SHARED THOUGHTS... 23.03.12.
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Sense of Purpose.
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I read a facebook comment from my nephew yesterday, that read.."the man who forgives is far stronger than the one who fights”…
I replied, “not always”. Let me explain.
The man who forgives may be strong.. but history is replete with tales of those men who fight showing greater strength of character than merely forgiving in meek silence. Men who have been insulted, humiliated, or simply felt bad; men who suffered loss of self respect ; which ignites a spark within, the spark to restore all that is lost; once this is ignited, in turn it sets on fire, a sense of purpose; this is what makes a man fight; the man who fights for what he believes is his rightful dues.
The man who forgives has no sense of purpose, perhaps. But the man who fights has a sense of purpose. Here, fight need not be taken literally. Yet, fight it is, when that sense of purpose is ignited. He is angry. He anger is contagious. The cause of his anger is injustice.
He channelizes his anger to a 'sense of purpose'.
Fanatics or those branded as ‘terrorists’ who are brain washed by those religious hard line lunatics, have such a deep sense of purpose instilled in them, albeit negatively charged. This sense of purpose is deep rooted
The Teleban have their own agenda, which they believe so fiercely that their life is one of deep conviction in their sense of purpose. “Mission Accomplished” the infamous wishful thinking of an exhausted, fatigued and ‘bushed’ up US Army, can never be a reality before this deep sense of purpose – right or wrong. This is the strength behind a sense of purpose.
We have seen it in Afghanistan where the might of Russian army, with no sense of purpose, armed only with ‘orders’, were no match to the fierce local tribesmen angered by the invasion of their motherland.
My friend Jimmy has shared his thoughts on this subject thus.
Thrown out of his own company, Steve Jobs was a broken man. There was great anger simmering inside him for he believed injustice had happened to him. His comeback to Apple and the heights they achieved, after his re-instatement, is the stuff legends are made of. I believe his comeback is the greatest comeback ever in corporate history. He too channelized his anger to a 'sense of purpose'.
My friend was on a visit to see his parents in Chennai. Last evening he was chatting with his father about the turning point in his life. He shared, it was when he was insulted by his cousin. Till then, his father used to be a satisfied nice guy. The insult fired him up. He became ambitious. He channelized his anger to a 'sense of purpose'. He became successful beyond any wildest imagination.
My mind runs to the scene in Richard Attenborough's all time classic film 'Mahatma Gandhi' when Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thrown out of the train in-spite of a valid ticket. As the camera panned Gandhi's face (deftly played by Ben Kingsley), I felt his anger. For a few moments I could feel that anger becoming mine too. I felt like getting up from my seat, punching that TC on his face. I could feel the audience feeling that anger too. Gandhi however, did nothing like that. The way coal becomes diamond under pressure, in those moments I felt the regular Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (the coal) transforming into Mahatma Gandhi (one of the most precious diamond humanity has ever experienced). Without arms and ammunition, in a loin cloth and a stick, that simple man took on the might of the great British empire and made them leave India. He too was driven by a 'sense of purpose'.
Martin Luther King Jr, the greatest social reformer in US, was distressed and angered by the atrocities on coloured people. He decided to wage a war against the injustices being carried out. His speech 'I have a dream...' is one of the most fantastic speech the world has ever heard. He united US and its people into 'one'. He too was driven by a 'sense of purpose'.
India was not given the technology for nuclear power even after being promised. A few American counterparts laughed at our scientists when we reminded them about their promise. This greatly angered our team of scientists and we developed our own technology. Even today, we are one of the rare few countries in the world that has developed its own indigenous nuclear power technology. Those scientists too are driven by a 'sense of purpose'.
Spurned by his own wife, feeling humiliated and angry Tulsidas decided to prove his worth. He went on to write Ram Charit Manas, one of the greatest Hindu religious texts. He too was driven by a 'sense of purpose'.
Many path makers and path breakers have felt great anger because something greatly disturbed them.
Path makers and path breakers, do not waste their anger by screaming, shouting, threatening, ranting, destroying or damaging things. Nor do they waste their anger by hurting themselves or others. Nor do they waste their anger by self destructive acts and habits. They do not become raving lunatics because of their anger.
They channelize their anger! They discover themselves because of their anger. They give a purpose to their anger. They lift themselves because of their anger. Their anger is like the sun that provides 'life'. Their anger gives them the awareness, focus and the drive to fix what is wrong.
Sometimes there is 'wrong' within. Sometimes the 'wrong' is in the world outside. May 'your' anger fix at least one 'wrong' anywhere. May you discover yourself in the process. Are you ready for this? Your own greatness awaits you...
People like you and me too feel great anger when something disturbs us. You have deeply felt this anger sometimes, haven't you? I have !
Sometimes when we have not got our due. Sometimes when things did not happen the way they should have happened. Sometimes at the way politicians loot our country. Sometimes when people allow themselves to be exploited. Sometimes when our loved ones mess up their life. Sometimes when people act irresponsibly. So on and so forth.
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I can boldly say to all those who have experienced in however small ways, this sense of anger, loss of self respect, not getting what is fair, just making you feel bad at the end of it all… stand up and fight. To forgive is divine, but to fight with a (justifiable) sense of purpose, is our birth right that cannot be and should not be forfeited.
Right now, I am myself waging my own small battle with a sense of purpose, to restore my self respect before those who thought they saw the last of me, in Kuwait, 5 years back.
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You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think, can do nothing for them.
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People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel. … how very true.
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MOHANDAS. KP.
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