Sunday Observer Online
 

Home

Sunday, 8 December 2013

Untitled-1

observer
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

Answer to the toil of life

With eyes fixed at some unknown point in the distant horizon, we all dream that we have found the answer to the toil of life.

Yet, the drudgery never is exhausted; and so, we keep dreaming, continue dreaming, the grander the better; until eventually, our dreams become our story. The possibilities for human kind for advancement and betterment of their life are manifold.

However, it lies within each individual to enable this, and in the process ennoble himself. Yet to achieve its end, one must not only be discerning, grasping and fulfilling, but also be possessed of inspiration and attainment; courage and conviction.

When we stand in a valley, the horizon seems nearer; but if we climb a hill, the horizon expands.

As with that, man ought to climb higher; not hills and mountains, but in thought, in aspiration, in noble living; and he will find his possibilities expanded.

"We are all very prone to regard the future with uplifted eyes, our gaze fixed on the distant horizon, as though we expected all future opportunities and events to drop from some unseen realm to which we had not as yet attained, and with which we had nothing to do.

This is but one of the many misleading fancies which we are pleased to pin our faith to.

Our future does not come to meet us, but overtakes us from behind; and if we would have a future filled with great possibilities we must fill the present minute with 60 seconds of well completed past, upon which our future may rest secure," said Geo C. Williams, an American evolutionary biologist and professor emeritus of biology at the State University of New York.

Rather than rely on the protection of Divine Providence, man should aspire to justice for his own cause as well as that of his brethren, without fear or favour; and in the consequent interposition of truth, he must be bold; or else must necessarily be, ruined.

For truer than all that has been spoken is, all that has not been told; and in its understanding, is the salvation of the soul.

These days, we are freely and openly advised by those empowered to mess with our life, that the only route to, survival of the masses is not to mind difficulties; but to press on with life with eyes fixed firmly on the distant horizon, for that is where the rainbow of hope and happiness is.

Hence, look ahead, never mind the present or the past because life is serious, not a pantomime; we are told, day in and day out.

All that is, well and good; but the built in hazard of such hope is not that someone from the masses may not listen and follow, but that they may drop dead out of sheer poverty, in their present. For those who speak thus, all is well and the rainbow is, ever present; and hope and happiness is in the eternal plunder to come.

As to us, the hoi polloi, if we cannot survive the present and learn from the past, how can we be sure, where we are going or when, if at all, we will reach the rainbow before death, that silent stalker of all life, gets to us? Thus for all intents and purposes, in our life, as of now, the fairest is still the furthest: the life that has yet to be; the promise of the rainbow in the distant horizon that is never to be. Hence, in spite of my advising not to rely on Divine Providence earlier on in this article, I entertain a fond hope that the same kind providence, which has conducted us so far in our journey through the toil and tumult of life, will open a way for the future happiness and prosperity of the masses.

As things stand, in nothing else have I confidence to place my confidence.

It is true that a nation's needs, need to balance between rights and responsibilities because we construct our relationships by having an understanding with the other.

The individual and the community must work together to make life a little better for us all. Man should believe passionately in the ability of other men to make a positive difference to the life of the community - not just in dreams, but in reality.

However, having been fed on, more of the failed same; the never ending mantra of the hope that lies in the distant horizon; the masses today are sick and tired - tired even to look at their own bellies, let alone at the distant horizon and rainbows.

The values-driven case for continuing on the difficult path toward rebuilding the great hope of the masses of all class, and to keep looking to the distant horizon, does not offer new details on just how we would achieve those goals in the future, while remaining half starved in the present.

It is well and good for those who fill their bellies by plunder to keep looking at the distant horizon, for there lies the rainbow of more plunder; but for the commoner, time we abandoned old terms and clichés, and refuse to accept rhetoric.

In a season of expectations and disappointments, of platitudes and, familiar tunes; conventional speeches, repeated annually, howsoever admirably strong on rhetoric, but weak on ideas and themes, does not hold water.

The days of seamless inspirational speeches is long gone; and what the masses require is solutions to their problems translated into their living rooms; not to be reminded of the source and causes of all problems, which they are, absolutely and well and truly familiar with; and which cause is not far to seek, nor blind to the eye.

There is no greater grief like the grief that does not.

On the ocean of life, as we pass and speak to one another, we realise that every man has his secret sorrow, which the world knows not.

Often-times, we take him to be a fool for his silence, not knowing his sorrow. As we look around, we realise that, this nation is, shadowed by sorrow, scorched by poverty.One will not find the cause for it in books, in newspapers, in dissertations, in the speeches of the boot licking bum-sucking hangers on; but will find the cause and the man made nature of the cause, on every street, on every road; and if he looked deep within, he will know the truth.

The common man of this nation is not looking for, and does not need, miracles; but instead he craves for a steady improvement of his station in life. His journey has never been easy.

But even if his path is harder, he will be happy if the road leads him to a better place; not with eyes fixed to the distant horizon, but at the next moment in his life, or at least soon enough.

If hope be the rain of life, the best thing one can do when it is raining is to let it rain; but with hope that into each life some rain will fall.

See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

For views, reviews, encomiums, and brickbats: [email protected]

 | EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

TENDER NOTICE - WEB OFFSET NEWSPRINT - ANCL
ANCL TENDER for CTP PLATES
www.defence.lk
Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk
LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lanka
Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL)
www.army.lk
www.news.lk
 

| News | Editorial | Finance | Features | Political | Security | Sports | Spectrum | Montage | Impact | World | Obituaries | Junior | Youth |

 
 

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2013 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor