Our Purpose, Our Ideals – A Look at Life’s Meanings
Many of us are vexed with the very thought about what we should do, to make our life more meaningful and establish a more concrete relationship with the society we live in.
Strange but true, what seemed so very promising in our younger days, bears no value as we grow older and educated. What we felt will be the dreams of achievement in our later years, as we grow older, suddenly have no takers and we are helplessly left searching our own options, for a more concrete offer to the society we live in.
It is true, by trail and error, about 30 per cent of us do manage, to make our visions clear by the time we pass high school, but the larger percentage of the population is still unprepared to offer their contribution to their own lives and society.
What is missing, one may ask? Have we not been through the rigmarole of getting educated? Then why have we not found our place in the sun? Why don’t we be just as good as the few on other side of the road?
We seem to be surrounded by questions all around. Are there any answers, to our lives being made more productive?
Yes, there are answers out there, if only one will stop engaging oneself in pursuit of being the Superman and being more practical in our goal setting. Everyone cannot be the best, for there is but one, which will be the best. The odds against the best, in any vocation are very high. Can’t I be that one? Sure, you can be, but what if you cannot reach it because someone else just beat you to it. Will you lose your bearings or will you settle down to be the next best?
The Best, a very comparative word, is like Black or White, totally singular. Look at life this way. Watch a black and white photograph. Between the absolute black and the absolute white the image come up in various shades of gray. That is the reality of life. The whole society is very much in the shades of gray and not in the absolute black or white. If absolute black and white suggests the opposite ends of the spectrum, you can surely make it to the image of the society that forms in the shades of gray.
Why then, are we not prepared to seek our success in the gray areas of life? Is there life in the gray areas of society?
Let me illustrate the shades of society. The society requires each one of us to be a contributory member. This is not a spoken word or legislation but an expectation. Don’t we expect our neighbor to be a good citizen and keep the normalcy we believe that should exist between us? It is an unwritten law. So are our endeavors in life. Life expects each one of us to contribute our mite in the larger area of our society. We have to find the niche that makes us visible to society and its limitless growth. By niche, I mean an area where your enterprise will make the society operate smoothly. Just as the smallest nut and bolt in the automobile is important in the proper functioning of the automobile; make your contribution gel to the society.
The size of your contribution is not important, you are important, my friend. Only you can, with your effort make the society a seamless wonder. Your determined enterprise will bring with it glories that makes your society, your city and your country an example for other to emulate. The society includes all types of enterprise. There is no enterprise that is not suitable to the society. Something that is not suitable will not be a part of the society anywhere in the world. You have to make up your mind where you want to be and then give it your best effort. Yes, it is true, you may be not visible directly, but the sums of your collective action with the members of your enterprise will surely reflect on you, your family and your society.
For a true growth of a society, there is the need for an honest output by the members of the society. Be honest in your thought, your deeds and your relationship and you will definitely find your place in the sun. An honest day’s work, spells success in so many wondrous ways, that the gleam of your enterprise will still be there long after you are gone.
The pioneers did not build the cities or the society, they just gave the impetus for the members of their society to build and sprout. But it is these very many who formed the society that made the cities to what they are today. The large corporations surely were built by visionaries, but they were given shape and destiny by the very many who worked in them and brought them to glorious heights.
Search the meaning for your life in the society, in the gray areas of the enterprise and you will surely find your face in the picture. But do so in all honesty, not only will there be meaning in your life, but your enterprise will be well rewarded and you will surely feel the wanting of your presence by your employers, your friends and your society.
I am sure you will aptly appreciate these words of wisdom, whilst searching for the true meaning of your life.
Hitch your wagon to a star. Let us not fag in paltry works, which serve our pot and bag alone. Let us not lie and steal. No god will help. We shall find all his or her teams going the other way, every god, will leave us. Work rather for those interests which the divinities honor and promote, –justice, love, freedom, knowledge, and utility. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, Society and Solitude “Civilization”
Good Luck my friend.
by Sushil Baboo
sushil.baboo#yahoo.com (replace # with @)