Be Prepared!
Dear friends, in India, parents are generally over-protective of their children. The worst damage that we can inflict on our children is to protect them from the experience of pain and suffering. Most people are thus under-prepared to face the hardships of life.
While mulling over this significant aspect of an individual’s grooming for his/her future, I am invariably reminded of a highly effective anecdote that was narrated to me by our Guru ji, Shri R B Giri, when I was a student of the Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Port Blair. I always love to share it with all my audience.
Once upon a time, a King sent his son to an ashram of a learned guru. The prince stayed in the ashram for 12 years. One day the king received a message from the guru that the education of the prince was over and he could come and collect the prince. The king went happily to the ashram and was pleased to note that the prince had grown physically, intellectually and spiritually the way he had wanted. After the graduation ceremony was over and the king had paid the guru handsomely, he started to leave with the prince.
Suddenly, the guru ran towards them and twice hit the prince ferociously with his cane. The prince had tears rolling down his cheeks. The king was shocked to see the brutish behavior of the guru. However, he controlled himself and said, “O learned one! A moment back, you were all praise for the prince. I don’t see any mistake that the prince has committed in the meanwhile to deserve such severe punishment. Will you please explain?”
The guru said, “The prince has not committed any mistake. I am confident that one day he will become as great a king as you are. However, through these last few days, I was having a feeling that I have missed out on something. Thank God I could gain the insight in time. I forgot to impart the experience of pain and suffering. Without this knowledge, he would have been ill-prepared for hardships that life may inflict upon him. He would also not have the ability to relate to the sufferings of others without experiencing pain himself. O great one, I am sorry to make you witness the unpleasant ordeal. But I am now satisfied that his education his complete in all respects.”
Hence, to a great extent I believe that Indian parents will do well to follow the message of the story and allow their children some exposure to a life of struggle and pain.
A healthy person, after all, is not one who is free of problems, but one who is in a position to deal with them. Am I right or wrong?
We don’t learn and grow through pleasure. Do we? We learn through failures, adversities and painful experiences. All those of you out there, who have tasted different degrees of success and accomplishment in multifarious ways in life, have been able to do so invariably and irrefutably through a series of failures, disappointments, sufferings and setbacks. But you didn’t ever give up and toiled, tirelessly, your way to success, no matter which walk of life you came from.
“No one is immune to problems. Even the lion has to fight off flies.” – Anonymous.
Wow!! A great lesson indeed!! Agree with expression in this post completely!
ReplyDeleteHardships in life are great teachers, they make one a better person and also to succeed in the future.
Thanks for the stimulating endorsement, Shilpa!
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree also. I have thought that same way since my children were born. You seem like a very smart individual!
ReplyDeleteThis doctrine, I strongly believe, is much more befitting to be practised while bringing up our children in today's era when we are constantly faced with the horrifying challenges of disaster, terrorism and bloodthirsty lifestyles, 24/7.
ReplyDeleteThanks, indeed, dear Chris, for the warm appreciation that has made my day!
See you back, here, more often with your valuable comments and suggestions. Cheers! :)
This is a very nice post. I can see you have put hard work on your blog. I'm sure I'd be back here more often. You can come by and visit my site if you have time. See yah!
ReplyDeleteThanks, 'Admin', for your kind appreciation, indeed!
ReplyDeleteYes! Hard work, of course, is indispensable in order to achieve anything to the point of contentment for anyone; and blogging, for me, is a wonderful medium to be of use to myriads of people out there, who aspire to reach the top.
You yourself, are doing a good job in your blogs. I wonder how you manage to feed all those blogs, regularly.
Well, see you back soon! Cheers!
N.B.: Wish I knew your good name, 'Admin', to be able to address you befittingly. :)
Great article....thanks for writing.
ReplyDeleteTony.
http://www.thebusinessgame.co.uk
Thank you, Tony! Do stay in touch.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteGood one on THE GREATEST LESSON IN LIFE. If you are interested to know how a 20 year kid went to make 7 figure income and wish you could drive more traffic to your website watche the free video at http://debtfreeliving.trafficformula2.com/
Thanks,
Peter.
Thansk, for your kind admiration, Peter! I'd surely visit your site. Hope to see you back, here and hear from you quite often. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteGood one. But i must extend by stating that the parents must also teach the children importance of accepting Failure and learning from it.
ReplyDeleteYou are right, dear Bharat! That's a complementary thing to do besides what I have advocated for. Thanks for dropping your valuable comment, indeed. Do stay in touch.
ReplyDeleteWish you & your family a very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2010!!! Cheers! :)
Wow...an excellent read. Very well said in the end...life is all about struggle. No pain, No gain. Brilliant !!
ReplyDelete@ASWANI:
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for the kind praise, dear Ashwani! :-)