Character n all...

January 12th is the National Youth Day commemorating the birthday of Swami Vivekananda. The days marks the awakening of youth and youth, especially Indian, draw inspiration from Swami Vivekananda's words of wisdom. I attended one such lecture too, but this did not leave a good mark on my mental plateau.

The speaker initially drew an analogy between Physics and Economics. He said just like how energy is conserved in physics, wealth is conserved in Economics. In essence, wealth can neither be created nor destroyed. He says for someone to get richer, someone else has to get poorer. Then, does that mean the government to achieve 0% poverty must strip the rich of their riches and give it to the poor? I feel wealth can be created. Probably, after a long run when we have exhausted our resources, we may not generate but as of now, we are generating wealth from all sorts of resources. If we lived only on wealth that we had during our independence, we would all be living in huts today.

The second speaker spoke of character. He was supposed to speak about Personality Development. He opined that good character comes from reading good books. I beg to differ. Show me one person of great character who got it from good books. Swami Vivekananda declined the offer of a widow to indulge in adultery when he was young. He did not read any great books till then. I hate to take his examples, but then I am running out of choices and taking the name of our very own over-rated hero Gandhi. He consumed non-veg food when he was a kid, dreamed of a goat or something and abstained from meat the next dawn onwards. The essence is people have shown the strength of their character when they were young itself. How did they do this? Definitely not great books. Books can probably give you reflections of your self or some motivation to work in the manner the book goes. I feel they never give you character. It is something you learn in life. From a father who floats a business and works day and night, you learn to fight in life. From a mother who is very understanding and caring, you learn that life is to live and love. From siblings and friends who aim high and achieve higher, you learn that life is all about looking ahead and above. All these form your character. If a book says aim high, you don't aim high. If there is an illustration or an anecdote of Einstein inventing the bulb after 100 tries, you understand that life is all about hanging around and giving your best. These things are better seen and heard than read, as I percieve them.

The speaker also commented that good character is formed by having good habits and abstaining from bad habits. He also advised people not to get into bad company. Where do we draw the line? What is good and what is bad? Suppose a friend who fags and boozes. He is my good friend, and I know for one that I can count on him if the need occurs. Suppose there is a guy who is very abstemious and doesnt indulge in anything outside him. Now, I dont count on that person when I need a friend. What you percieve as good is a goon to me and what you percieve as evil is dear to me. Does this mean a good character to you is a bad to me and vice-versa? Is there no universal definition of good character?

I feel anyone who lives life for himself and for persons whom he cares about is a person of great character. He has belief and love to his roots and his neighborhood. These are men of great character, no matter they smoke or booze or whatever! For life is short, and options many, you need to squeeze in time to accomodate what all you want to do all the time loving and caring your near and dear.

No mistake with Swami Vivekananda's teaching, after all he is my idol, and no offense to the speakers but I sincerely feel we have down the line of history praying our heroes and saints drawn a huge bad picture of materials and consumption. They are after all not that bad. You can indulge in a thing or two without harming others, if you want to live life yourway! After all, its your life and it is you who has to pay or suffer later. As long as no one else is at the recieving end, why worry? Just make sure that the tabs are placed properly, for true character lies not in abstaining from starting something, but in stressing on stopping it at the right point. As long as you are sure you can do this, you are the supreme character you should pray!