Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Nishant Joshi I f a young-one asked me, what is the most valuable lesson I have for them, today, I would give them this: “Don’t miss the forest for the trees.” It means, see the ‘Big Picture’, always. Often, working in a team – be it at job or home, be it at organizing events or sports, be it at business or religion – wherever and whenever we have to work with people, in teams, it is very, very important to understand the human nature... That, different people have different opinions... they have a huge need to be recognized, validated... That, they have egoes of their own, and their insecurities, too... Many of them have a dying need for appreciation, and many of them have a crazy greed for i mportance .. Some want to hog limelight, some like to bask in the shadow... Some are so insecure that they seldom share  knowledge , seldom groom or empower others... Some are exactly opposite they keep nothing to themselves, they build people... Some want...

I mpatience hurts. It hurts badly. When others react and behave impatiently, we do not like it… We brood, cry and sulk. Mostly, when it comes from people who are our superiors – like parents, teachers, principals, bosses or any people in authority. We are unable to express our displeasure and disapproval so easily with them… So, we tend to suppress our feelings, bottle up and brood… keep the anger to boil inside, and then, blast it out somewhere else, on some of our own soft targets! When our doctors, teachers, advocates, parish priests, and parents, constantly, react to us with impatience, we think hundred times before we open our mouths before them… In fact, we avoid them… We anticipate their reaction at slightest provocation, a small slip from our end… and we block ourselves from them! All of us have, at least, some people in our lives who are chronically impatient. Most of these people are unavoidable… and, therefore, we have no option ...