View :
Wise Men before us have said, “The Path You Choose to Take, Makes You What You Are.” There are a few of us who live a life of meritorious academics, towering grade points and are adored students in the faculty circles. They invite the envy of a lot of peers who want to be like them. They have, what most of the others crave for. However one day one such topper tells me “I wish I had a life like you, full of freedom and expression, I chose to leave all this when I sought academic excellence.” I told him, The path he chose made him, what he was now.
Counter View:
Recently, I happened to see a movie, which challenges the above general convention and remarks “The path you choose to leave makes you what you are.” On the surface, one doesn’t find much difference between the two lines but look beyond and you will spot subtleties hidden. I try to explain the difference through another incident. A friend of mine who himself admits that he lives a wasted life, told me “Dude, I did not choose this kind of life for me, all I knew was what I didn’t want. After three years of toil, I didn’t want any more academic pressure, no more exam deadlines and forced midnight sittings”. The path he wanted to leave had made him what he had become now.
My Dilemma:
I talked to myself; There are two kinds of people in college. Ones who think ahead and work for it and there are others who know what they don’t want from their experiences and stay away from it. I asked myself, so in which group do I belong? Do I know what I want from life? I had ambiguous answers like I want to be successful, well known, rich etc. Then I thought about what I didn’t want. The answers this time were a struggling future, harmful addictions etc. I neither exactly knew what I wanted, nor I knew what I did not want. In simple words, I was confused.
The Way Out:
There was a Almighty King. He gave everyone in his kingdom a chance to explore beyond his kingdom by sharing his riches with all. An opportunity to discover and embark on a journey where one could choose his own direction. The opportunity came with one rider though. The king could call anyone back any time and they would have to return immediately to the comforts of his kingdom. There was no particular destination for all of them. All they knew was that they were free to take the journey wherever their heart wanted to go.
Some thought about where they wanted to go and tried to go there climbing mountains, braving deserts, crossing rivers searching for the place they wanted most but they forever thought there would be a place better than this somewhere else and they planned further and travelled further.
Some knew where they didn’t want to go, and ran away from such places as soon as they thought they were nearing it. They were happy living everywhere else.
And there were the third kind, who didn’t know much about the world. They just travelled every day, wide and far, stopping everyday for a break, drinking the surroundings, enjoying the trek, resolving stupid mysteries and allowing themselves a deep breath of happiness whenever they saw a beautiful place making them feel happy. For they believed the King wanted them to live the journey and find the destination for themselves, rather than pick a destination and live the journey finding it.
The Realisation :
Whenever I am confused about the road I have to take, I neither choose a road advised, nor take a road not maligned. I make a road of my own and feel good about it for I’m the one who is doing it. It might lead to nowhere, but it still would be a place where nobody has gone before.
Aeshverya Jain,
3rd Yr
