COAT OF MANY COLOURS
“The way I see it,
if you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up
with the rain.”
-
Dolly Parton
A couple
of days ago, a lady called me seeking some help for her young son, her only
child. She held a good position in a large organization. “Sir, my son is doing
his grade 10 in so and so school (one of the sought-after ones). He is
excellent in his studies, and communication… He is a voracious reader and
writes, too, well. But, I want him to learn how to structure his presentations
better, face interviews efficiently (for studies abroad, perhaps) and manage
some of his anxiety…”
From my
experience, parents of grade 10 students, normally, are so stuck with academics,
that they don’t think about things like soft skills. But, here was a mother,
who, apparently, wanted her young son to be ‘perfect’, the ‘best’. I tried to
calm her down saying, “Ma’am, from what you said, I understand, that your son is
a bright young boy. Trust me, he doesn’t need any additional help… Let him
figure out those few things on his own.”
But, the mother
was insistent. The next day, she came to see me along with her boy.
Incidentally, there were four of my ex-students (all of them between the age 45 and 50). All of them had come from financially-struggling families, studied in
local schools, done their higher studies alongside their jobs, and now were
doing exceptionally well in life. Organically, they got involved in the
discussion… They heard the mother and the son… and, unanimously, they said the
same thing: “Ma’am, he already possesses what you are looking for.”
The boy was
bright… He stole our hearts in those 20-30 minutes while he presented himself
before us…
Then, what was that
‘missing something’, which would make this young boy ‘perfect’ or ‘the best'?
I was thinking
about myself, and each of my so-called ‘successful’ ex-students were thinking
about themselves, and we wondered: “If we have come this far with literally
nothing at our disposal, won’t this kid go far despite having everything at his?”
Well, that’s how
parenting and schooling are around us…
FOMO -– fear of missing out -- drives one crazy… It reminds me of the line:
“Knee-deep in water;
yet, dying of thirst.”
Dolly
Parton was one of my favourite Country singers. Two days ago, when she passed away
at 80, several people were sharing one of her famous songs -– ‘Coat of Many
Colours’…
I, too, was
playing that song, here, over and over again… and, thinking about the clothes
(not coats) that we wore and sandals we wore or didn’t wear… as kids. And, yes,
I was thinking about these young kids
and their Mamas around us…
I had started this
Post with Dolly Parton’s words… Let me end, too, with them:
“The way I see it,
if you want the rainbow,
you gotta put up
with the rain.”
GERALD D’CUNHA
Pic.: 1, Michael Luenen/Pixabay 2. Paul Natkin/Getty Images
Video: Dolly Parton
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