> “If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. You won’t learn by standing on dry land.” – Bruce Lee
It is often those who have walked through the darkest tunnels of life who become the guiding lights for the world. Only those who have endured the harsh realities of life can face challenges with calmness. Only they can truly understand the silent cries of a wounded soul.
Every pain leaves behind a scar. Even when wounds heal, the invisible scars remain imprinted like marks on the soul.
The mind is like a clock…
Each wound nudges the needle forward, ticking from one point to another.
As time passes and the wheel of life turns, the clock’s needle might have gone around many times. Eventually, life toughens to the point where new pains can no longer create new scars.
It’s hard to believe that someone who endured the loss of his wife, children, father, mother, and siblings between 1902 and 1927 was the same great man who composed India’s national anthem—Rabindranath Tagore. Yet, even amidst the divides of caste and religion, his heart, overflowing with love, didn’t tremble to pen the national anthem of Bangladesh as well. That speaks volumes.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had to witness his mother’s death in the desert of Medina while still a young child traveling to see his father’s grave. At just eight years old, he saw his beloved mother Amina pass away at the age of 22.
Yet, he went on to become a beacon of light for the world.
Isn’t it a profound truth that someone who never experienced love in childhood became the very messenger of love for all mankind?
“To love, one must be willing to renounce. That is the fundamental truth of this world.” – Rabindranath Tagore
“Those who walk through the darkness of life often become the light for others.”
True love is born from the pure and relentless desire to guide others who follow after us, even as we walk alone through every dark tunnel.
Today, even among friends who stand shoulder to shoulder, the education system and workplaces cultivate an atmosphere of competition laced with selfishness.
Into the innocent minds of children, seeds of unhealthy rivalry and selfish motives are sown—by none other than us.
We are the ones putting on masks of pretense, gradually pushing children toward disconnection and mistrust.
> “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
When a friend doesn’t get called for the same job interview, what goes through the mind?
* Is it: “I don’t care what happens to others, I just want to get the job”?
* Or: “I’ll do whatever it takes to beat them and get selected”?
* Or: “I hope we all get the job”?
* Or even: “I’m okay not getting the job as long as my friend does”?
* Or the worst: “If I can’t have it, no one should”?
Whatever the thought, it is born from the influences surrounding the individual. Whether good or bad, someone or something planted that idea in that young mind.
That seed of selfishness grows with the person, becoming a tree that bears only such bitter fruit—never sweet, but toxic berries that sow more bitterness across the soil of society.
In the middle of this, even the rare trees of selflessness are sometimes unrecognized by others. That’s a tragic truth.
Even in school art festivals, deserving children are often sidelined for the sake of positions and prizes. Eventually, legal systems are brought in to resolve what should’ve been pure expressions of joy and talent. It’s not the children’s fault. It’s the fault of those small-minded, selfish adults whose cold hearts can’t see beyond their ego.
Many innocent children lose hope, give up trying, and later grow into disillusioned adults—harboring hate and resentment toward others and society itself.
So, do we create culprits here?
Or is it that society makes them?
Each person in this society is important.
There’s a saying in sociology:
Imagine one mentally unstable person in a town. Or someone addicted to drugs.
If that person starts harming others, committing crimes, harassing women and girls…
* Can people live there peacefully?
* Can girls walk safely on the streets?
* Can children go to school safely?
* Can parents sleep peacefully?
* Will anyone willingly buy land or build a home there?
No matter how rich or beautiful a land is—without peace, it cannot provide a good life.
So every citizen matters.
Every person must strive to be good.
And it is our duty, our responsibility, to guide each other toward goodness.
If we confine our care to only “our family” and “our children,” we must understand that our peace alone is not enough.
It’s not enough that you drive carefully.
Everyone on the road must know how to drive well—for the safety of all.
We must spend some time for others, for society.
Let’s not hide behind the excuse of “no time.”
One person doesn’t need to fail for another to win.
We need to replace the thought—“Only I should succeed, no one else should”—
With: “Let everyone along with me succeed.”
If we can nurture that mindset,
Then every person, every relationship, and the world itself will become a much more beautiful place.
