OVER- AMBITION TAKES AWAY THE CHARM OF LIFE

There is a by-story of pigs being possessed by the evil spirit in the man who was healed by Jesus. A small pig was running along and asked a ‘silly question’ to the older pig running with it: “Why are we running so fast?”  The answer was “I don’t know, but everyone is running so also us.” The next question was, “Where are we running to?” and the answer was, “you silly, don’t ask questions, just run along with others.” The end was drowning in the sea.  (If you are not familiar with the story, may I suggest you to read:        St. Matthew 8: 30-32)

             

We are so entangled in the rat-race of life that we are not permitted to ask the ‘why’ and ‘where’ and end up with the inevitable and ultimate fate of our race in life. As generations go by, the pressure on life is increasing.  I still remember my teacher saying in the High School class: “Student life is the best time for you to enjoy life. Once you reach the arena of life – from looking for a job to building your career, family etc. - you cannot escape the pressures of life”  I don’t think any teacher will say this even to a 3 year old in the Nursery Class. Words such as ‘learn’, ‘excel’, ‘compete’, ‘defeat the other’, ‘grab the opportunity ignoring the other’ etc. are pumped into the brain of the child. The child is expected to ‘learn’ and ‘only learn’.  

The whole society is injecting ambition in us. As someone has put it, “Ambition means a conflict, ambition means that whatsoever you are, you are wrong - you have to be somewhere else.  Wherever you are, you are wrong - you have to be somewhere else.  A constant madness to be somewhere else, to be somebody else, is what ambition is.”  Ambition in life has no limits and the end result is hypertension and depression which lead to physical and mental wreckage.  An over-ambitious person is always unhappy and he/she cannot enjoy life at all. An ambitious person always project into the future and always shall be anxious about the things that can come up in life. He/she can live in the present.  This is what Jesus reminds when he says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear...  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them…   See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?   So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  … Your heavenly Father knows that you need them. (St. Mtt. 6:25-32)  

There is a Mulla story: Mulla Nasrudin was walking with his two children when some one asked, "How old are they?"  He answered, "the Doctor is five and the lawyer is seven." Already the future of the children is fixed in the mind of the father.  The children have no choice. A community is meant to help discover the child's abilities and promote his/her blooming.  It will not only give them directions but give them all support to be themselves.  Only when this happen can we expect to have a healthy future for the community. 

A STORY WORTH SHARING

One young man went to apply for a managerial position in a big company. He passed the initial interview, and now would meet the director for the final interview.

The director discovered from his CV that the youth's academic achievements were excellent. He asked, "Did you obtain any scholarships in school?" the youth answered "no".  

Who paid for your school fees? 

"Parents ", he replied. 

"Where do they work?"

"They work as clothes cleaners.”

The director requested the youth to show his hands. The youth showed a pair of hands that were smooth and perfect.

"Have you ever helped your parents wash the clothes?"

"Never, my parents always wanted me to study and read more books. Besides, my parents can wash clothes faster than me.

The director said, "I have a request. When you go home today, go and clean your parents’ hands, and then see me tomorrow morning.

The youth felt dejected. When he went back home, he asked his parents to let him clean their hands. His parents felt strange, happy but with mixed feelings, they showed their hands to their son.

The youth cleaned their hands slowly. His tear fell as he did that. It was the first time he noticed that his parents’ hands were so wrinkled, and there were so many bruises in their hands. Some bruises were so painful that they winced when he touched it.

This was the first time the youth realized that it was this pair of hands that washed the clothes everyday to enable him to pay the school fees. The bruises in the hands were the price that the parents had to pay for his education, his school activities and his future.

After cleaning his parents’ hands, the youth quietly washed all the remaining clothes for them.

That night, parents and son talked for a very long time.

Next morning, the youth went to the Director's office.

The Director noticed the tears in the youth's eyes, when he asked: "Can you tell me what have you done and learned yesterday in your house?"

The youth answered," I cleaned my parents hand, and also finished cleaning all the remaining clothes. I now know what appreciation is. Without my parents, I would not be who I am today. By helping my parents, only now do I realize how difficult and tough it is to get something done on your own. And I have come to appreciate the importance and value of helping one’s family.

The director said, "This is what I am looking for in a manager. I want to recruit a person who can appreciate the help of others, a person who knows the sufferings of others to get things done, and a person who would not put money as his only goal in life.”

“You are hired.”

A child, who has been protected and habitually given whatever he wanted, would develop an "entitlement mentality" and would always put himself first. He would be ignorant of his parent's efforts. If we are this kind of protective parents, are we really showing love or are we destroying our children instead?

You can let your child live in a big house, eat a good meal, learn piano, watch on a big screen TV. But when you are cutting grass, please let them experience it. After a meal, let them wash their plates and bowls together with their brothers and sisters. It is not because you do not have money to hire a maid, but it is because you want to love them in a right way. You want them to understand, no matter how rich their parents are, one day their hair will grow grey, same as the parent of that young person. The most important thing is your child learns how to appreciate the effort and experience the difficulty and learns the ability to work with others to get things done.

DWELLING PLACE OR JUNK YARDS?

The consumerist world tempts us to purchase the maximum. The business world uses all gimmicks to attract (rather trap) the customers to their products.  Consumer producers, with the help of advertising agencies and marketing people, push their product in the market.  They play the game in such a way that the consumer feels miserable without the product they see in the media.  Many things which are not at all essential or useful are being bought by the ‘victims’.  Depending on the buying power, we tend to fall prey to the trend of purchasing. If we are willing to look at the things we have in our houses, we will find that many of the things we have in our houses are not used even once. For instance, washing machines in some houses are kept as an ornament while they hire someone to wash their clothes, sewing machines which are never touched, clothes packets which are never opened or used only once (earlier days it was the weakness of the ladies, now it is being passed on to men as well), utensils, kitchen gadgets like toasters, wet grinders, etc.  Some of the houses are filled with ‘antiques’ (things they have bought 30 or 40 years ago giving them ‘nostalgic memories’) but covered with dust. Some make their houses museum or exhibition ground forgetting the fact that the things in those places are brushed and kept tidy frequently if not every day. To make the things worse, most have the tendency to store away the broken things and empty cartons and packets thinking that it can be used some other time (that ‘some other time’ never happens or we forget where we have kept it when needs arise!) and as we get older, we will not have the health to keep the things tidy (that does not happen even during the younger days!)

The result of the ‘purchase mania’ is that our houses become ‘trash cans’, dumping grounds and junk yards of the ‘market’. To make the things worse, many are not willing to open the windows of the houses because of the fear of thieves. Many of these houses attract dust and dirt and the result is loss of fresh air.  The end result is people in those houses become sick – bronchitis, asthma etc. 

You have to learn to ask the following questions before you buy anything: “Do I need it? Is it absolutely essential? Do I have a storage space when it is unused? Am I healthy enough to clean the things, at least periodically, that are kept in my house?  The best thing that can be done is purchase the minimum, throw off the garbage maximum and make your house a fit place to live healthily.