Boundaries

BOUNDARIES


“Defeat is not bitter until you swallow it”-
Joe Clark


“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose-a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye”
- (Frankenstein) Mary Shelley

Attitude is one of those few accepted words which have no fortune of consummation.

Steve Jobs, the founder and CEO of Apple and Pixar, was a college dropout, had worked on his projects by selling tin cans. He and Steve Wozinak set up the company in 1976, facing a lot of resistance. Jobs was fired from his company in 1986. He was back on streets. 3 months later Pixar is born. His ever burning flame of passion has never abated. His genius again came forth with the introduction of I-pod and I-tunes.
The heroes above…attitude and ambition.

The world has seen many such great personalities. The likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Jack Welch, Narayana Murthy so on, are worth reading about.

Attitude chisels success out of a rock. After all, excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude. It is the attitude that makes us either the winner or the loser. The attitude brings in such profound and intense belief that everything that we pursue makes it "do-able". The British could have never believed that a fragile frame, half covered, without any weapons can fuel a freedom struggle by pursuing Non- violence or 'Satyagraha' and drive the emotions of the illiterate Indians to throw the British regime out of India. It was that "belief", the conviction and the most importantly "the commitment". It is promise which is made to "oneself" and to others. That's attitude.

"It is your attitude more than your aptitude that will determine your altitude"- Gary.V.Carter

We see people around us, all pretending to live, try very hard don't they?
We sometimes feel out of a place, as an oddity to the scene playing...until we discover the abode which was meant for us, something our own, something which was of us.

It is believed that artists and writers lead the most consummate lives, for they know of no boundaries in their profession and there is none to limit them, and for these are the talents not every one has and the ones who possess them realize them better and easier than others who maybe of a different class of itinerants on this path leading to ecstasy. In practical terms, Creativity and Innovation can be applied in every aspect of "doing things". Be it a writer, painter, theatre artist, corporate citizen, software programmer, architect or even a politician. The premise is "the sole purpose" of "doing things" and the benefit of doing things for self and the society as a whole. Each one of us has the responsibility to shoulder to contribute with that stretch of creativity and innovation.

The question is purpose. Are we pursuing it with that single minded dedication to achieve it or are we simple procrastinators putting it off for tomorrow or somebody else to take care of it. Have we defined the purpose of our doing it and are we adding value to it? Or are we living in a world of 'Make belief". The problem we face is that of lack of purpose and in absence of a worthwhile purpose. We follow a path called "unconventional" or "radical" which is neither of any benefit to self or to the society at large. It is such a sad sight to see young minds drifting away, despite the opportunities knocking at their doors loudly, screaming for them to "focus, innovate and commit" and to see them pursuing mundane and beaten paths, by personifying the "radicalism", by dressing themselves “unconventionally" and contradicting conventions in the name of being unconventional and drawing a blank.

What are we a worth of? How to realize what we were meant to be?

Emerson says:
“I shun father, mother and wife and brothers when my genius calls me.
I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is not an apology, but a life. It is for itself and not for a spectacle.”

The problem is the human race is suffering from a contagious and deadly disease of fear and intimidation and fear of failure. Defeat maybe temporary, but giving up is what makes it permanent.

We intend to reject our thoughts because after all, they are our own. We do not dare to say ‘I think’, but we like getting carried away by the current. Is it the fear of commitment? Is it the fear of sacrifice? Or is it that we were manufactured to be lazy?
The solution is a 3 word mantra-‘aim, focus and belief’, the solution to this reek of the lack of individualism, lack of faith. Our faith and perseverance shall reinforce our personality.

"Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you will die today"
James Dean

Many at NITC look and feign frustration, cloaking themselves in hopelessness. But this is only due to the lack of ambition, a solid attitude and commitment. Anywhere is paradise; it’s only up to us. I do not wish to encourage effrontery in attitude, but in fact to show that in being unconventional (pursuing your expertise) you are doing nothing wrong. Suppressing your genius at the command of a stranger is stupidity. But beware, your path is yours. It was meant to be lonely. But timidity is no solution, it fact it’s a burgeoning problem.
Individuality comes into picture here. We must always insist on ourselves, never to ape.


Emerson says:
“Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare”

There would be no expectations from a generation if we do not live our terms of our innate lives, than living as a work machine to follow commands from the society.
Again I stress that I do not mean we detach from the society. We only need to free our minds. But in the end, it’s our belief that builds it all.
An attitude or aims to start with, focus to achieve the milestones and belief for our nourishment.
We must realize that the keys to our manacles are in our own hands, only if we could free our minds, we shall see that there was never a word called ‘boundary’.
Let us remember,

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all"- Oscar Wilde.

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but it is too low and we reach it" - Michelangelo

We, the youth of today are capable of achieving the highest as the opportunities are all around. The technology, the understanding, is with us. All we need is to re look at ourselves, redefine our “purpose", bring in the focus and the commitment. In other words, we need to redress our attitude for doing the right things, which is self satisfying with the topping of excellence and purpose and rededicate ourselves.

Finally I leave you with a thought:

“Beware of the tyranny of making small change to small things. Rather make big changes to big things"-
Roger Enrico- Former Chairman- PepsiCo



-Adhikarla Saket Kashyap
S5, CE

sak_saket@yahoo.co.in