Many a times we feel
that life has become too difficult for us to handle… Not getting the perfect
grades, having a troublesome boss, a relationship gone sour, some nagging
health issue, not getting the perfect job, fight with best friends… these are
some of the few reasons that make us conclude that “life is difficult”, and we
act irrationally. In short, we lose hope and quit.
At times, even I used to
think the same, until a person I met at a railway station and some thoughts
from within changed it all!
The person I am
referring to was no professor, no saint, and no, he wasn’t another common man!
He was a mendicant. Yes, you read it right.
This person had some
issues with his spinal cord, which did not allow him to stand up, sit straight
or even bend properly. He was asking for alms by dragging himself and his bag
throughout the length of the platform. When people refused him alms, he would
quietly drag himself away. Those who were generous to him were greeted by a
warm smile and blessings.
It was a pitiful site,
and after watching him for over 15 minutes, I wondered, “Why do we get so
desperate?” There are so many moments ranging from frustrations of a job and
low grades in studies to fights with people whom we care about, that make us
wonder how sad life is and what’s the point of it… Some people even take get
depressed and take extreme steps like suicide. Put simply, we lose hope, and
quit.
Think again friends, is
life really so difficult for us that we need to indeed lose hope? The mendicant
I was referring to had the simple option of quitting: he could have dragged
himself to the edge of the platform and jumped in front of any train. Even he
chose to fight and not lose hope or quit. May be, he thought life had something
better in store for him.
Let us think the same. Why
cannot we at least hope that things will get better and hence not yield? I am
sure, in the past too, we each one of us has overcome situations which we
thought were impossible to recover from. Let us take some inspiration from the
difficult times we overcame and the mendicant. Let’s make a small promise to
ourselves, that no matter how frustrated we become, we are not going to lose
hope; and fight every issue with our best efforts. How so philosophical it may
sound, just as a thirsty man is able to better understand the importance of
water, we will indeed be able to appreciate the goodness of life and others
only once we have seen a few not-so-nice moments and met some not-so-nice people.
Taking a leaf out of the
famous saying by J. M. Keynes: “In the long run, we are all dead”; may be it
would be apt to say “In the long run, we are all happy”.
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