The recent turn of events had me reminiscing of a time not too long ago when I first came across the following Teddy Roosevelt quote,
“It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly….”
I was packing for a retreat to Tanzania; Africa, not too long ago; and attempting the journey to the continent by myself..an endeavour no woman in my family or friends circle had ever attempted..I felt incredibly brave and stupid at the same time; yet I knew on a deep, intuitive level that ‘the cave you fear to enter, holds the treasure you seek’; and sometimes that treasure is simply unshackling your courage, if you hold that as a value..for courage is liberated bit by bit by , sometimes through making tough decisions, and other times facing your fears and staring them in the face, slowly but surely conquering them..and a life lived open-heartedly, with courage is hands down the most joyful one; to be fully alive in the ups and downs of a fun, adventurous life is the way to live, in my opinion…
Fast forward to the recent past, AND Imran Khan, a man who has worked tirelessly for more than TWO decades, or so, always having had the courage to ‘show up’ in the arena of life and give his 100 percent whether in the field of cricket, as a philanthropist or in the field of the complicated political has been met with criticism, plotting and scheming and has had to step down as the PM of our beloved country… Just showing up and being seen in the arena of life requires vast reservoirs of courage, and here is a person who devoted his youth to the prosperity of the nation with no personal gains…Let us look at his (almost) four years in power…a simple question crosses my mind…did he further his own agenda or strive tirelessly to better the cumulative public interest? How many properties did he accumulate or for that matter, how many factories did he set up? Was he taken down on charges of corruption? The answer is an empathetic No! Even though not all his policies were brilliant or brilliantly executed, for that matter…having the mettle to try again, and again, undaunted, and keep moving valiantly forward with a pure intention, in the face of backlash and adversity is what makes a great leader in my opinion…
As far as those who criticize are concerned, one just needs to remember that there will always be people in the so-called ‘cheap seats’ in the arena of life… people who’s only agenda is to bring down the trailblazers..one can spot such people in our own family dynamics… those who criticise the most are often the ones who don’t have what it takes to be ‘seen’ themselves in any sphere of life..or do anything of value at all.. rather they spend their time scheming and plotting against the ones that are making a difference in a desperate attempt to slow down or completely deter their progress! So the best policy is to ignore such people that are detrimental to the society’s welfare at large, and keep on striding forward, valiantly…in my opinion.
All is not lost, his ouster has led to stupendous public support, the kind his predecessors can only dream about and it has surely dumbfounded the plotters and schemers! Our nation is getting unified under one leader after eons and I feel there’s always an opportunity hidden in adversity, one just needs to unravel it. We are a sovereign nation, and can decipher right from wrong and are more than capable of choosing/electing our own leader, in my opinion.
As far as those who criticize are concerned, one just needs to remember that there will always be people in the so-called ‘cheap seats’ in the arena of life… people who’s only agenda is to bring down the trailblazers..one can spot such people in our own family dynamics… those who criticise the most are often the ones who don’t have what it takes to be ‘seen’ themselves in any sphere of life..or do anything of value at all.. rather they spend their time scheming and plotting against the ones that are making a difference in a desperate attempt to slow down or completely deter their progress! So the best policy is to ignore such people that are detrimental to the society’s welfare at large, and keep on striding forward, valiantly…in my opinion.
