WE ARE WORTHY... NOT BECAUSE OTHERS THINK SO
Pic.: Neetu Sharma Sachdeva
On Sunday-night KBC-show, there was this contestant. His
two bright-brothers were college professors, and this married young-man, who
wasn’t as good in studies as his two brothers were, ended up running a small
mobile-store. Obviously, there was constant criticism and comparison with the
two-well-educated and well-respected brothers, which had instilled a nagging
feeling of worthlessness in him. So, our man was now hell-bent in proving his
worth, proving before the world that he wasn’t a worthless fellow… Yes, he
confessed to Amitabh Bachchan, the charismatic host of the show, that it was
the major motivation for his KBC pursuit.
Amitabh, known for
his encouragement and magnanimity, kept reminding our young man that he should
not feel inferior to anyone, including his two well-educated brothers… that, he
should drop the feeling of worthlessness… that, despite their high education
and respectful positions in life, his two brothers weren’t able to make it to
the coveted Hot-seat of KBC… while he (our man) could… “You possess within you
all the potential,” the great Amitabh Bachchan pepped the contestant
graciously, “You are not worthless… You are a ‘Somebody’ and not a ‘Nobody’...”
“If Amitabh Bachchanji thinks so,” responded our contestant, “then, I must believe that I am a worthwhile
fellow.”
“No, not because I
think so,” Amitabh tried to remind our contestant, “but, because, you think so.”
Now, this was the
broad summary of the conversation on the show… not the actual dialogues… The
moral of the story is not distorted:
“My young friend,
believe in yourself… Not in another person’s verdict on you. The only person, to
whom you have to prove your worth is – is YOU!”
I loved this conversation. The only verdict on our worthiness
has to come from within our hearts. We are worthwhile not because someone we
look up to thinks so… Nor are we worthless because he thinks so…
In life, we do look up
to our parents and grandparents, brothers, sisters and relatives, teachers,
bosses and well-wishers… And, along with that comes our susceptibility to their
assessment and verdicts on our worthiness… So, unless we realize how much our
well-being depends on the extent we have allowed others’ evaluation of us to
swing our trust in ourselves… yes, it shall, always, be like a seesaw: at the
mercy of people, who we have allowed to ‘sit on us’... on two sides of our hearts…
Amitabh was reminding
the young-man: “Neither your two brothers… Nor I should instill confidence in
you… Only you should!”
And, it is not good
for our confidence,
if we go on proving to others how worthy we are…
That’s a bottomless
pit… It will only add more agony, more frustration in our hearts…
GERALD D’CUNHA
Comments
--- Urvi Mehta
... Kunal
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