“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates

Socrates said the words during his trial before the court.These came ahead of his choice to be executed by poison instead of living a life in exile; an alleged crime of turning the young against the established beliefs and norms of Athens.

While the sandglass of life runs, a defined amount of energy is at hand. The bounds of what one will get done depends on the path he/she adopts, other than the targets themselves. The most effective way of consummation of resources is through well-focused, carefully laid out and consistent approach. Like a magnifying glass burning the desired targeted spot on a paper which otherwise had no effect from regular sunlight. The second choice is adopting the set standards without questioning. The third practice, which may be away from the populous trend, is investing in matters of trivial or unproductive nature, a sink hole of potential!

We know the fact that the sound a vessel produces when struck changes as it fills with water. The same vessel sounds different when empty, half-filled and completely full. In addition, the sound changes depending on the liquid in vessel. The sound also changes if filled with honey compared to water. This principle is same in life of humans. The way we approach a subject and respond to external demands vary based on how much and what we take in our subconscious mind. A positive intake in mind yields a soothing sound against external demands. Continuing we know it’s an established matter that the toughness of training and quality of exposure enriches the skills. In this regard, the mind behaves as a rubber band with extensive elasticity. The more you stress it the more it expands, and if it unchallenged maintains the same extent for years.Filling the vessels in our mind with conclusive and productive subjects will similarly yield productive results.

Bronnie Ware, an Australian nurse, spent several years at a hospital ward around people on their death beds. Her book, “Top Five Regrets of the Dying,” summarises lack of courage to live one’s own life and detached social relations to be the most common regrets in dying patients. They couldn’t pause, step aside and question what they desired for themselves. Sure, chasing the hollow of charm manufactured by others wasn’t desired.The optimistic,eager to learn part is always there, either on the driving or the back seat. This is most evident in the sparkling eyes of a child, his/her eagerness to question hundreds of time every single day. As per research of a retailer Littlewood, average young children question 300 times a single day! The urge to learn do not fade over age as a result of the hit from realism or because one now knows enough. No one knows or knew enough! There is a price tag for the continuation of the urge. When one holds him/her self-back from paying the due price of the self-designed path of hard work the urge to chalk out ways fade over time.

“On the hikes the most memorizing spots are the quiet and mysterious places, away from the trails made by foot”

The issue with investing in certain matters lies in their failure to yield a productive solution. Like accelerating at a roundabout deeming it will get one to his/her destination earlier. Instead doing so throws you outside the track. In this regard, evaluating a subject with the following parameters can be helpful in determining its relevance: Is their clarity in the reasons supporting pursuit of the matter? What will be its plausible result? Does it sound productive? Are there more influential matters or alternatives to invest? The stated case can be explained practically by a simple example of the rusted attitudes of authoritarianism, protocol and misuse of delegated responsibilities in public as well as private sectors. The attitudes are cursed by a majority of us in the evening gatherings. We acknowledge the flattery and an unambitious work environment is the killer of personal development and a bombardment of negativity.When an overwhelming majority verbally condemns the negative attitude than still why it sustains and progresses? In this regard, the traditional belief related to improvement; if one merely fixes him/herself it will yield the positive results is a reflection of weakness. This is purely a concede of ground, asking the “reformed link” in the chain to sit and watch as the rust crosses over it to the next in line. The chain has to break at one link to stop the rust from progression. That “determined link” has to set loose the existing rusted attitudes and build a new chain based on professionalism, ambitions and hope.

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting old but on building the new” - Way of the peaceful warrior

United Nations programme UNICEF presented a report in 2012 which quotes Pakistan with over 40% of its population under the age of 18; in addition, 20% of males and 30% of females aged between 15-24 as uneducated. The same report contains facts on the ill infrastructure and contaminated basic food and water intake. There are several challenges at face here; the huge pool of people left out of basic facilities and a massive number of young men and women looking for the “right opportunities”.

Practically, the state itself cannot sustain growing millions in public sector neither can resolve the above problems in near future. Hence initiating a combat of social service by the skilled individuals is in line with the current call to the duty. One of the many ways of doing so is to tend to maximise one’s skills and create an environment supportive of personal development, ambitions, community building and private services. This will trigger a cycle of improvements and pace up the evolution.

“The hung thunderbolt” is a perfect metaphor conceptualising the uncertain yet a high-powered source of tremendous energy in us. The clouds have clapped, the cool breeze has turned wild, and the scent before the rain can be felt; it’s time for the thunder to strike!