Perspective of Human Life
It is easy enough to be pleasant, 
When life flows by like a song,
But the man worthwhile is one who will smile,
When everything goes dead wrong.
For the test of the heart is trouble,
And it always comes with the years,
And the smile that is worth the praises of earth,
Is the smile that shines through tears.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Just as a plant, a tree or a fruit needs a certain type of soil, climate, etc., for its life, so does every human being require fresh air, clean water, wholesome food, shelter, education, socio-cultural environment, etc. And besides this all, every human being needs an orientation and inspiration to set himself/herself upon the course of a healthy life (or lifelessness and sickness).
Even if we assume the big bang theory and its corollary, big crunch theory, as the correct interpretation of the of nature, and even if astronomy is assumed to measure time from big bang to big crunch very accurately, for all our practical purposes, time is infinite; and life very short. Death is the ultimate reality that reduces everybody and everything to a cipher in the [for all practical purposes] infinity of space and time.
Like everybody else, he, our character in this account, let us give him the name, Common Child [Common Youth], was born weak, without any knowledge, in the communal atmosphere prevalent in a locality of the world, which naturally converted him into a despiser of the people of the other communities and countries that his community’s adults in general abhorred.
The period didn’t last long, however.
When he was still in a primary school, his father’s cousin’s marriage was celebrated, and on a pleasant morning during the celebration, an electricity-powered radio, sang melodiously:
You’ll neither become a Hindu nor a Muslim
A human being’s son you are
A human being you shall be!
This little couplet produced a dramatic effect on our Common Child. His perspective changed completely.
A number of favorable events [let us call them favorable, even though they might be harmful in the worldly sense] gradually shaped his personality further.
The terms “favorable” and “harmful” deserve attention. If a child is converted into a headless brute, rapist, criminal, gang leader, mass murderer,… and he becomes a rich man, enjoys power and pelf, and survives for one hundred years; and if another child is converted into a sensitive, noble, intelligent, learning and inclined to philosophic thoughts, and suffers throughout his life at the hands of brutes, and dies prematurely in poverty or is burnt at stake or lynched: Which of the two children has had favorable circumstances and which has had harmful ones?
Those days, the textbook for Urdu in Class Six contained a story by Prem Chand.
A poor man had a grand horse, which he loved beyond measure. A thief beheld that horse and warned the poor master, “I won’t let this horse remain with you!” The horse and its master were inseparable. The thief could not steal it by the usual method. Thieves were not violent those days and even any old man’s waking up and coughing during the night could send a dozen odd thieves rushing headlong out of the old man’s house which they had come to thieve things from. So the master did not lose his horse to the thief. The thief, however, devised a way. Disguising himself as an old, handicapped man and unable to move, he waited at a secluded place one early morning from where the master used to go riding on his horse. There was an exchange of words. The “handicapped man” invoked pity in the master. The master decided to give him a lift by seating him on his horse. No sooner had the “handicapped man” been helped and seated on the horse’s saddle, he galloped away. The master thus lost his beloved horse to the thief. And when the thief could still hear the master’s voice, the latter screamed loudly, “Please don’t tell anybody how you took away my horse from me; if you do, nobody will pity any crippled man in future!”
This innocent-looking sentence triggered something inexplicable in the thief, which culminated in his secretly bringing back the horse to the poor owner’s shed during the dead of night and tying it there to absolve himself of the guilt of his decoy at the cost of the credibility of the handicapped individuals and human sympathy for them.
Even a thief was moved by the power of human feelings.
The English textbook of Class Nine contained another story by Prem Chand, in which two intimate friends were presented. One was appointed a judge in a village court to settle a dispute in which his friend was the defendant. The judge of the moment comprehended his responsibility. He served justice, and not any bias for friendship. He gave his decision in favor of the plaintiff.
Enmity ensued between the former friends because the aggrieved fellow thought his friendship held no value, and he had actually been betrayed by none else but a person who he had sincerely held for his intimate friend.
Years went by. A dispute arose again in which the friend that had served justice formerly was a party. The aggrieved friend in the former case was appointed the judge. It was a great opportunity for him to take revenge upon his former friend and recent time’s enemy.
The sense of responsibility took hold of him, however. He felt a compelling urge to deliver justice and not the revenge. He too gave his verdict in favor of justice, which was what his former friend had sought.
The things took a beautiful turn. The former friends understood each other and their friendship came back on track.
Both the stories were highly inspiring.
Another story equally important was the well known “Three Questions” by L. N. Tolstoy, which left a great imprint on our Ordinary Youth’s mind. It was in the English textbook of Class Ten.
It once occurred to a certain King [instead of King, we shall henceforth use the term Wise Leader] that if he knew:
-
What was the right time to begin any work;
-
Who were the right people to listen to, and who to avoid; and
-
What was his prime task to perform
He would always be efficacious in his dealings; and successful in all matters.
He consulted his ministers, advisers, priests, learned men… They gave him different answers, such as:
Consider almanac, etc., take counsel from priests, elite, businessmen, advisers, ministers, etc., to begin any work; listen to them; and perform the action as they advise….
The Wise Leader was not satisfied by all the multitude of answers he received.
He went to a Hermit, who was renowned for his wisdom, and who was living far from the city in a clearing in the jungle.
The Wise Leader left behind his bodyguards in the jungle and went alone, in the guise of a layman, to meet the Hermit. The Hermit was upturning soil, with a spade, in his kitchen garden.
The Wise Leader exchanged greetings, etc., for a while, and then asked his questions.
The Hermit listened to him but made no answer. He went on with his digging work.
Time fleeted. The Wise Leader felt sympathy for the old Hermit, took possession of the spade, and began digging in the kitchen-garden for the old man.
Hours went by. Evening came. The Wise Leader repeated his questions again to the Hermit and requested him to answer or inform him that he (the Hermit) did not know the answers.
The Hermit said nothing in reply.
It was dusk. The Wise Leader decided to leave the place without receiving any answers.
Just as he was about to begin his back-home march, a bearded man came rushing out of the bushes towards the Hermit’s courtyard. He was bleeding profusely. Upon reaching to the courtyard, he fell down unconscious.
The Wise Leader gave up on his plan of returning to the palace immediately. Instead, he began to dress the wounds of the bearded man and take care of him.
The wounded man regained his consciousness. The most critical night of his life passed under the human care of the Wise Leader.
In the morning, he expressed his gratitude to the Wise Leader, “Forgive me! You don’t know me but I know you. I am that sworn enemy of yours who wanted to kill you. I knew you had come alone to see the Hermit. So I hid myself in the bushes in order to murder you when you return from the Hermit’s hovel. A long time passed, you did not return. As the evening came, I thought you might have returned through some other path. So I came out of my ambush and began walking back. Your bodyguards saw me, rushed at me, caught me, and recognized me. They wounded me and left me to die under the cover of a few shrubs. They themselves went back to the spot where they had been waiting for your return. I got up and managed to reach to this place somehow. I now owe my life to you; and I shall serve you for the rest of my life!”
The Wise Leader was immensely pleased. He took leave of the saved man, and he went again to the Hermit.
“I again request you to answer my questions.” said the Wise Leader.
“You have already had the answers.” replied the Hermit.
“How?”
Thereupon said the Hermit, “Had you not waited on me and decided to help me, you would have left on your way; your enemy would have caught you unawares and killed you. Again had you not felt sympathy for the wounded man and attended on him, you would have never made peace with him, and he would never have got the opportunity to serve you in turn.
“So the best time to begin any action is now; start it now;
“The most important person is the one with who you are (at any moment of time); and
“To do him good is the most important work!”
Besides this Tolstoy’s motivational story for a better human life, our Common Youth had the fortune of having the first introduction to a philosopher. It was the fascinating tale of the most enviable death in the world so far: Socrates’.
The feeling it invoked was tremendous, something was assimilated by his spirit, but he knew no words by which he could have expressed what his spirit had acquired. It was the romance in death, and therefore, the romance of life. Unless you know how to live, you can’t know how to die; and vice versa.
College-life is generally rich in content but much energy, too many attractions, too many devotions, too many tasks, and too much craving leave literature and literary textbooks (and philosophy) generally unattended.
However, our Common Youth chanced to peep into what somebody had described as the conviction of Tolstoy, viz.:
-
Simplicity is the supreme beauty in a human being; and
-
Goodness and kindness is what he should live for.