 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.
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