Is the title confusing?? It was, for a moment, to me too. Later, when I sat down and put my thoughts down on it, it made perfect sense….at least to me. The former meant “running to live”whereas the latter meant “running to death”. Are we, by any chance, running out of life in the process of running for life? It may seem too philosophical for a guy of about 20 yrs of age to talk about such a topic. BUT, LET IT BE. These are the thoughts that would come to anyone’s mind if he sits alone in a pleasant weather on an evening watching the birds fly back to their homes at the dusk. But, first of all, in the present world where is the place to sit alone? Even if we find some place to be alone, when is the weather ever so pleasant? Where is the time to see the birds flying when we, ourselves, are busy in our own problems? Even if we had time, do we have the energy to come out and enjoy the beauty of the nature?
Take any person’s life. It all starts with that person cuddling up in his mother’s arms playing and puking, being transferred from one person to another everyone competing to coddle him and was feeling the warmth of every hand that holds him. Go to the times when he joined the school and learnt “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. He goes to school regularly, comes back early, throws his small bag and goes out to play with his friends. He comes back, does his homework and sleeps well, without any tensions in his mind. This continues slowly for few years.
As he goes to the higher grades, expectations rise. He is expected to perform more and better. The weight of books burdens him. Slowly, the time to play reduces and will become zero one day. He studies, studies and studies. Higher up the grades come the 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th. In a country like ours, preparation for competitive examinations to get into a good university in graduation starts right then or perhaps even earlier. The competition is very high and hence, the pressures on this child increase. To meet the expectations, this child starts sleeping less using his sleeping time to work hard and study. Finally, the results come out and his hard work pays off. He is selected into a good university. It does not end here. He either has to pursue higher studies or get a job. For this, he has to become an all rounder i.e., excel in every field. He may take up playing again not for relaxing but for achieving all round excellence, of which sports are also a part of. He works and works and works hard 24 hrs a day to achieve his goal. He has already lost the habit of sleeping. Now, he’ll start talking less with his friends, to live up to his own expectations. Again, he ends up achieving what he wants. He leaves this university with a job or to some other university where the same process is repeated for two more years. Finally he is with a job. THE job he wanted. The PERFECT job for him. Now, his aim is to excel in this and go to the highest position possible. He works hard. He has to meet the deadlines. He spends all his time in the office, with his brain heated up. He even starts skipping his meals to complete the work. He is running out of time, and he is running to meet the deadline. Cutting the crap short, he has achieved the highest position.
Now, what shall we call him?? A winner? Or a loser? He has been winning everything everywhere from his childhood. He must be a winner. But, at the same time, he lost everything. He has lost his energy by skipping his meals and sleep. He has lost his friends working all the time. He doesn’t have anyone now. He has been running all his life to achieve success. Never stopped to take a look at the beautiful things around. Where did all this running lead to? At an age when he has to take rest and live a peaceful life, this person leads a life suffering from diabetes, BP and what not. Why are these diseases on an rise nowadays? Why is almost every person on this earth suffering from some such health problem? The reason is everyone is running and running and running throughout their life to run for life…to live a life full of happiness and success. He might have achieved success. But no happiness. He even cannot live his life fully. What happened??He has been running for life. But he ran out of life in this process.
A question may arise, where did the planning go wrong along this way? Everything has been so perfect. Top in the class from the first grade. Topper in everything. Hard work and sincerity, not to be questioned. Everything went on as per the ‘plan’. Then, why is this person in such a situation today?
All of us are in the same position as this man. We are running, because everyone around us is running. To catch up with the generation, we also run. Though a few may not be very much inclined towards it, they also run only to be along with everyone. We run so fast that we fail to notice the small beautiful things around us. We don’t notice people around us and don’t wait to have a word with them. We have become more objective with the sole aim to achieving the final goal. Where is the peace that was there in the childhood?? Where has the pure smile that used to be always present on our lips gone? How long ago did we have a perfect sleep of 8-10 hrs without any tensions?When did we talk to our friends in a caring manner? When did we greet someone good morning or good evening? Are we, first of all looking who is going down the road beside us? Or are we busy even to look at them??
Just slow down a bit and think. You’ll get answers for everything. You’ll know what you really want. You’ll know the happiness and success around you, in you. This is not just about you or me. It’s about everyone in the present world. Let’s walk, not run for our life. Enjoy every small detail in life. After all, life is to be enjoyed to the fullest and not to be left in parts.
P.S: This whole blog is about me too. (Just that I’ve not yet grown old enough to suffer from some disease. I’m healthy enough right now :P).
No comments:
Post a Comment