The Year That TAUGHT

With 2008 coming to an end, most of us seem to be breathing a sigh of relief. Most of us have been complaining of this year, which is about to fly by in another 2 days and will bring to us a new morning, the same sun but with a new ray of hope to it. However, paradoxically, though we and this year witnessed some of the worst things, those bad memories will erase out within the next two days and will leave us with some new experiences and new days. So now that we are almost about to cross the finish line of this year's not so happening race, why not look back at some things that happened.

Most of my friends, acquaintances and people I know say that 2008 was a particularly bad year. Not only did the global village face some of the biggest crises, even our personal lives went through alot. I won't lie, I too saw some random events happening in my personal life that left me shattered for a while. Well, again to be honest, I too am pretty happy that this year is coming to an end. Coming to the point when many things happened, not only did the financial crunch strike, which left many devastated and dejected faces; the crime scene too went to all extents. I feel that this year there were too many murders, rapes and all the crimes; with terrosist attacks topping the charts. In fact, if noticed, our enviorment also seems not to be with us. Natural calamities causing unnatural deaths also happened. However, the good news seems that the coming year might not be that bad. How do I know that? Well, like any other person, I browsed through some sites that have already started giving out predictions for the next year. In fact, one of the sites said that the coming year might act as the healer for the mishaps that occured this year. Now that is something I am not sure about. But given to the observations and analysis that I did based on whatever happened in my life and things that I saw, I am sure I can act as a balm for my wounds and heal them now. So why not share it with you guys. (Again, I don't know how many of you would read my post and even if you read, I don't know whether you would like to think the way I thought)

Anyways, now coming to the questions I shot to myself include:

• My Character (Character, as in the strength in my charcter and not the other way that we understand character)
• My Social Responsibility
• And the most important one, my responsibilty towards myself

Well, apart from these ones, I really can't think of any other questions right now. If any of you want to add some more questions, please go ahead and help me and the others, who read my post. When a year ends, it takes away everything it gave us in that year. But one thing unique about this year is that even though it will fade away with a new morning on the 1st of January 2009, it cannot wash away the experiences that we all witnessed. Because each experience is God's way or rather Life's way of teaching us who we are and what we are made of. So, now that we all have learnt something or the other and I can bet that we all actually have learnt something, why not put out learnings into practice, afterall what's learning without practicing it and practice makes a man perfect. This will help us to build our charcters and at the same time, will help us build a secured and better tomorrow. Afterall, it is all about we (WE)

Life's Calling

Remember the tagline of Bacardi "Life's Calling"....I guess yes. How true it is. I always like the advertisement because it is absolutely amazing but realizing the meaning is more blissful. Life is such a beauty, it has so much to offer. Cribbing over small things has always been a human tendency and it very much will exist in all of us. But realizing the worth of life and the various opportunities that it has to offer us makes life and existence all the more simple. There is so much happening in the world, in our personal lives that we generally land up seeing the dark side of everything. But barely do we see the silver lining. Learning to see the silver lining will help us. How, well that is something we would need to realize it ourself.

Let me just share my thoughts on how I see the silver lining about all the various problems that's going on in the world first and then I'll discuss about my personal life. Let's talk about the global economic slowdown. Major industries have been hit by it and people have limited scope now. But if you see the silver lining, people have more to think and more fields to explore. They can actually finally break the trends and create new trends by studying subjects that many tread to take up, by taking up jobs that were never explored. This will actually lead to various discoveries. What say, have you thought about it yet?

Next, the Mumbai blasts. We have always been abusing terrorists and saying that what are they getting by doing all this. The only way of protesting that we know is by burning the wax. Will that help? No it will not because we need to help ourself. How? Well, we actually need to get emphathetic about the one's who are executing these tasks. There has to be a reason for it and as far as my understanding goes, it is definitely their poverty that makes them vulnerable to all these things. A man who cannot afford two time's meals for his family, will definitely not be educated and will be misguided. How can we help? We are the educated lot that earns a salary, survives in this world and also manages to indulge in luxuries. Why not get a bit selfless, not a lot to ask I guess. Let us see the silver lining and take up our responsibilities and avoid creating any more terrorists. Let us just help each other and see a better world. God that seems like a gyan huh?

Now in my personal life, I went through a major crisis, a crisis that I was not ready to face. But this crisis helped me be friends with complete strangers and I realized that life always gives us a second chance and that Life is surely calling us to take care of ourself and also of the one's around us. Moreover, it also is calling us to enjoy our lives and to "drink life to the brim". Now that the new year is around, cheers to all and enjoy life and always see the silver lining no matter what happens in your lives and in the world. Happy New Year to all. I know it's too early :-)