Noel Manuel
It is said that when we yield the power (will) to do something, there is nothing that can stop that power from reaching its destination. To possess the power (will) to deliver an outcome means to have the ability to control and direct our thoughts and actions in order to achieve that something we intend to do.
We all love to take control of situations. Be it in our personal life or professional life, we enjoy being at the helm of all circumstances. Irrespective of the destination that we arrive at, our idea, initially, is to be in the driver’s seat. But do we really possess the ability to control our thoughts and actions? If we have been successful in life through the ‘will’ we yield and thought that we had control over our thoughts and actions, we need to rethink again.
Having a control over our thoughts and actions does not necessarily help us reach our destination. It only weakens our morale. We are ultimate losers if we have failed to acknowledge the thoughts and actions of others. We may force ourselves to believe that control over our thoughts and actions have finally paid off. We further comprehend that this control has made us achieve what we set out to do and thus take pride to bask in the glory for the moment. Ultimately, it is the weakened will that would finally surface in our conscience to make us realize that the purpose of our objective still remains a distant will.
Respect for the actions and thoughts of others is the anecdote to ‘let me strengthen my will.’ It is not an obligatory circumstance nor is it a cowardly gesture to allow myself to be seen as a beaten and defeated soldier. The more I respect the power ‘will’ of others, the stronger and mightier my own power ‘will’ begins to take shape.
As a teacher, I’ve often come across some kids, who simply love to be pampered. They tell me that pampering is bad. It spoils the child and annoys the parents. But if we were to look at it from the positive angle of teaching, you and I would admit that pampering is indeed a blessing in disguise. We respect the actions and thoughts of others and in the process strengthen our own power ‘will.’ In reality, we reach our objective sooner than we know.
Take for instance the case of 8-year-old Jamie, who is a handicap. She was barely a year old, when an attack of polio, cost her her right leg. Her parents were shattered. Jamie understood how she was different from other children. My colleagues and myself, nonetheless, never made her feel that way. We ensured that she was given extra time for her class assignments and was excused for every little prank that she pulled on her friends. As we had expected, the other children of class 3 summed up our actions as being ‘biased.’
Jamie is now in class 8 and has been scoring the first position ever since. We had reached our objective, by respecting the actions and thoughts of Jamie. We had strengthened our ‘will’ and so was the ‘will’ of Jamie. She had the ‘will’ to do it and we had the ‘will’ to respect that ‘will.’
In life, we all have the will to be successful – be it monetarily, politically, socially, spiritually or physically. Our power (will) drives our mind, strength and determination towards our objective in life. But, in most cases the ‘will’ we possess is self and selfish. We set out to accomplish our own personal goals without giving attention to the thoughts and actions of others.
A man was close to the death bed of his wife. She had suffered a heart stroke and doctors had given up all hope. The well-to-do- businessman had earned and provided everything a wife could ask for and was prepared to do anything now to save his wife. Calling out to his semi-conscious wife, the man cried, ‘please don’t leave me like this,’ ‘I love you very much and promise to do anything I can to save you.’ Gathering all her strength, to say, what could probably be her last words, she whispered, ‘Continue my spiritual journey for me and I will live on.’
The lady died in body. But the man continued to let her live on in spirit by respecting the actions, thoughts and words of his wife. He did everything he could for her while she was alive. But that one little thing that perhaps could have made his wife even more pleased was to respect her ‘will’ of being more spiritual. The man knew how important it was to reach his objective in life. And to do this he also knew that the only way to reach his objective was to respect his wife’s actions and thoughts. In the months that were to follow the man transformed his life and began working for the ministry of the Lord.
The most interesting facet about respecting the ‘will’ of others is to judge our ‘will’ first and not control it. We need to comprehend our actions and thoughts with a spiritual and healthy mind first before we become judgmental about the actions and thoughts of others.
In most cases we find people complaining about the ‘will’ of others. They never seem pleased about how people behave and how they think. But do we really have the authority to judge the ‘will’ of others? Perhaps not. In doing so, we are actually allowing our weakened will to emerge and eventually our objective becomes more distant.
To strengthen our will, we need to become more resilient to the positive and negative happenings around us and try to be more aware and accommodative to the positive thoughts and actions of others. Remember, it is the young people who hold the key to the kingdom of a prosperous and bright future. And wouldn’t it be wonderful to bask in the glory of a perpetual kingdom whose stones echo the ‘will’ of different people. Undoubtedly, then our conscience would peacefully rest on the objective of a strengthened will.
noelmanuel@rediffmail.com
The writer is the Coordinator of the Northeast Region (Poetry Society of India) and Life Member of the Poetry Society of India. Journalist and Correspondent Eastern Panorama (News Magazine of the Northeast) Phonetics Teacher.
