Our Choice or Destiny??

One of man's pastimes which he naturally resorts to, is Retrospection and the most common question which one asks self is ... "What if I had.... ??" This is customised with all the suffixes in the world.

Kids: Though there isn't much kids can do about their questions, they do ask questions to self like... What if I had that bike?... or that toy? .. they are not mature enough to question their actions ... not that all adults are.

Teenagers: What if I had taken up the other course? What if I had said sorry to my friend at the right time?.. or more importantly in that age... What if I had proposed to "her" when i had the chance?

Adults: What if I had taken up that job? What What if I had bought that house? What if I hadn't lived my life the way i have??? ... there are too many complex questions which adults have...

I often wonder. How useful is Retrospection? Is it really worth asking these questions? 

Questioning your past actions, especially failures, can sometimes have a disastrous effect on your confidence, if not viewed in correct light. You start considering yourself as a good-for-nothing loser. Such self-inflicted inferiority complex can kill the drive of even the genuinely capable people.

So what should you do? Run away from facts? Coz its also very true that you learn from your past mistakes. Your experiences teach you what no school or university can teach. Doing a mistake might be considered stupid, but repeating it is a crime. Here I think discretion as to which actions to contemplate on and which to leave alone is necessary. And more significantly, it is vital that you view the events as a third person, with some detachment as emotions do not always help the cause.

I would really congratulate those people who somehow seem to take the correct roads in life and never feel the need to retrace their path to analyze where they went wrong. I guess this must be a very small, elite class and there would be no way of identifying them since such self questioning doesn't happen in public. What is it that they do right? It is said that our journey in life is full of choices we need to make. (don't worry I wont give you the gyaan from the Matrix; actually I don't remember what that old architect said) Even in the most difficult situations when we say that "i have no other choice", there is a choice; just that only the league of extra-ordinary gentlemen/women can see that or are in a position to see it as a choice and to do something about it. The lesser mortals take the easy way out often without realizing there is a tougher choice. 

In such cases you would most probably hear the argument that "I was destined to do it. Someone up there has already written it for me". Is this a sign of weakness we show by transferring the responsibility or blame on Destiny? Or is there some truth in the argument? 

Ideally, one should take one's decisions with so much conviction that even in case of failure you should not have second thoughts. You should shape your destiny rather than the destiny shaping you. To achieve this you need to be damn sure of what you want and (those who believe in Destiny) be convinced that this is his Destiny even before getting to see the results. 

I'm definitely not one of those ideal cases. Generally I'm pretty much confused when it comes to taking decisions, but I do take the responsibility and consider all options which my capacity permits me to. And after the decision is taken and the action done with, I ask God to support me and help me get the results. In case of success I never forget to thank Him and in case of failures I share the responsibility too :) .... placing the blame on my choices and thinking that I was destined to make that choice. This way I do not completely run away from my responsibility and at the same time I do not feel too bad about the situation. (how diplomatic..!!! )

On this note I'll end with a quote I found (thanks to google) by William Jennings Bryan -  

Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. 

If God was a shopkeeper...

Yesterday I got an sms from one of my friends, just one of those forwards saying... "If God was the shopkeeper and u went to buy something from me.. What would u buy and why?? "

Generally we just forward the forward and don't think twice about it. But this one set me thinking. If I could actually "buy" something from God, what would it be?? Well... if it was a wish that was granted, there is a world full of options, or maybe beyond that. But here I have to "buy" something. Since I am paying for it, I have to be very careful when choosing. There's a famous tag line .. There are some things money can't buy, for everything else there's MasterCard. So now I get a chance to buy some things which MasterCard can't buy for me. What would it be?

I can very well be selfish and ask for all the happiness and satisfaction is this world.. whatever that is... for my friend (since it was her question) and obviously for myself. But such opportunities are not be lost for doing some greater good. Looking at the current events I would definitely buy the guarantee that people will not die of bullets or bombs.  In this guarantee,  I would specifically ask God to cover only regional and religious terrorism. I would buy some Sanity for all fanatics in this world responsible for this. I admire and have great respect for such fanatics including Adolf Hitler, simply for their capacity to influence people. Unfortunately they have screwed up priorities and concepts and mislead masses. I will buy from God a brainwashing or cleaning solution to clean their fogged minds. But their power to influence people... that I'll keep intact. They can do great service to this world by leading people in the right direction. 

You'll say.. why take so much trouble?? Why not just buy peace and satisfaction and happiness for all the world? . There is a strong reason for this. I feel the very existence of human kind is based on paucity of these things. People work and go about with their activities only to chase this mirage called happiness and satisfaction. So asking for complete satisfaction and happiness will in a way steal from the people, the very reason for their living. Asking for a completely peaceful world also doesn't make sense. Harmless bickering and arguments add spice to life. Healthy competition only fuels the human spirit to conquer unassailable pinnacles. 

So this is my answer to my friends SMS. Wasn't possible to reply through my phone and I couldn't find a better way than through my new blog :) Now just like any other forward I'm forwarding this to you. Do let me know. If God was the shopkeeper, what will you buy for me??

Finally I begin

Since a very long time I had been thinking of starting my blog. But Newton's law of inertia very well applies to intangible things and thus this delay in beginning. Though I read books regularly, writing is something which takes a bit of effort since you need to think a bit before you write. I envy those, whose minds just open up and thoughts flow out as words on the keyboard. 

It so happens that in the past 2 months I have been writing essays for my MBA applications. It's been quite a task since I hardly wrote any kind of prose after school.. which was almost 9 years ago. That's when I realised that, had I been blogging all this while, my task would have been easier. I guess writing regularly definitely keeps your grey cells active and flowing with ideas. Well... better late than never. 

Now that I decided to open a blog, I needed a title. 2 of my friends happened to be online and I asked for a suggestion. It was not such an important decision to make but I couldn't think of anything.. (nice start to blogging I must say!!). One of them suggested "So It Begins..". Its our favourite line from LOTR (the 2 towers) just before the battle of Helms Deep. Movies have such a huge impact on us....  I doubt if I remember even 5 words from my Electronics syllabus. Anyways... that's how I got the Blog title name and I finally began. 

I hope Newton's laws keep applying and inertia of motion keeps me going.