AND SIR, TEACH HIM TO PUT PEN TO PAPER

 

“Strength does not come from physical capacity;

it comes from indominable will.”

Mahatma Gandhi

 

The more you focus on the evil people and the evil world outside, the more depressed you tend to become inside. No matter how good you wish to be - and strive to be – the evil in human soul shall continue to prevail. The only sane thing to do, amid such a reality, is to focus on the goodness within… and strive to spread it, even it means, a little bit… each time, over and over and over again.

This morning, my wife and I had visited a senior citizen. He has been one of the finest gentlemen we had known for years… An incorrigible optimist, absolutely positive and caring – at times sounding quite innocent and blindly trusting – this gentle soul, of late, had slipped into a bitter state… People, who he had trusted, had cheated him… The good people, who he had known, had been hounded by evil people… His own innocence, goodness and trust in the world outside had been put to test… Overwhelmed, this gentlemen had slowly drawn inward… not stepping out of the house for days together… Yes, as I said, the excessive focus on evil people and evil world outside had turned him depressed.

Our visit, this morning, was our bit of helping the gentle soul who we had looked up to  for long. We were at his residence for quite a while… He seemed extremely happy to see us, listen to us… Not sounding very preachy, we tried to spread a little spark… “I am going to wish you ‘Good Morning’ from tomorrow,” the gentleman promised us from an honest space…

“Yes Sir, that’s the only way to find goodness outside,” I added…

Tomorrow will, always, be a new day, if we choose to… It’s not our mission to eradicate darkness from this world. We are here on a mission to light a small candle, you see.

Today is also the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi… Love is more powerful than hatred… Goodness is more powerful than evil. Bapu’s life is a lasting testimony. An inspiring one!

Another gentle soul – Abraham Lincoln - was remembered by me while talking to two other friends of mine, this morning. The discussion centered around their college-going children… How Covid had brought about unusual habits in young kids… Many of them still hate attending offline classes… Some of them are not at all aware of their syllabus… Text books seem extinct… Writing notes and solving sums seem extinct habits, too. I said to my friends, “My day starts with this sudden ‘culture shock’… and I, too, tend to slip into a gloom. But, then, I try to shake off my gloom and continue looking at the sunny side of the situation”…

I shared with my friends, how, a month ago, the father of a second-year-BBA student (from one of India’s premier institution) had colourfully conveyed his feelings to me. This gentleman held a good position in a large organization and climbed to that position through the good-old way of burning the candle at both ends. As most parents do, this father, too, had seen how his own son was going about his ‘management studies’… He had made a gentle request to me: “And Sir, teach him to put his pen to paper!”

Of all the things in the world!!!

Yes, this morning I remembered Abraham Lincoln’s famous letter to his son’s teacher. Here I share it, along with some powerful quotes from this gentle soul…

Hope you smile and do tomorrow morning, what is always prescribed to be done - to do away your depression:

“No matter how you feel each morning, you better get up, dress up and show up.”

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic.: pixabay

 

Videos: 1. Eagle's Fly24 2. Quotes