Life...

Richard Bach (author of Jonathan Livingston Seagull) in his book 'One'
wrote - "I gave my life to become what I am now; was it worth doing it?"

Life is a beautiful gift each one of us has. Too bad we undermine its beauty and before we realize it’s almost bidding us goodbye.

Take the case of the Sharma household, our family friends for the last 15 years. Both husband and wife have spent years and years of their lives doing all they can for their children. Right from dawn to dusk they spend every moment helping their children do well in life… fulfilling many a dream that perhaps they left unfinished during their hay days. Unfortunately so, with the kind of social exposure, information availability and with the advent of an era where one can easily get influenced to do what they feel is right, it is not uncommon to see parents complaining about how their children betrayed their dreams, did not care about their feelings and how they made their lives ahead meaningless. The generation next of the Sharma’s, their only son, thought his parents were an obstacle to his career and decided to part ways. What a shame!!! Not really, not if you’re strongly influenced by a group of American teens for whom life begins and ends at Central P.E.R.K. or Pop Tates. All these years of efforts and dreams simply washed away. The Sharma’s and many other parents spend the rest of their lives wondering what went wrong. They start assessing why and how and finally sigh… ‘I gave my life to become what I am now; was it worth doing it?’

Last fortnight, I read about this sportsperson who had made it big in his field of sport. The newspapers, sports magazines and television channels were all gung-ho about this macho star. Young girls and boys who wanted to be as famous were glued on to special television bulletins featuring their sports icon. All’s well that ends well. But in this ‘far from perfect’ world of ours all’s not so well after all. Last week people were mobbing the very same sporting genius just because he voiced his opinion over a sensitive social issue. Public protests, yellow journalism, bad publicity and the ‘wherever you go I’ll be there’ kind of paparazzi effect ruined his life. All this because he believed and said something that a group of immature people were unwilling to accept and respect as someone’s opinion. The last I heard was that the mobs got into some kind of brawl with him and in the bargain he had damaged his legs. The sporting community lost a potential hero. The sportsman sits by himself by the hospital window pondering over what had got the better of him. The next moment he must have sighed… ‘I gave my life to become what I am now; was it worth doing it?’

There are many others from the field of entertainment and sport who face similar hardships in life. The life of a celebrity is not all that glittery as it appears on the ‘silver’ screen or on that hoarding round the corner. It is difficult to cope with the pressures of being famous. A lot is written about them; with most part of it being built up. It is not very easy to blame the media since some attention hungry celebs use the media to increase their rapport with their audiences. It is more like a ‘you win some, you lose some’ situation. Lady luck decides which of the ‘some’ lose and how much.

While skimming through the newspapers the other day I came across an article quoting instances of feuds and disputes in the most famous of families from the political and business circles of India. The Ambani brothers have done their bit, only to be followed by the Thackerays, Mahajans and the Mafatlals. Sibling rivalry seems to have taken a whole new dimension… straight into the business boardroom. Generations of hard work, strong values and a commitment to lead the business by setting the right kind of examples seem to be a thing of the past. With our country heading towards a new horizon in the fields of industrialization and development, it is up to the business bigwigs to gear up and stick to doing ‘good business’ rather than putting a premature end to our nation’s prosperity. If things get worse, or for that matter, if things do not change for the better, it will not be long before we hear the business legends of yesteryears sighing from their graves… ‘I gave my life to become what I am now; was it worth doing it?’

As I write this I came across some ‘breaking news’ about some gory incident by the Talibans. News channels have been focusing on the inhumane incident where the Talibans had beheaded an Indian engineer posted in Afghanistan. Is this what Jihad or ‘holy war’ means to the Talibans and others from the terrorist community? Is this what they wanted to achieve in life? Every book or movie that revolves around the life of a terrorist tries to justify how certain incidents in their lives have lead them into such ‘professions’. Is that justification enough? We need to create alternate avenues for people who have lost in life. Terrorism is not a solution. It is only creating more problems for even more people. Things need to change soon in the right direction. Humanity needs to be restored in these young minds before its too late… before they sigh… ‘I gave up my life to become what I am now; it seems to be worth it.’

To sum up I’d like to include the perspective of the younger lot who’ve just begun their careers. Life, for us has just begun. We are setting goals for ourselves each time we wake up from our world of dreams. There are many milestones that we identify for ourselves everyday. Challenging career objectives, hectic schedules, rush hour traffic, balancing time between family, friends and work are speed breakers on our way up in life. Going through the mundane routines of life could, at some point of time, kill the zing out of our youthfulness. It is too early in life for us to sigh and say ‘I gave my life to become what I am now; was it worth doing it?’. Infact, I would like to reiterate the fact that life, for us has just about begun in more ways than one. I think it would be best if we could learn from the lives and experiences of our parents, relatives, eminent personalities and just about everyone around; learn from their mistakes and try to lead more contented lives. We need to make a conscious effort to do well in life. At the same time we could add meaning to it by helping others around do well. The not so privileged may need a helping hand to move on in life. We must try fulfilling some (if not all) of our parents’ dreams and bring a smile on their face. All of these are some of the ways by which we can, one day sit by the windowsill, stare up into the starry sky and let the glint of satisfaction in our eyes whisper… ‘I lived it up all my life to become what I am now; guess it is worth it after all.’