its significance - in my opinion - is such that it requires to be discussed separately. However, we must include it in the discussion, which is at hand for a life without purpose is a Life that actually lacks life!

How easy it is to state that life is distressing. No wonder it is if led purposelessly. How often do we wonder who we are? Why are we in this world? Where are we heading to? Did we have a beginning? Do we have an end? These are some of the most vital and equally perturbing questions. Lucky are those who have been blessed with a thought process that takes into account these essential questions of life. I often wonder as to what would have been Ghalib's state of heart and mind when he said: "Duboya mujh ko honay ne, na hota main tu kya hota." A haunting line, indeed!

No, I have not digressed from the idea of purposefulness because these seemingly very basic questions can actually give a meaning to our lives. They can lead us to the road of self-discovery. And believe it or not, discovering oneself is accomplishing the greatest feat in life. 'Know thyself', said Socrates. And knowing oneself is the most difficult thing to do in life. Once we come to know ourselves, we have already given a meaning to our live and a purpose to our existence!

Optimism versus pessimism

Dale Carnegie, in his book How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, writes: "Napoleon had everything men usually crave - glory, power, riches - yet he said at Saint Helena, 'I have never known six happy days in my life'; while Helen Keller - blind, deaf, dumb - declared: 'I have found life so beautiful.'"

Can optimism and pessimism be described more aptly? This very example of Bonaparte and Keller is enough to tell us that it is primarily up to us whether we consider life to be ugly or beautiful. Happiness lies within and not without. Hope comes from within. And what is optimism but this very hope which resides somewhere deep down inside ourselves. Every single being sent into this world is equally capable of fostering hope within himself. And every single being is directed on to this road of Hope, provided there is a desire to do so. This universe is for Us. It is not at all dark, as it may appear to be. It is just how we look at it. Thus, it is the road taken which matters most. Think... and think hard...