Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Reaching for the Stars and Smelling the Flowers

There is a long road ahead, a whole ton of stuff to learn and I aren't even half-way there. I feel old already thinking about all these. My lecturer used to say that we are not only studying for a certificate; if we are not cautious, we are bound to get a PHD, a Permanent Head Damage, that is. Similar to my studies, I also like to think that life is a whole learning experience and you will never learn enough; you will never be the finished product. We end our life without being complete. We all have a tendency to want so much from life, to be complete and successful, that we fall wayward, take the wrong easy path that eventually leads to self-destruction. We think that result is what counts, nothing else matters. And some easy, tangible gauges are the amount of money we earn annually, our positions in our organisation and the number of subordinates we command. All these lead to power. But is this what life is all about - the quest for power, for completeness? A poetic NS captain ended his letter to my department with these words: You may reach for the stars, but don't forget to smell the flowers on the ground. By the way, he was asking us to write off some money he owed the government. He has been out of job for a few years now. Life can so self-contradicting.

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