MY IDEA OF A HAPPY LIFE

MY IDEA OF A HAPPY LIFE

Outline:

1.     Introduction.

2.     Description of the ideal.

3.     Conclusion.

Every creature seeks happiness, and man plans for it, consciously. But few very few indeed, can claim that they have gained happiness. In the first place, we do not know what precisely happiness is. To seek a thing is better than to have it. This is the law, of human mind. “To travel hopefully is better than to arrive” said Stevenson, and he was right. Happiness is also a thing whose pursuit inspires us with hope, but not its possession. Secondly, there is no common, universal standard of happiness. It varies with the culture and temperament of people. Indeed, it is well known how one man’s food is another man’s poison. And in the same way, one man’s happiness may well turn out to be another man’s worry! Yet is a fact that all men seek this unknown thing and it because they hope to get it sometime, somewhere, that they exist at all. A life without hope is a living death. We live by hope, effort and expectation.

Since now two persons share the same vision of happiness, it obvious that we all have our own special brand of happiness to pursue. We have our own ideas and ideals of happiness. It all depends on what we are, how we are placed and trained in life. It is our culture and temperaments, as we said, that determine our ideas of happiness. A beggar, for example, dying for want of bread will deem it heavenly if he procures a crumb of food while, by the same token, heaps of richly cooked food will let a rich man be indifferent to it.

Our idea of heaven is our idea of happiness. To the hungry heaven is land flowing will milk and honey. To the childless heaven is a home full of children; to the blind, it is vision to bachelors, it is married life; to the dull and stupid, it is matter of intelligence and knowledge, and so on. In short, we are happy to have that why we have not.

I would be happy if I were able to live a simple life. I have dreamed of doing away with those things which people generally seek, namely, wealth, fame, honour and applause. My happiness, I have felt, does not consist in the possession of things that are uncertain. The things of this world are of this kind. Money goes away as it comes, leaving one worried about getting more fame is fickle; it too, comes to some and leave them after a while. It is the lot of many to live a fameless life. The world, in the words of Wordsworht, is really too much with us. Getting and spending and yet again getting this is what we all prize. And thus do we all lay waste our powers. Man was not created to earn money and do nothing else. And so we are not happy in the pursuit of worldly things.

I have thought over this and come to the conviction that I will be happy only when I possess something which does not lessen, get lost or destroyed. Such a thing is contentment. To be contential to possess inner wealth. It is not lost; it cannot be stolen; it increases with the years; it enriches our soul. And so my idea of happiness is a spiritual one. And in order to possess this inner wealth, it is necessary that I should live a simple life. Simple living encourages high thinking; it is the best guarantee of contentment. It leaves one time and energy enough to seek after better things. These are the things of the mind. There are truth, beauty, love goodness, kindness and charity. It is in the pursuit and cultivation of these that I can be truly happy. So at any rate, I think and hope.

I do not mean that I will be an ascetic. No, I will live in the midst of life with all its interests and responsibilities. I will discharge my responsibility to my parent, my dependents, my home, my country and my fellow beings at large. I will function as son, a lover, father and citizen. But I will do this in the spirit of selfless service. I will not demand, nor expect, and wordly returns for this service. I shall be happy only when I am free to pursue and cherish my dream of happiness. And I shall not be truly free to do this till I have faithfully discharged my obligations to my home and to my country. 

To conclude, my idea of happiness is a dream. It is a life of simple living and high thinking. It is to live a richly spiritual life. I will be happy in this way. Let me quote a few lines of a poet who describes a way of the life which is also mine.

Says he:-

My walls outside must have some flowers,

My walls within must have some books;

A home that’s small; a garden large

Add in it leafy nooks.

This is what I imagine is a happy life. I must have a life devoted to Nature and learning. I must have a loving wife and little children to play with. I must have a contented mind. So the poet and I service in the time I cannot be happy if I do not live this kind of life, even though fortune might smile and give me heaps of money. I share the idea of the poet who says.

With this small house, this garden large,

This little gold, this lovely mate,

With health in body, peace at hearty-

Show me a man more

This idea of greatness is also happiness.  

ADVERTISMENTS

ADVERTISEMENTS

Outline:

1.     Introduction.

2.     Their uses.

3.     Their misuses and danger.

4.     Conclusion.

An advertisement is a notice to buyers, giving description and price of all sorts of things. It is needed for the convenience of consumers and the profit of producers. It gives choice to the public to pick and choose what they like. It increases the sale of goods and tells people the range and variety of goods. Though it is true that good wine needs no bush, yet it is also true bad coins drive away good ones! That is to say, if good things are not advertised bad things will be pushed up and bad will displace good ones. As population increases and the markets become wider, the advertisement of goods becomes inevitable. In small communities, like the small villages, there is not much need to advertise. But in towns and cities is a great need to do so. No sales could be pushed up even of good things if they are not properly advertised, displayed and demonstrated.

There is thus a great need to advertise goods. In an age of commercial competition, goods cannot be sold without proper advertisement. If properly done, advertisements can help the public in choosing and buying the best on the market. As we advance, we make new discoveries and inventions. We bring out devices for good, comfortable living, and we should tell the public what there are. Life becomes richer and better as we increase the range of good. Our standard of life is raised when we have more goods to use and consume. Whether they are necessaries or luxuries, they cannot be enjoyed unless we know where to get them. It is not enough to produce things. They have to be distributed. Advertisements play a very important part in this respect. They bring profit to the producers and they offer a wide choice for the public. Without advertisements our trade and commerce will never flourish.

But every good thing becomes bad when abused. So it is with advertisements. Today, advertisements have multiplied to a bewildering extent. As we open our newspapers we find page after page of several advertisements than news. The danger here is that people are misled by dishonest people who push up sales of useless things. People think that whatever comes in print is true. They also think that when a thing is said to be good, it must be good. The advertising people know this. They know that if a lie is repeated a hundred times it sounds like truth and is taken for truth. This group psychology is dangerous for public health and standards.

Our country is yet old-fashioned in many ways. The masses are yet uneducated. Most of them are now becoming half-educated. They are taught to read and write. This new literacy enabled them to read newspapers. Now it is here that the danger of abusing advertising comes. If dishonest people put in advertisements of cheap, shoddy, spurious things and tell people that they are good and indispensable, the public is easily misled. For example take the large number of medicines and tonics that are advertised in our magazines and weeklies and dailies. Most of these are spurious. They are made by people who do not know what they are doing. They just want to earn money, and they find this way of getting it.

If for example, someone tells you that just for four annas or so you will get a box of pills which cure every disease, you will certainly buy it straight way. Now there is no one remedy for all ills. But all the same if a thing is daily hammered into your head, you are inclined to believe it.

And there is another danger of the abuse of advertisements. More is spent on advertisements than in the making of goods! This is done on the belief that the more money one spends on advertisement the wider the market for his goods. This is no doubt true. But this is also likely to result in two evils. Either the goods will cost more than they are worth or the quality of the goods will be third-rate. The reason is that advertising costs a good deal. This money invested in advertising will increase the cost and price of goods. Else, if prices are not raised to meet the cost of advertisements, the alternative is to use cheap and second-rate materials in the making of goods. In either case, over advertisement is harmful to the public. In the age of commercial competition, when several people produce the same kind of goods, either of these evils is inevitable.

But these dangers of advertisement do not mean that advertising is bad. The abuse of anything does not mean that it cannot be used. We must use advertisement for letting the public know what goods are available. The motive of advertisement should be public service not private grain. If this motive is present, advertisements do good to all concerned-the producers and consumers alike. There will be no danger of lowering the standards of commercial morality so long as the producers and distributors keep service to the public as their aim. The danger comes when private gain is made at the cost of the public.   

Advertisements have several shapes and forms. It means propaganda of all sorts. Ideas no less than goods, can be advertised. Politicians advertise themselves and their ideas in the same spirit as the manufactures of goods. The louder you speak the more likely you are to be heard. But again it will depend upon the motive with which one starts propagating an idea or advertising a product.

There is no easy remedy for stopping the evils of the abuse of advertisements of propaganda. Some may be done by appointing a vigilance board to check the statements of advertising agencies. Inspectors may be appointed to see whether the goods in question are really good. But even inspectors are human, all too human, and much corruption might ensue in trying to check corruption. 

There is however, one hopeful solution of the problem of corruption. This is education. If the public is so educated as to be able to judge and choose, there will be less corruption in the world of commerce. This is all more necessary in an age of democracy himself. Democracy might spell danger the right of self-expression is misused. Only by a sound and wide system of universal education it is possible to ensure morality, commercial or otherwise. 

WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY

WHERE THERE’S A WILL THERE’S A WAY

Outline:

1.     The will to succeed.

2.     If no will, obstacles to success are magnified.

3.     If the will feeble, easily discouraged by obstacles.

4.     The will, here, means a strong determination.

5.     No such word as “impossible”.

6.     The story of Pallissy the potter.

“Where there’s a will there’s a way”; that is, if you have really made up your mind to do something, however difficult it may be, and even apparently impossible, you will sooner or later find a way of doing it. The emphasis is on the will to do it; where there’s a will, a way will be found.

IT is lack of will that accounts for failure in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred; lack of will in two degrees. First, though we say we want to do a certain thing, and persuade ourselves we really do, in reality we do not at any rate if doing it means any effort or sacrifice. So, to comfort ourselves for making no attempt, we set to work to find excuses, and make mountains out of mole-hills. “There is a lion in the way!” we cry. We exaggerate every difficulty, and so fill our minds with the obstacles in the way, that we persuade ourselves that attainment is impossible.

Or it may be that we really do want to do something, but our will to do it weak; it is like a thin, feeble stream of water which is turned aside or blocked by every small obstacle in its path. The “will” in the proverb is a strong determination that will never take “No” for an answer, and those preservers in spite of failure, still undaunted. It is a will like a rushing torrent, that sweeps rocks and banks and trees out of its way, and forces itself through or over every obstruction. A fierce desire, a strong determination, that will make light of difficulties-that is the sort of will that finds the way to achievement. This is the spirit that cries:-

“Then welcome each rebuff

That turns earth’s smoothness rough,

Each sting that bids nor sand, but go!

Be our joys three-parts pain!

Strive, and hold cheap the strain

Learn, not account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!”

Many a men who became famous as a scholar, artist, statesman, inventor, businessman, had to struggle against apparently insuperable obstacles to win success. It was their undaunted will to succeed that in the end found the way to success. Napoleon said the word “impossible” was not found in his dictionary.

There is a story of Pallissy, the French potter. He made up his mind to discover a pure white glaze for china. He was poor man, and had but little education’ but for twenty years he worked at his task, trying hundreds of experiments and failing in all. He wife and neighbours called him a lunatic, for he ruined himself by his effort. But in the end he succeeded, and became a famous man. He had the will, and he found the way.

According to a famous Pakistani writer “End is not End….. in fact E. N. D. means Efforts Never Dies” If you get “NO” in answer, remember N.O. refer to “Next Opportunity” and nothing is impossible because the word Impossible itself says that I m possible” so always we should try to find positivity in every situation. Let your motto be, ‘never despair!’

THE FACE AS AN INDEX OF CHARACTER

THE FACE AS AN INDEX OF CHARACTER

Outline:

1.     A character form face and appears in the face.

2.     Faces are sometimes deceptive at first sight.

3.     The art of reading faces.

A man’s face, if we can read it aright, is generally an index to his character. We can tell what sort of man he is by the expression of his countenance, as we can tell the species of a shell-fish by its shell; for, as a shell-fish secrets its shell, so the soul secretes its physical face. It is we ourselves who make our faces: and we make them gradually and unconsciously and to express our inner character. Character is simply the sum total of confirmed habits; and as a habit is formed, it slowly writes its characteristic marks on the face, and gives its own look to the eyes. It is harder to read character in the faces of young unformed children than in the faces of grown up men and women though one can often detect meanness or frankness even in the face of a child; but the older people get, and the more fixed their habits, the easier it becomes to tell what sort of people they are, from their faces.

There are certain kinds of faces which almost anyone can read. The character is written in capitals on the face. You cannot mistake the red and bloated face of the drunkard, the pride in the face of the arrogant and the crafty look in the eyes of the sneak. But it takes a trained and careful observer to read some faces, for some clever people can make their faces like masks to hide their real selves. The word “hypocrite” literally means actor and as an actor can make up his faces so as to appear on the stage a different person, so can a hypocrite.

A false-hearted man may have an apparently frank and open face; a cruel man may wear a deceptively kindly smile; a rogue may look very honest sight. As Hamlet says, “A man may smile and smile, and be a villain.” I remember once being introduced to an old gentleman of most benign aspect, who appeared to be a benevolent and almost saintly old man yet I knew he had been guilty of several ruthless and deliberate crimes!

But the face has always something that will betray such hypocrites to an acute observer; especially in the most expressive features the eyes and the mouth. A look in the eyes, the way in which he shapes his mouth, may betray the hidden meanness, cruelty, craftiness or selfishness that lurk behind the friendly frank look. Certain it is that dishonesty, lust and cruelty, honesty, purity and kindness, all leave indelible marks on the face. 

SUNSET AND EVENING STAR

SUNSET AND EVENING STAR

Outline:

1.     The solemnity of a sunset.

2.     The beginning of the sunset.

3.     The sun sinks from sights; but the clouds still lit up.

4.     The evening star appears.

5.     The mysterious charm of twilight.  

6.     The coming of silent night.

There is something solemn, and even awe-inspiring, in the splendid beauty of the sky as the sun sets in the west. The poet Wordsworth felt it when he wrote:-

“The clouds that gather round the setting sun

Do take a sober colouring from an eye

That hath kept watch o’er man’s morality.’

Your should watch the sun setting behind the mountains. As it slowly sinks lower in the western sky, its long level beams light up the green fields and all the trees and bushes with a glow, making every object clear and distinct. The clouds above the sinking sun begin to glow with a golden light, and the mountains are clothed in royal purple. The white dome and minarets of mosque a little distance away look as though they were made of silver.

At last the great fiery ball of the sun begins to sink behind the purple mountain wall. Lower and lower it sinks, until, look! It is gone! But its light still fills the sky and the over-hanging clouds. The clouds change from gold to red, till they glow like a smoldering fire. The clear sky between the lower cloud-banks and the mountain ridge is slowly changes to a clear pale green; and in the midst of it shines a faint point of silver light-the evening star. And in the still air a musical voice begins chanting-the Muezzin crying the Azan from the distant mosque, calling the faithful to prayer.

Now the glowing red of the clouds begins to fade, like a dying fire. It fades away till all the clouds are grey like ash, and the mountains look black, clear-cut against the pale green sky, where the evening star is shining more brightly every moment.

Below on the plain, the light gradually becomes dimmer and dimmer, until the twilight the fields are almost dark, and trees and bushes stand out dead black. The twilight casts a mysterious glamour over everything, and ordinary objects seem strange and weird.

“Remote with unfamiliar charm

As dusk familiar objects seem,

And like strange pictures in a dream

Are bush and tree and silent stream,

And garden-croft and farm”.

Gradually it becomes darker and darker, until nothing can be seen but the dark hills against the sky. One by one the stars come out. The night has come. All is very still. No sound is to be heard except the soft rustling of the night breeze in trees now unseen. Another day has gone; but-

“We fret not when day wanes, and farewell gleams

Of sundown fade to dusk, and dusk to night,

Knowing the turning earth in its wide way

Will swing us back again into the light.”