To Be or Not To Be

A little kingdom I possess,
Where thoughts and feelings dwell;
And very hard the task I find
Of governing it well.
~ Louisa May Alcott

...that more or less describes my situation!

~A Wise Man Said~

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
~ Aristotle
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
 
There is a breed of people who warm the cockles of my heart. This breed is rare and this feeling is rarer still.

Usually, in my experience (at least in India), people tend to make a virtue of diplomacy. In any given situation, it is considered a good thing to pass over anything unpleasant, turn a blind eye to anything inconvenient, let sleeping dogs lie, maintain the status quo, avoid ruffling any feathers, … you get the drift? The idea is to flow with the current and be a picture of ‘positivity’— and like positivity is a positive word, all those other actions just listed are deemed to contribute towards the ‘positive’. The trouble is, sometimes, the price for short-term positivity is long-term good. By pretending things are hunky dory in the present, one ends up averting a situation momentarily, but it is like sweeping dirt under the carpet because one does not like the sight of dirt, instead of taking the dirt head-on and throwing it out of the house. It is taking the easy or cowardly way out.

It takes a lot of courage and a commitment to a goal higher than one’s personal goodwill to stand up for one’s convictions, even at the cost of being proved wrong, being proved a fool, being the one toppling the nice apple cart. Maybe some apples would fall now but one may actually manage to save the cart in the long run. Not everybody would see it that way though, and therein lies the risk.

Now, coming to that rare breed of people…

It is indeed a rare breed that will hold on to and speak up for what they believe in in spite of the risks, a rare breed that will be answerable to the purpose to which they have committed themselves to…rather than the dictats and diplomacies of the world… but it is not them I talk about.

I talk about that other rare breed … the ones who appreciate honesty and sincerity of purpose rather than blind service. The ones who actually urge ‘honesty to one’s self and one’s conscience’ where the common run of people will tell you to ‘just do what is said’. The ones who will make you feel that you did right, and that your actions are a reward unto themselves.

I owe a lot to this breed… may their tribe increase!

posted by Sylvia D'souza at 9:56 am 5 comments
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