MY 'THICK SKIN' AND MY 'THIN SKIN'






Pic.: Daniel Pinto

“You need a thick skin to be in politics.” Often, I hear people saying this. And, I tend to agree with it, too.
But, then, as I go about my life, I do realize, that it is necessary to have a thick skin not just in politics - i.e., in party politics – but, everywhere else, too...
I need a thick skin everywhere... where I have to deal with people... where I have to take decisions relating to money, buying and selling... where I have to deal with administration, management and so on...
Where I have to deal with egoes, insecurities and jealousy...
Where I have to deal with communication issues...
So, I need a thick skin while dealing with my business associates – my partners, suppliers, customers, government agencies, staff, superiors, competitors and so on...
I need a thick skin while dealing with my housing-society committee-members or the general-members...
I need a thick skin while dealing with my religious community – the priests and the members of my congregation...
When I wonder – why it is so? – I do get the answers:
Because, in life, there is no place which is free from ‘politics’...
Because, there is no place in this world which is free from human egoes... particularly the insecure ones...
Because, people do not easily leave their homes with trusting open-arms as much as they do with their suspicious closed-fists...

If, wearing a ‘thick skin’ means being emotionally strong – strong enough to handle the unfair criticism, jealousy, insecurity, groupism and the ‘crab-mentality’, then, I fully agree that, we should wear a thick skin as we go about our lives, doing what we aspire to do in life...
If ‘thick skin’ means we should not take the criticism and opposition ‘personally’, then, yes, the shield of the ‘thick skin’, for us, is a must...
But, by ‘thick skin’, we mean being insensitive, indifferent, self-centered and going about our affairs wearing the ‘I-care-a-damn attitude’, then, certainly, I do not agree that we need it to survive efficiently in this world...

Every morning, when I leave home or when I come home, I have the same two options: to walk out or walk in with my trusting open-arms, or to do it with my doubting closed-fists... I have the same question to ask: Can I manage it with my thin skin or do I need the the shield of a thick one?
And, I choose to leave home and come home with my trusting open-arms... even though the skin that I wear is still not thick enough to deal with the ‘politics’ – of egoes and insecurities...
I, also, find the answer to the question – Can I manage with my thin skin or do I need the shield of a thick one... Yes, I can... I don’t need the shield of a thick skin...
Living in this world means living with its people – their egoes and insecurities, their fears and faith, their hopes and despairs... And, if all of us go about our lives wearing our so-called ‘thick skin’... with all its immunity, insensitivity, indifference and I-care-a-damn attitude, then, this world would be a living hell...
It’s okay, therefore, to be sensitive to my surroundings and its people... It is okay to bleed, like we do... yes, sometimes...
If ‘that blood’ can save the world... from being choked with more harshness!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Varun N said…
True, a thin skin is as much valuable as thick one - the one u have described it to be... Varun N
September 14, 2014 at 7:14 PM
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