Today, my friend and I were just discussing our old syllabi when something crept up. HISTORY!!
The question is, is more history necessarily better?
My opinion, NO. Its what you learn from the history, and not how much you learn. One may learn a million pages worth of history and imbibe almost nothing from it while another may read just one page and get whole universe of wisdom from it. Which is worth it?
There's this story that is pretty popular around here. There are these twins, one a very prosperous one and the other in utter poverty. One is a very decent and well- mannered guy while the other is drunkard and infamous. Once, they were interviewed about their conditions, both answers started with the same first lines, "Our father was a drunkard." But the next line made all the difference in their lives. The drunkard said,"I learned what he showed me.", while the other said," I learned from what he showed me." Its that small four letter word that made all the difference- "FROM"
I dont think I'll have to explain the story but I would like to extend this to our topic,history.
Its not the history that you learn but what you learn from the at history that makes the difference.
A Small Lesson from History..
A quiz not so well performed...
Had a quiz today and sadly we didn't hit the mark although we were expecting a good result. (we have no idea what went wrong). Well, all the complains aside, what I wanted to mention was my partner's reactions after the results were announced. He was very disappointed that we did not get on to the next round while I was enjoying the fact that we were the only ones who got the privilege of attending the quiz and getting a wonderful tour of the naval base (that was were the quiz was) an not to forget the wonderful snacks served afterwards. Considering the amount of knowledge gained and the good food, I would never say that it was a loss or a failure but a great success although I'm sure he would not agree with me!!!
Anyway, all I wanted to draw your attention to is the fact that one has to enjoy life, Every moment of it. Learn from the past, enjoy the present, don't be afraid of the future!!
Check these out..
Guys, please check out these poems by me and tell me what you think
Beauty Ignored
One Morning...
One is about the rain and its miseries
The other about success and the need for
simple yet daring."
The Beauty Ignored
The rain....
It showers from the heavens like nectar, livens up the earth.
Yet, it is very much ignored. A good many of us exclaim and are annoyed when it rains. We , many a times wish that it wouldn't rain. In fact, we find rain a something very unwelcome.
Still, it is in fact one of the essentials of life. A month without at least a shower would be a torture. The heat would be unbearable, the dust in the air at an all time high. Everything dries up and life starts shriveling. Yet, we find it annoying.
But Why?
I'm baffled too. That is why I present it before you. In this case, no number of cooks is "too many " to "spoil the broth". But one conclusion that I reached is that it is the emphasis on "formal" and "dignified" conduct. Don't ask me what is formal or dignified but these seems to be the limiting factors when it comes to enjoying life in its entirety. For example, today, me and my friends were walking along the road and the rain was so heavy that we were drenched in spite of the umbrella. Had we not had our bags with us we would have very gladly closed our umbrellas and would have enjoyed the "getting drenched" part a lot more. Still, along the way after sometime, somehow we started splashing water on each other and we were least bothered about the few onlookers along the road. We had a good time! I believe it is important to enjoy life, to its fullest; because you only get one chance.
So my sincere and humblest request, do give the little drops a thought once in a while.
By the way, please do check out this poem by me, Beauty Ignored
A Sudden Thought..
Today, our English teacher was taking class when she started talking about how we tend to do things just for the sake of it, just to stand with the crowd. All that was well, but what she said next struck me. " We sometimes regret doing them when we think back".
Well, this is the point I want you to think about. Have you ever felt a Deep regret about something and has it affected you?
Regret has the very undesirable effect of getting to your head. It is like a voice inside your head which echos on and on your inabilities, amplifying and bloating them up. It is like lead in a paper boat, a hole in a mighty ship. However mighty the ship be, it would eventually sink if not mended. Likewise, the mind weighed down by regret or its aftereffects would never be able to succeed unless it is completely torn off and burned to ashes.
Personally, my policy is to leave my past behind. Learn from it but not stare at it. Enjoy what can be enjoyed but not sit over those stinging thorns. Take the roses, learn to avoid the sharp tips next time. This way, one learns from bad experience and still doesn't feel slumped by your mistakes (as I have seen many are). That hit on the head, once in a while, is good... to wake you up from the dream to the reality and prompts you to take action. That way, failures will never be failures but reminders of what went wrong. The tests we take are milestones, milestones showing how far we are from our goals. Observe them carefully. If you find a decrease in performance, don't just push yourself harder. Stop. Sit. And analyze. Rash or unthoughtful actions never won the battle. But, the right balance between time spent on thinking and time spent acting is essential, as neither alone can do anything.
And here I stop , to act, and to leave you to think the rest...
Let me know your experiences and what you think about what I just expressed...
Any related comments are welcome. Also, I wanted to let everyone that, If you feel the need, feel free to express yourself anonymously ( This is especially to my "real life" friends). No hard feelings towards any commentators.....
A Confession
OK...
I confess..
I've been a bit greedy.
This coupled with some recent experiences urges me to make this post.
I've told a couple of people, friends and fellow bloggers, don't look for the rewards. Doing what you like is a reward in itself. Now, I can show you why!!!
Some advertising sites give incentives to make blog posts, like Adgitise. Well, I really wanted to upgrade a couple of things and was trying to find away to do so. So in a bid to make some extra cash, for a week or 2 I had posted daily, but now on looking back, I realise that some of those posts were not so powerful and were there just for being posted. This of course is not an acceptable scenario. So, I've decides to cut short the number of posts and make them more substantial.
In short, I'm going to sacrifice posting frequency for quality... (hopefully).
And this of course, is just one example out of many.
So basically, as far as I've observed, looking only for the reward has brought more downfalls than good. Keeping that balance between "Keeping your eyes on the ball" and "playing it for the fun of it" seems to be the definite and simple formula for success.
