A war with a difference
A definition of life, which I read recently has attracted my attention for its sheer simplicity. The definition goes like this. ‘Life doesn't mean , neither huge sacrifices nor accepting the huge responsibilities. Life simply means small incidences of happiness, a bit of compassion, and an ever smiling face.’
Of course, the definition is good and heart touching. But in these days of ‘Dog eats dog’, how far it is possible and feasible is the Million Dollar question.
The first question that rises in anyone’s mind, ‘ Why one should be at war with anybody?’
The answer is, one should know that behind every war, there need not be always a selfish motive. It becomes necessary to fight for self preservation, though not for any thing. If you stick to the non- violent ways and determine strongly not to fight, even when you are attacked, you will be at a greater loss. May be at your own life’s risk.
As the title of the article says, here war not necessarily mean, a fight for existence using lethal weapons. A fight to tackle a tricky situation. A fight to lay your hands on a thing that's your own.
We are aware of the situations, where in, a senior citizen may have to fight with the government to get his pension dues.
We are also aware of our own kid, who just steps in to school, may have to fight with the new environment to adjust himself. All these incidents are nothing but war, with a difference.We can quote a plethora of examples to prove that ‘War’ has become an integral part of our lives.
Nothing short of a war
See an achiever in any field. You will not miss to see that whatever he achieved hasn't come to him in a silver platter. You can also see that he had to shed his sweat to achieve every grain of success. Don’t you think, it’s nothing short of a war?
An achiever’s attitude is, he or she will never lose that smile even in the worst of adversities. But, please know, if an individual, besides keeping an exterior happy attitude, if he maintains the same attitude of ‘Joie- de- vivre ‘ internally also, he is a winner par-excellence.
The Art Of War.
A Chinese warrior named Sun Tzu , who has written an immortal classic 2000 years ago with the name ‘The art of war’ has created a sensation. The author’s starting lines of the book. Says.”
War is necessary, be it to a country or a state or an individual. It’s related to life and death. Its related to development and destruction. Hence this war which is vital should not be neglected nor looked down.
The book’s concluding lines are equally significant. It says,
The person who leads his army should be intelligent, equipped with the knowledge, who is good at what job and possess the knowledge of placing those respective people in the right place and in the right time.
Every line of this book can be applied to human lives also.
By nature, we are endowed with a few weapons. It’s essential to use them at the time of need to win in this war.
Here , you must have noted that the war is not conventional war, where in two armies stand before each other, ready to pounce on each other the moment, the armies hear the order, ‘Attack’ from their respective leaders.
Here the enemy need not be necessarily a man. It may be a problem causing inconvenience and discontentment. Any such problems are our enemies. This is with these enemies we have to be at war for our own survival and security.
There is no one without an enemy.
Even the Apostle of Ahimsa, the father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi and Jesus had enemies. So, it’s now more evident that an enemy need not be a person. It may be a problem. So, it all comes down to. ‘There is no one who is without a problem.’
For a student slavering with the books day in day out is a problem. For an adult who works in an office under an unscrupulous officer is a problem. For a CEO, to run the organization in profits is a problem. A successful actor, who charges astronomical sums for his films, will be plagued by how to retain his Number One position in his Domain. Then who is a person who’s free from problems? No individual from any strata of the society appears to be problem free.
Then how some people look as if there are no problems for them?
The fact is achievers derive pleasure in tackling the problems. They get utmost satisfaction from their endeavors to tackle the problems.
From this we can infer that there won’t be an end to our inner enemies. Our inner enemies can never be eradicated completely.They will be there and we have to be always alert, not to become a victim of our enemies. Just imagine a life without a problem. What all the man has to do is eating and sleeping day after day for years. I’m sure in a short span of time , the man is bound to become insane.
Your Problem is younger than you.
There will not be any problem that is born along with us and will remain with us unto the last. Adverse conditions will not stay with us forever. If people know about this small and simple truth, there won’t be any trace of sadness on earth. Take any case, you will observe nothing especially difficult times in our lives will not stay forever. They come like a tide with great force and on its own accord recedes, the tide traces back its path. The intensity subsides with time.
The magnitude of the problem that scared us once may look like a speck once it passes away from us. The so called mammoth problem may remain as a memoir.
Suppose, a person has been wrongly punished for a crime, he has not committed. The life of the problem is the period of his stay in the jail only. If he can do something during his imprisonment, even that agonizing period also passes away smoothly without any hassles.
Face the problem. Don't run away from it.
It’s obvious, the intensity of the problem remains as long as we suffer. What we must learn from this is, Problems should be faced instead of running away from them. The more we run away from them, the more we suffer. Above all we must realize, no problem will stay with us forever.
This knowledge will equip us that strength and confidence to deal with our enemy within us.
Every problem will make us wiser.
It may sound strange, but it’s the stark naked truth.
Take for example, when one of my kin had a stroke, there were no other persons in the near vicinity. I was the only person present. I was hardly 12 years old. But the situation made me forget my age. I don’t know how I called for a taxi, how I with the help of the taxi driver, took the patient first into the taxi and then to the hospital. Of course after seeing my courage to get my relative a medical aid, the entire hospital rose up to help me do the remaining formalities of the hospital admission. The doctor expressed his happiness over my exemplary bravery. After a day’s observation, my relative was discharged. But this incident made me more matured than my age.
Worms, cockroaches and other disease spreading creatures may harm us, but due to them many people are getting livelihood in the form of, making remedial measures to control them. If we go to the extreme, we will not fail to mark that one’s death has created a job of an undertaker.
From the above one can infer,
that there will be an advantage behind every problem. You may not be the direct beneficiary, but somebody will certainly be.
A defeat is also an experience.
Every experience good or bad will show you the things in a new light. But wisdom lies in applying the experience you earned to your life. Notice and grasp every experience you were taught. You will observe that, one’s worst experience may look like a trivial to you. It means success and failures are relative terms. In the same way good and bad are also relative terms.
Remember, A bigger pain will make you forget the smaller pain.
In this background exercise your discrimination to fight with your inner enemies.
Know your enemy.
An enemy need not be always a person. It may be a situation that impedes your progress or creates an ugly situation. If you know your enemy, ( A person or a situation) you can know the intensity of the loss inflicted on you.
A person, whose leg was lost in accident, feels the pain, but he will not lose his heart. After initial shock, the person will certainly will come to a conclusion, what should be his next course of action. He will go for a jaipur foot. And the artificial foot becomes a part of his body soon.
Take another case, where in a person knows that he’s going to lose his job in a month. For the remaining days, that person leads sleepless nights. Because, intensity of pain created by a situation that already happened will not cause that much of pain as the pain and agony that’s going to cause.
So, you have seen the foes within you. Now you are equipped with the necessary weaponry to deal with the enemies within. Nothing will stop you from emerging as the Champ.
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