IS IT TOO MUCH?

 



“There are no great people in this world,

only great challenges 

which ordinary people rise to meet.”

William Halsey

 

Every generation desires to give a better life to the next generation. That’s been the story of life. My grandparents gave a little better life to my parents… My parents tried their best to give me and my brothers  a better life than what they had received. When our turn came, we really strived hard to give the best we could to our own children… And, undoubtedly, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will pass on this legacy, generation after generation…

But, throughout these transition periods, one thing has, always, remained constant: There have been new challenges for every generation. So, if my grandparents told the stories of struggle and hardship to my parents, my parents told stories of their struggles and hardships to us… We told the stories of our struggle and hardship to our own children… and, our children shall keep alive this legacy. There is one more constant, here: Every successive generation gets bored when these stories are being told…

Sounds familiar? Or, do you doubt?

Ask your children to sit beside you, this evening… and try to tell them the stories of your struggle and hardship…

“Oh, not again!”… “Oh, not again!”

Sounds familiar? Do you hear that?




A few hours earlier, today, I was teaching a small group of my eleventh-standard students. It’s been almost two weeks since I started teaching them. All of them come from highly-qualified and well-placed working-class families. I am pleased with their attitude towards their commitment. As teenagers struggling with these once-in-centuries challenges – thrown before them by this Pandemic – I, their teacher, cannot ask for more from them… Leave alone making them listen to the stories of ‘Our time’… Their parents must be already doing that and boring them to death…

“Oh, not again!”

But then, be it a parent or be it a teacher… We all are itching to tell our stories – yes, ‘how tough it was when we were of your age’!

So, at the end of today’s session, I was giving them their first test-sum. All that they had to do was to solve it at home and send it before the Sun came on top of their heads, tomorrow…

“Testttttt?” I could feel this, from miles away…

“What happened” I asked, “Is it too much?”

The response was sheepish…

“I know you are bored and tired of these lockdowns… I know, sometimes, you feel ‘It’s too much’. So, I empathize with you, boys and girls. This morning, I was watching a ‘beautiful’ story of little children and their teachers in Bolivia. Keep your test aside and ‘enjoy’ this story… Then, if you guys ‘feel like’ facing my test, please do…

Or, you may simply tell me, “Sir, it’s too much.”




I had promised them this Post… I can’t wait for their response…

Hope, they won’t say, “Sir, it’s too much”!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s.: WONDERSLIST

Video: Free High-quality Documentaries

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