Questions for myself

What are we afraid of?
Afraid that we may not be giving our best to our children
Afraid that we are not helping them realise their potential.
Afraid that they will not make the right choices
Afraid they will commit the same mistakes that we did
Afraid that we may be judged as inadequate parents
Afraid...
Afraid

What is fear that we use subtly and sometimes so blatantly?
Isn't this the fear that raised us?
Why pass it on to our future?
Why make our children a reflection of ourselves?
Can they never make mistakes? Should we never make mistakes?
Why teach righteousness, when nothing is black and white, and everything is in shades of gray?

Why this anger?
Where does it come from?
Who is it directed against?

What is education if it cannot make a person self confident?
Isn't education a system of comparison?
Are we teaching/learning life skills?
What use is this redundant education?

Where is this pursuit taking us if we cannot live this moment in happiness?
What is this happiness?
Is it a thing, a person, a job, a commitment, a fulfillment?

Am I defined by what I do now, or what I leave behind?

What am I?

Comments

  1. SaradhaNovember 30, 2009 at 11:46 PM

    hi sowmya..
    reading this post, got reminded of a story i read somewhere ( a story to a storyteller:)-)

    its about how a little boy who spilled the milk went on to become a world renowned scientist.

    He was then a five-year-old. As he was trying to remove a vessel of milk from
    the refrigerator he lost his grip on the vessel and it fell, spilling its contents
    all over the kitchen floor - a veritable sea of milk!

    When his mother came into the kitchen, instead of yelling at him, giving him a lecture, or punishing him she said, “Robert, what a great and wonderful
    mess you have made! I have rarely seen such a huge puddle of milk. Well, the damage has already been done. Would you like to get down and play in
    the milk for a few minutes before we clean it up?” Indeed, he did.

    After a few minutes his mother said, “You know, Robert, whenever you make a mess like this, eventually you have to clean it up and restore everything to its proper order. So, how would you like to do that? We could use a sponge, a
    towel, or a mop. Which do you prefer?” He chose the sponge and together they cleaned up the spilled milk.

    His mother then said, “You know, what we have here is a failed experiment in how to effectively carry a big vessel of milk with two tiny hands. Let's go out in the backyard and fill the vessel with water and see if you can discover a way to carry it without dropping it.” The little boy learned that if he grasped the vessel by balancing the weight in both the hands than over-burdening
    one of the hands, he could carry it without dropping it.

    The now renowned scientist, when only five learned that he needn't be afraid of making mistakes. Instead, he learned that mistakes were just
    opportunities for learning something new, which, after all, is what scientific experiments or life are all about. Even if the experiment 'doesn't work', we usually learn something valuable from it.

    As parents, each day of their lives they make deposits in the memory banks of their children. Parents and elders should be extremely conscious of what we are depositing into the minds of the little ones - after all, what we sow at five is what the children will reap for the rest of their lives. and for me it seems like Parenthood is more of chiseling ourselves ( a version upgrade basically),Parenthood is lead by example- i am inexperienced to even talk abt it.. but just felt like sharing..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anuradha ShankarDecember 1, 2009 at 1:06 AM

    hey sowmya, looks like you are in a really pensive mood.. guess all of us parents go through such things.... and even i wonder if there really are any answers.......

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chandrika ShubhamDecember 1, 2009 at 2:43 AM

    Parents have such fears for their children which make them pogessive about growing ones. How such fears can be overcomed is the most important question from my point of view. Really a good point to ponder. Best wishes.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lavanya SriramDecember 1, 2009 at 8:41 AM

    This echoes so many parents mindset.I guess we need to pass on the important and basic values in life which we feel are important and where we cannot leave them to make mistakes. We have to guide them there and in other things, we can allow them to make their own mistakes and learn from them.

    ReplyDelete

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