Friday, 15 February 2013

Life and race



Life is often compared with a race. Both have characteristics that can be compared. But dissimilarities are worth noting. Dissimilarities convey a better message than the similarities.

Participants of a race go under long and enduring preparations. It is an admirable effort on the athletes. No athlete ever hopes to win a race without heavy preparation.
Preparation is not just exercise and practice alone. It is giving up many comforts, likes, dislikes wishes etc.  Sacrifice of many comforts is necessary to become a winner. No sacrifice, no winner.
All these can be summed up in one word, “discipline”.
We shall discuss ‘discipline’ in some other blog.

Here I wish to draw our attention to some major dissimilarity between race and life.

v Race is run for winning. It is run for a trophy. It is run for success.
Who succeed in a race? Only the one who comes first. How he started and how he runs race has some effect on running the race and finishing the race before others. But it does not determine the final victory.
When has he finished the race is the only question. Has he come first? Then he is the winner.

Life is different.
Finishing the race before others does not determine the winner. There is not one winner, but there are many winners. Everyone who participates in the race of life can be a winner. Life offers success to all who runs.
Hesitating to run or stopping the race during the course is the only failure.

Race of life does not demand a nonstop running. We may take rest. We may deviate from the main path. We have the freedom.
But every moment lost delays the success.
Rest delays the success.
Deviations are dangerous to success. They may never let us to reach the success point or at least will spoil our valuable time and resource.

In athletic race there is only one winner.
In life, all who finish the race are winners.

v The second point of dissimilarity is that in the race of life, all winners are awarded with a valuable prize. There is no gold medal and silver medal. All are gold medals.
So where ever we are now, continue running. Our gold medal is waiting for us and will not be presented to anyone else.

Running is success. Stopping is failure. This is the theory of winners in life. We might have fallen weak or sick. Failures might have weakened our strength. We had to take rest from running at different levels.
Do not worry. Continue the race. 
We are free to finish the race soon or later. We have freedom to select the speed of the race. Our strength and talents are never questioned in life.
Even death at the winning point is success.

v There is no royal road to the winning point. To pre destined track in life. We have the freedom to draw our own track.
But off track running will ruin our race.
Draw a track before start running the race. Fix the rules and regulations. And run according to it.

v There are no competitors in the race of life. No first winner. There are only winners. So, no competitor.
Relax and run.
Do not consider others as competitors. They are running their race and we are running our race.
Competition is against the law of the race of life. Competitors seldom win.

v Remember how far we have run is not a success. Reaching the winning point is success.
Wealth, fame and power are not the proof of a successful completion of the race.
Fulfillment of life’s purpose is the proof of a successful completion.
Wealth, fame and power are added to our life as we go forward. We run not for them, but to fulfill the purpose.

Run for victory, if cannot, crawl to it©.

Professor Jacob Abraham

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