ON CHILDREN
Kahlil Gibran
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
It’s hard to know what is best in life, all you can do is attempt to give others a feeling that you are searching for the best. More importantly, give yourself a confidence that you are doing the same! What is that others keep evaluating about you? Career, fashion, social status, partner and habitat probably. How do you satisfy all these? Often life turns to be a rat race to accomplish these needs. Well, crosscheck.
They are i) our needs ii) other’s demands for them to accept us
It is quite easy for those who really think deep, to answer this simple question. We often try to meet others’ demands for we THINK we need their acceptance in life. Well, being a SOCIAL ANIMAL, man needs acceptance in society. Now comes the question of how long is the list of acquaintances that you feel you should SATISFY?!
Parents, siblings [if any], grandparents, dad’s siblings, mom’s siblings, maternal and paternal Uncles and Aunts….woo…it’s not short. Next is the question, how many really bother to be receivers and Givers!
By the time we find a real, at least sensible answer for this question, a lion’s share of the life is gone! Even then, you will find someone crying because no piece of attention was granted to that, important one! It would be the real you. The unattended, unanswered, unrecognized and suppressed you. The passion would have died off, the longing for so many things would have left unnoticed. The greatest pain, you would ever feel. And the sore soul would grieve for all. But TIME would show no mercy. And all those DEMAND CREATING CROWD, all the same, would have lost lives living similar pain.
Friends, fathers, mothers, siblings and everyone…I might sound a little HEARTLESS…. But this is a humble suggestion, rather a thought of mine that I would like to share. You shall find the way hard, but the destination- a better way of life. I speak no philosophy but simple truth that we all forget. I promise no easy way to live, but a truth I have felt helpful in life. So when you look into your heart…see yourself and when you look into other’s heart, see THEM.
