April Blogging Challenge - 16

 

P is for Passion

A very close family friend’s daughter is learning classical dance, but when asked about it she is barely able to speak. You realise later on that her mother wanted to learn which she could not and hence the daughter has been enrolled. It is obvious the daughter has no interest in it as the results purely reflect the same.

The way I like to say it is ”In trying to make us all that they could not be, they never let us become what we could have been.” Though harsh but true, our parents try to fulfill their unfulfilled dreams through us. 

Since childhood we have been always asked to be like the best person around us. A scholar student, a soft spoken neighbor, a caring teacher, a loving friend – we are surrounded by such wonderful people in various forms.  Our teachers and loved ones always give us the example of such people asking us to take a leaf out of their lives and try to be like them. No wonder by the time we grow up we are of the view that we need to improve a lot and hence keep idealizing people, trying to be like them. From those nice people around us, now our fascination changes to bigger and better people like a famous television actor, a successful film star, a celebrated author, a renowned motivational speaker etc.

I wonder if it would have made any difference had we just been told to give your best in everything we do for that would have made the whole difference in the output. Comparing us with others and pushing us to be like them, is completely wrong according to me. Rather parents should always encourage their children to be the best version of their ownselves. Like it is said, ‘Try to be the best version of YOU, rather than try being a second best version of somebody else!” For anything done with passion it begets wonderful results. Amidst all these pressures our passions die a slow death in the hands of time and it is very important for us to strive constantly to keep them alive. I would like to quote a dialogue from a movie called 3 Idiots where the leading actor Aamir Khan tells his friends “ Imagine, what if Sachin Tendulkar’s father had tried making him a singer or Lata Mangeshkar’s father had asked her to act. They would have been disastrous. They are what they are, for they have followed their passion and that is what makes them give their best to it! “