I CAN... AND, I WILL

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man.

But, sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who thinks he can.”

Which battles of life are we talking about, here? 

I had just arrived in this big city of Mumbai, some thirty-three years ago. As a shy and scared young-man, my battles were just of any other young-man like me: How will I overcome my lack of self-confidence? How will I learn to speak fluently in English? Will I be accepted by people around me? Will my views be accepted? Do I possess in me what it takes to claim my place under the Sun? Do I know what I want to claim… and, if I claim, will people laugh at me? Will I be loved enough… helped enough… respected enough?

After thirty-three years, when I now look back at this young-man’s fears and anxieties… yes, the battles he had to fight… I can see this: He has built enough self-confidence to face his world… He speaks in decent English… He is accepted well by people around him… His views are respected… He feels that he does possess within his soul what it takes to claim his place under the Sun… and, yes, he knows what he wants to claim… and, he also knows that if he claims that, no one is going to laugh at him. Above all, he knows that he is loved, helped and respected enough.

“Honey, thirty-three years ago, I was haunted by the same ghosts which haunt you now,” I do tell the anxious young-ones very regularly. Then, I tell them, “Trust me, If I could, you, too, can.”

Thirty-three years ago, some when someone told me this, my heart would suddenly light up… “Hey, if he could, I, too, can… Yes, I can!” I would jump in the air with hope. But, then, I would hear him complete what he wanted to say: “But, my dear friend, remember, I did not say, ‘You will’!”

“Why did he say so?” I would sulk suddenly, with a nagging doubt. 

He had only said, “Honey, if I could win my battles, you, too, can win yours.” He hadn’t said, “You will win them.”

Today, when I tell the young-ones the same thing, I know why the guy who inspired me had not said, “You will”…

Yes, I know the difference between ‘I can’ and ‘I will’…

I can see the world of difference between the two…

So, I tell the youngsters this: “Honey, think and feel that you can overcome your problems, win your battles in life… Think and feel that you possess within you what it takes to do that.”

That is the self-belief, the proverbial faith that can move mountains…

“But, your faith – ‘I can’ – alone, is not enough,” I remind them, “You need to commit yourself to do it… say ‘I will’… You have to decide to get up and do it!

Thus, when I was an anxious young-man, what I was told, I do pass on, today, to the anxious young-ones around me…

“Dear, not just your self-belief… 

but, your commitment, too. 

Not just ‘I can’, but ‘I will', too.” 

It is time, we re-wrote the lines that have inspired all of us, all these years:

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man…

Nor to the man who thinks he can…

But, sooner or later the man who wins, is the man who gets up and declares –‘I WILL’!”

And,  DOES!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Gloria Pinto