Please do
not bother much about the title of this article; we will talk about it later in
this series. Please also do not bother about the fancy looking number appearing
above; it is for our records only.
A friend of
mine, Girish is known for his habit of doing the jobs he has in his hands with the
best of his ability and never leaving them incomplete. His son, Shashank,
however, is his opposite. Shashank is very inconsistent in his working style and
is highly unpredictable. He surprises everybody by leaving a job he is doing
even when it is about to be completed and switching over to some other thing
that may fascinate him.
The other
day Girish told me that he had given up all his efforts of helping his son mend
his ways as that was becoming very frustrating for his son as well as him. He
further told me that he apprehended that his persistent efforts could harm his
son instead of benefitting him, “Not everybody can do everything”, he said. I
did not respond. Girish, looked satisfied because he was well aware of my habit
of not reacting immediately to unpleasant matters that I was concerned about.
The thought
of leaving a job incomplete, coming from my friend, Girish, disturbed me.
Three days
later I said to Girish, “You might have a valid ground for not pestering your
son too much to make him change his ways. However, perhaps, there must also be
some reasons for your failing to become
a role model for your son and making him learn that the job in hand must be
accomplished. In you, your son had an opportunity that he could not make use
of, but your son’s son or daughter will not have any such opportunity; that is
what I cannot take my mind away from. To pass on the things we have learned in
our life, the hard way, to the next generations is our duty. Isn’t it?”
I continued,
“Maybe, you would like to be stricter with yourself for completing the jobs you
have with you, especially pertaining to your family. Maybe you can help your
son in some other matters that he finds to be difficult for him. There may be
things that should be thought about and efforts that could be made. I strongly
feel that giving up things that may benefit our future generations is not a
welcome thought.”
The stories
based on the theme of man’s duty never have a disappointing finish.
[This
series is being written and presented by Promod Kumar Sharma, the author of “Mahatma
A Scientist of the Intuitively Obvious” & “In Search of Our Wonderful Words”.
This series shall be published only on this site.]
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