Work is Great only if it is done Greatly
अपितु, किन्तु, लेकिन, परन्तु; इन शब्दों का प्रयोग बहुत ही सावधानी पूर्वक करना चाहिए; ये शब्द विकल्पों के द्वार खोलते हैं और एक यौद्धा को चाहिए कि वह अपने विकल्पों के द्वार स्वयं अपने हाथों से बंद कर दे।
महाभारत (बी आर चोपडा)
These are appreciable words and I am also of the same opinion. No matter whether we are students or teachers, minors or guardians, doctors or businessmen; first we try to choose the most fascinating thing and if we fail to get the best we go for the second one. If we fail in getting something that we desire we feel depressed and don’t try to get it again. Only in some exceptional cases we find some determination and resolution to get that desired goal as in case of the people like Mahatma Gandhi who was determined to get freedom for India. Similarly once inspired APJ Abdul Kalam was determined to launch SLV and he got success ultimately. But in modern scenario, the youth get frustrated only after their first attempt and if they fail to achieve their goal they get themselves stacked in the category of frustrated lot. They don’t feel that slow and steady they are heading towards their target rather they are found saying ‘I can never crack it’, ‘hard luck’, ‘I can’t go for more labour than the last one’ etc. They never feel that they have already hit all the aspects of that field, they have studied everything related to their desired goal, and they have only a marginal difference to achieve their goal. Here I want to say that when you started your journey towards your goal you had little knowledge initially; but when you tried and failed you had already got something related to that target. It means less efforts are required to achieve your aim now. Here I would like to quote Steve Jobs who was fired from his own company “Apple” after ten years and he felt “So at 30 I was out, and very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire life was gone, and it was devastating.” Such is the thinking of modern youth. But Jobs didn’t stop here, he didn’t change his goal also, though he feels that “I was a public failure” yet he said “I still loved what I did.” So he continued doing efforts in the same field and developed the companies Pixar and Next and got such a success that he was called “Back to Apple”. Such must be the zeal of our youth. No ifs no buts. You’ve got to find what you love. Changing your goal once again leads you to the very beginning and you have to start from the base as fresher.
Many of my students ask me, “Sir, what is the surety that we will achieve our goal in the next effort?” I have only one answer to them that, “What is the surety that you will get your new goal?” If Mohammad Gori had decided to leave India and attacked some other ruler could he defeat Samrat Prathvi Raj Chauhan? No, he couldn’t and there would hardly be any possibility that he would defeat some other ruler too. He knew the strength of Prathvi Raj and prepared for only that; not only once but again and again and finally got success.
Our major problem is that our students don’t have their aims. They don’t have any future planning. When I ask many of them reply that they have not decided or they will study the subjects of their parents will. Here the question is whether these subjects will be studied by their parents or the students themselves. Parents should identify the actual interest of their child. They may take help of their teachers.
Steve Jobs, a man who changed the world as we knew it, used to look at his reflection in the mirror each morning and says to himself:
“If today was the last day of my life would I want to do what I’m about to do today?”
Think about the passion and love of this man towards life. He says that no work is great yet you do it with love and dedication. In this regard he further says:
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you’ve found it.”
No doubt, we in the core of our heart know very well whether the work we are going to do is according to our ability. We ourselves are the best assessors for us.
Nowadays C.B.S.E.’s S.G.A.I. is also a good initiative. Parents should understand that no stream is inferior and the best is required from the students in every field. Don’t assume that there is less scope in any of the streams. If the scope is less there will be less competition also; whereas students should understand that no subject is difficult. They should identify their own interest. If they are interested in a subject that they deem difficult they should try continuously for it. In this regard Martin Luther King Junior clearly said:
“If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
If we see the most discussed persons in the world we see that they had only single target and they tried for that with last bit of their strength. Einstein left his school as he was not interested in History. He was passionate about Mathematics. He tried for that and achieved his goal. One of the most famous romantic poets John Keats died at the age of 25 but he is still alive for his odes. At the age of 22 Richard Ebright excited the scientific world with his theory of how cell works. At the age mentioned above our students start trying to decide their goal and by that age the students of other countries have achieved their goals. It is a lacuna on the part of our education system also that when a student does not want to study a particular subject and he scores high in other subject; why such child is force to carry that subject till his Secondary Education. We should distribute the streams of education from the base level.
Students should set their goal first and then put their all efforts for achieving it. It should be responsibility of the parents to identify the talent of their children and guide them on the right path. Objectives should be clearly decided to achieve goal. As I previously said students should stop exploring options. They should have a clear target. It is better to travel in one boat; no matter how slow it is’; than searching a new boat once and again.
By: VIJAY JANGRA
M.A. English, B.Ed., LL.B.
