OUR HAPPIEST ACHIEVEMENTS

 



“The greatest single achievement of Nature to date  

was surely the invention of the molecule DNA.”

Lewis Thomas


How big is really big? And how much is really much?

The ‘bigness’ and ‘muchness’, somehow, don’t lure me anymore.

But, it wasn’t so, many years ago, when success meant ‘how big’ the numbers were… How many students I had (How many branches), how much I earned, how popular and widely known I was…

What I began to realize, over time, was this: If I let ‘size’ and ‘popularity’ to decide the state of my happiness, then, that very need could become a constant source of my anxiety and worry. Because, deep in in my heart, I knew, that ‘size’ and ‘popularity’ would slide… When they did, would I be prepared to ‘accept’ the reality?

“What goes up comes down!” It’s not just a Law in Physics, it’s a Law in Life, too.

The most beautiful pageants - ‘Miss Universe’ and ‘Miss World’ - and ‘The Strongest Man on Earth’ – haven’t they all shrunken? What about ‘The Fastest Man on Earth’ and ‘The Richest Person on Planet’?

Well, I am not trying to confuse you, here. The desire for growth will keep us all on our feet… It will keep up our adrenaline rush. That’s good. My only point is this: If we desire simple joy in our hearts and peaceful sleep at night, it’s, also, important for us to get in touch with our excessive dependence on the ‘external measures of success’, like ‘size’ and ‘popularity’…

A dear ex-student of mine, who is a Delhi-based CA, always, wanted to teach students. So, alongside her profession, she started teaching Accounting subjects to several students. This morning, she wrote to me this:

“This year, my building guard’s son came to me seven days before the Board Accountancy-paper. We just sat for seven days on the trot taking breaks for the lunch. It has been the happiest achievement this year, so far. The boy scored 69 marks, which is good for him.”

Scoring 69 marks in Boards, in today’s world – and can it be ‘the happiest achievement of the year’?

Yes, it can be…

This Post, as I said, is about our ‘Happiest Achievements’, and not about our ‘Highest Achievements’.




How big is really big? And how much is really much?

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: pixabay

 

Video: The Dodo

 

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