Effort

Vanakkam,

I know the title of the blog might tend to people off, or draw the curious onlooker to test waters with the first few lines. But for the lack of a better phrase to communicate the central message of my thoughts at the moment, I choose to retain the word at the centre of it all.

Was reading about some of the memorable Asians known around the world, and the list seemed fairly interesting, incomplete and diverse. For a reason imbibed in me by education, I was looking for similarities or patterns among the 10 individuals mentioned - and frankly couldnt really find any. The mental gymnastics although set me thinking about what qualifies these people so they are remembered after years of their most prominent times (sometimes for the wrong reasons) and if I could find those reasons, could I possibly emulate them or at least draw some inspiration.

And the answer lay in this one word - effort. To me, the effort made by these men rises them among men of equality. Talent, determination, intelligence, persistence, courage and other things probably are as important, but the true lever for each of these forces has to be the effort made by these men. Whether it be Myanmar's Suu Kyi or India' Gandhi - China's Mao or Singapore's own Lee Kuan Yew - or the hundreds of other inspriational people we know - without their effort at being what they wanted to be, there realyl wouldnt have been much. Stephen Hawking comes to my mind as an epitome of this - makign an effort. But probably no less is the effort of that granny in the village, who tries learning to read at age 70. So then if effort is the qualifier of men, why arent all men equal.

That is where the many other things become significant. What are you making an effort for. To build a home or to rent a condominium - to turn around a company or get a good-paying job - to make sense of love or to be in a relationship - to be keen or to get along. Whatever it is that makes you tick, I think the objective and the quality of effort go along with the definition if you had to use the concept as a differentiator among people. probably that explains why being more careful about our hygiene or being more fashionable also makes us happy. Its not about just the consequence of the choice, its the choice itself that matters. We choose to do some things a certain way, and thats our effort at life. Our effort at ourselves. And the results make us the unique individual that we are. The sum of many parts, which no one person can comprehend - our individuality remains elusive to most of us. And rightly so, else what would be the point of waking up a new day - making a new friend.

Hmm. . guess have blabbered enough. Just thought I will put thought on some silicon before I went to sleep. As I log off for now, am feeling an awesome sense of time, like I am floating in it at the moment, but I know I will be riding a force when I wake up tomorrow. Wanting to get to work, and moving things a little further and living my life a little more. Wanting to be with a few people more than others.

so much for an effort :)

cheers,
satish