Why do we have friends, enemies? Why do we marry? Why do we
earn money? Why do we celebrate festivals?
Once we
were just an embryo created by our parents. Our mom took good care of us,
without even seeing us, in the dark seclusion of her womb. A doctor brought us
out from the safe confinement, into this brand new world. We survived many
infections in our childhood, with the help of our mom and doctors. We were
amazed at everything we saw, as everything was new to us. Every moment was a
surprise. Once we started to talk, our father became our first teacher. We
tirelessly asked about the things that amazed us.
"Pa, what is that?"
"That’s a car"
"Pa...That?"
"That's a bus"
"That..."
"That's another bus"
"That..."
"That's a big bus...enough for now"
"That..."
"It’s a cow..."
"That..."
"That's all..."
"..."
"..."
...and a million other questions.
When
the horizon of curiosity extends, such that our parents find it difficult to
answer our questions, we get into a place called school. Where they 'trade' a
great deal of knowledge. We learn a lot from our teachers, friends and people
around us, in the fifteen years that followed. Each one around us taught us a
new thing about life, and we finally graduate teenage with the support of our
teachers and friends.
Next
part of our life came, where we used the experience and education to shape up
our future. Every minute, we compare ourselves with that of the world, and
advance in the direction of our dreams. We get married. We crave for social
respect, power and popularity. In that quest, sometimes we even forget the
people around us.
Next we
get aged. We lose the spark in us. At this point of time, money seems less
important. What matters the most is, "People". A famous Australian
politician, Katherine pritchard, said once,
"Don't sacrifice your life to work and ideals. The most
important thing in life is human relationships. I found that out too late"
If we
ask a person who's age is in 20's, "which is the most important thing in
life?" the most probable answer would be, "fun, education,
happiness" or any other combination of vocabularies representing the
previous three things. Similar question to a person in 40's would yield the
most probable answer as "Wealth and power".
But if
we ask an elderly person, the same question, the answer would be, "People
or human relationships". They are mostly said by elderly people, after all
their experiments and experiences with life. It’s the essence of their life.
The sad thing is, most of us realize it "Too late".
We
invented festivals, not to get glued to TV and rest, but the festivals are an excuse to get-together with our beloved ones, to feel the 'belongingness' of
each other.
'Friend'
is a relationship that doesn't need to be explained.
'Enemy'
is a relationship, that's as important as a 'friend'. If we hadn't had any enemies, or
anyone to compete with each other, we wouldn't have crossed even stone age.
Thus
the answer to all the questions in the beginning is, “The People". From
the moment we get into this world (And even before that) to the moment we rest
in peace, every one of us are dependent on every other around us, to survive.
And the name given to this dependency is, mother, father, wife, friends,
enemies, relatives, teachers, doctors, and so on and so forth.
World
as a whole is one single community. The human community. The people. It is the
'people' factor that directly or indirectly affects the way we are. A small
fight between, some farmer and his wife in some corner of the world, has the capability
to affect the world economy.
Imagine
if you can live in a world, where you are the only human alive. Respect and be
thankful for every last person on this earth, for making your life livable and
feel proud as you too are doing the same.
