Compromise is not a struggle
Once
while I was sitting at bus-stop waiting for a bus, and suddenly a man around
sixty-four or sixty five years old came by and sat beside me. Honestly, he was
well-suited than me. I was just watching him. He was wearing a perfectly ironed
shirt and pant and nicely polished shoes. I presumed that he might be a high
profile government officer.
I
plugged out my earphone from my mobile and put it into my bag, while I realized
that the man was watching me. As I glanced at him awkwardly, he smiled politely.
Even his smile seemed too much professional.
“Young
lad! College boy?” he asked.
“Yes,”
I nodded, ignoring a strange conversation.
“Must
have drowned yourself in fun and enjoyment,” he said.
“Not
actually,” I shook my head. “I don’t do fun.”
“Pity
then. You should,” he grumbled. He paused for a moment and then asked, “So what
do you study?”
“Computer
science,” I replied bluntly.
“Tech
people,” he sighed. “I really admire you people, but I curse you at the same
time.”
Undoubtedly,
I was surprised by that sentence. Why would an old man like him curse people
like me?
“Why
is that?” I asked curiously.
“When
I was like you, perhaps bit older than you, I was working in a private company.
We used to make metal components of vehicles and automobile. I worked there for
two-three years, and then I quit. I wasn’t really a smart man like you. I was
just an ITI guy, who could work on those old instruments and machines. But then
this new thing came. Computer Science. They assured us to change the face of
technology. Well, honestly, we all were happy that something different was
coming along. But when it did, many things were made automatic. They had reduced
man power at considerable amount, and many of my colleagues became jobless. I
was fortunate though. I had already learnt some new things which might have
kept my job for few years. But those men were really poor and they couldn’t
learn these new things without proper education and training. We saw many
people switching their career and starting a business. Many of my friends took
shops on rent and started business. But still, I heard many people went back to
as worker at construction sites. Unfortunately, your technologies had reduced
man power there too. But still there was a chance of getting a job that could
feed you. But I was always pitied on those people who couldn’t make it through,”
he explained.
I
was quietly listening him. That man was making some really appropriate points,
on which I agreed. That must be really unbalanced and chaotic situation back
then.
“Anyway,
I decided to make my son a techy person like you. I could never learn that
computer thing, on which my son mocked me for quite long time. But I made him
an engineer, just like you,” he said.
“That’s
good,” I spoke blankly.
“Yes,”
he nodded. “Although, he is quite older than you. He is currently working too.
But still sometimes when we discuss with each other, he mentions the same
problem with his generation. He once told me that they learn things and they
get upgraded in few years and they don’t get time to learn those new things.
And he also mentioned that nowadays, engineers have worst fate. Is it?”
“Yes,”
I admitted. Well, I knew that most of us don’t have that glorious future.
“Do
you know what people do in such situations?” he inquired.
I
remained quiet and that said it all.
“Compromises,”
he said. “Some compromise with money. Some compromise with knowledge. And some
compromise with skills. It is not actually their fault for not being qualified
for the job, is it? Yet they have to compromise.”
“I
wouldn’t,” I grumbled out of pride. “I would never compromise any of these.”
He
looked at me curiously and said, “But sometimes you don’t have a choice.”
“But
compromise is never an option. It doesn’t just waste your hard work, it makes
you dishonourable. One compromise may not seem a big deal, but when you
succeed, you just prefer compromise at every point of your life just because of
your obsession with success,” I said calmly.
He
kept staring at me, while I said that. “You seem like really good lad,” he
whispered. “You know where these things lead us. Tell me, are you obsessed with
success or peace?”
“I
don’t know what I want yet. But I do know one thing that I don’t want success that
has no meaning of that word,” I muttered. “For me, success is not just achieving
wealth and prosperity. The journey matters the most to me. People choose different
ways to get success. We call them shortcuts. But if you walk with self-pride,
it is very unlikely that you’ll get success. I have heard many people telling
me that once you reach there, nothing actually matters. But I still can’t stand
with this concept of getting success by faking things. I can’t be dishonest
with myself to just reach there.”
“But
most of the people don’t work that way,” he grinned. “You’re right that for some
people even little bit of dishonesty ruins the joy of their success. Because
everyone has different priorities in life. Some people make their success priority.
But some people make their honesty their priority. Legends say that honest ways
lead you to success. But those legends were made during honest world. This is
just a dishonest world. Here, honest ways may starve you to death.”
“When
I come to your age, I don’t want to feel that my entire life was worthless. But
perhaps dishonest ways will put me in that feeling of worthlessness,” I confessed.
“Then
you shouldn’t be dishonest with your life,” he advised.
“And
it will keep me away from success, forever,” I grumbled in disappointment.
“I’m
not going to lie just because you could keep your motivation. But yes, it is
very likely that it will keep you away from success,” he admitted. “Honesty is
not everyone’s cup of tea, boy. People think that their compromises are their
struggle. But it’s not. Compromise is not struggle. Honest people are rare. No
one stays that way. But even if they do, how many of us know about their
honesty?”
“Perhaps
we don’t want to show people our honesty. Why would we?” I said.
“Yes,
we shouldn’t,” he agreed. “And that is the you live with honesty. You may never
see the face of success in your life, but you know the face of honesty. And
believe me, it is more assuring than success.”
We
remained quiet for a moment, as a bus passed by.
“You
said you quit the job. What did you do then?” I asked curiously.
“I
became an insurance agent,” he replied calmly.
There
was a strange silence for few moments. We both knew that irony, and I honestly
wanted to laugh, yet I didn’t. However, he started laughing and I joined him.
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