Writings , Writers, Movies, People...

anything that changed your perspective

We have all read some book or article that changed the way we looked at the
world in working. There is a whole genre of self -help books that teaches you how
to be more effective, more loved by your colleagues, win friends easily etc etc. And
there are some which just changes you as a person or your whole outlook on life
when you are at a very confused state and how to go on from there on with no
looking back.
Now that's taking a very one-sided stand and on careful thought, for some a less
costly exercise does the trick. Some are lucky to have the support and much
needed guidance from friends and family. They either give you the necessary
distraction or help you figure out things. None of those came to work for me.
Because the questions I had were too abstract for me to even figure out as to
what they were and when I tried to pose those questions to my closest friends: my
mom and my best friend at college, my mom was startled at the kind of things I
was delving into and my friend was clueless because he had never ever come to
think of those. My priorities in life were certainly disturbed since an early age
and I still thank myself for not having messed up with my studies during high
school.
What the eff were those questions? I will deliberate further. . . (this was meant to
be a blog. . . sorry for the verbosity. This one is meant for a very patient reading
and if you have come so far; Thank you for patience, can I get some more? )
I had come to establish a very pessimistic view of the world since an early age
because of the kind of injustice that was/is prevalent in our society. Most of the
times it hurt to hear the stories of alleged excesses committed by both security
forces and militants. Besides the newspapers were filled with reports to make you
sulk for the entire day and beyond. In the age of adolescence, the environment in
Manipur seemed so wrong and I lacked the street-smartness to brush them aside
and carry on with my tasks; they lingered on in my sub-conscious.
The period of adolescence is where one forms a lot of opinion on many subjects
and Justice and Love were words that I had a strong feeling for. Serendipitously, I
came across this book called " The idea of Justice" by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.
I grabbed it instantly and thought this was my saving moment for I would figure
out a lot of what I did not know earlier. The book was too costly a price for what I
learnt though but I had promised I would complete reading it someday. This was
not for amateurs but for those seriously involved with law and social justice or
ones with a high IQ level. But it gave me the seed of thought : That one cannot
impose binary logic into areas like social justice and see it only from the prism of
right or wrong. That for a problem there can be many ideas of fairness i. e. many
"rights" can exist simultaneously. Not convinced, try out this fictitious example:
A group of kids are playing on a railway track and there is one kid who is playing
alone near a long unused railway track. You are the driver of this fast
approaching train and despite all warnings the group of kids are least distracted
from their merriment. You have come so close that even if you stop the train you
cannot stop an accident from happening. You have two choices: 1) to divert the
train to the unused track and kill the one child playing there 2) to continue on
track and kill the group of children. What will you do?
There is a legitimate basis of choosing the first option, you want to save more
lives. Agree? But there is a strong argument for choice 2 also. Perhaps the other
kid playing alone was doing so because he/she thought that it was safe to play on
the long unused track since there won't be any trains coming in. In short, she was
doing the right thing while the other group of children were not. Wi ll you change
your answer now? I changed mine. . . . the whole exercise was just to exemplify that
there can be many "rights" to a problem.
Lesson learnt: I chose the 2nd option. Fairness ( not punishment) is important to
me. There is no such thing as right or wrong but the idea of right or wrong
depends on WHO YOU ARE and your course of action depends on whether you will
be able to hold firmly to your stand in your own court. Justice is fairness and
fairness is a subjective word.
I cannot talk more about the book; after a few pages, the level of abstraction the
book discussed was beyond my comprehension.
Next question, What is LOVE?
Ans: Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more. . . . . . . Lol
The one book that help me truly understand the notion of love was this book " The
road less travelled" by Scott Peck. If you want to understand love, understand it
first from unconditional love and the first person who loves you unconditionally is
your mother. No surprises there!! He completely debunks the myth of romantic
love for the unconditional love offered by one's mother is no romantic love but a
love coming out of action: her care provides us with the environment which
allows us to grow as human beings. And true love enables one's personal growth.
Beyond that what I gathered from the book was that before seeking love from
someone else or confessing love for someone else, one has to find love within
oneself. Individualism can be a good exercise to promote one's self growth. Only
strong entities can fall in love, for t rue love should lead to personal growth of
both individuals. Personal growth comes from Actions they do for one another.
Love is Action. . The later part of the book discusses such radical thoughts as " you
may be born from your mother's womb but you are a separate independent entity
unto yourself". . Enuff said.
The last book I am discussing changed my views on innovation and
entrepreneurship. This is by the same title " Innovation and Entrepreneurship"
by Peter Drucker. For starts, entrepreneurship is not a personality trait.
Entrepreneurs see changes and respond to opportunity; it could be an inculcated
thought process. Entrepreneurship without innovation is trading, and innovation
without entrepreneurship is creativity. Successful entrepreneurs take calculated
risks and they are not risk takers per se. Innovation need not be a bright idea; it
could at times simply imply doing things better than the rest. This book tells you
where to look for innovation. I realized ours is a society that needs full of
innovators: not just of the business kind but social and spiritual as well.
Getting too long I will finish mine here. Do share some of your own moments where it felt like a
moment of truth.