Filling a Bottle when Its Lid is Closed
I got addicted to dangerous drugs at the age of eighteen (18). I used to think to myself every night that I would stop consuming heroin from the following day, yet, I kept on craving for the same old muck, just as a dog goes back to its own vomit. My decisions and actions were in two different levels of strength. Each time I saw a youngster of my age all dressed up smartly to go to work, I used to decide that I would stop using drugs and commit myself to uplift my future. The craving for drugs that arises in my body simply outcasts the decision I have made to get over the action.
This one foot forward and two feet backwards walking style of mine influenced me to become a loser and a joke to the society. This hypocritic lifestyle of mine of ‘ talking one thing and acting in another manner’, made me an untrustworthy personality to the world. Not even a beggar was interested to have a cup of tea with me as I was deemed a useless man due to my lifestyle of walking backwards. Unfortunately, my associates were also following the same backward walking pattern and none of us took a step ahead because of this contradicting thinking and action pattern.
One of the key differentiating factors between a winner and a loser is their thinking pattern. A winner’s thoughts elevate upwards whereas a loser’s thoughts constantly move backwards. A lady whom I know who is a mother of a teenage daughter, sold her fine car two years ago and bought a car of lesser value and obtained some money out of the transaction. This year she has sold that car as well and started using cabs and tuk tuks, as she has spent that money during the past two years.
All that we could observe is that she is walking backwards in her life. Unfortunately, many of her friends are also those who spend life each day as it comes. For such people temporary pleasures are far more important than long term dreams and goals. After advising her on several occasions, I gave up as I realised that she was not open for advice. It is pointless to toss pearls in front of a donkey, as they do not understand the value of pearls. Similarly, you cannot feed a child if they do not open their mouth for the mother to feed them.
A dirty car cannot be cleaned unless the owner opens its doors willingly for the service station staff to clean it. A wound can never be healed unless the patient allows the doctor to clean it and treat it. The most destructive attitude of a person who walks backwards is that they are blind towards their own mistakes. Are you a person who makes faces and enclose yourself the moment someone tries to correct you? I was a person with that attitude. Whenever someone tries to advise me, I prepare a set of answers to counter attack their advice with what I assume they might give me. There are many people who have died as a result of consuming medicine without a doctor’s prescription.
The worst situation you can be in is to have issues that you do not know you have. Just as you get your body checked physically once a year, it is essential to get yourself evaluated by people who are close and affectionate towards you. If you do not listen to the advice of the people whose intention is to correct you, then you are no different to a patient who throws away the medicine that is given by the doctor.
A tree is meant to grow day by day and supply fruits to the world, yet, if it does not grow well and bear fruit, it would be of no use to itself as well as the world. There are four types of people in this world. The first set of people are those who will never stop growing and moving forward. Then there is another set of people who reach a satisfactory level of success yet they stagnate forever by compromising their achievements. The third set of people are those who reach a certain level and then lose their focus on further growth, they slowly but surely start walking backwards. The fourth set of people are those who never grow and never bear fruits.
Just think along with me for a moment, are you a person who has elevated your generation to the next level from the level you received from your generation? Or are you a person who has stepped backwards from the position you were given from your previous generation? Or are you a person who has not added anything to what you got from your previous generation? Or are you a person who did not receive anything from your previous generation but you have been able to pass on showers of blessings to your children? As for me, we lived on rent during my childhood, but my children are living in a mansion.
It is absolutely alright to be born without a single penny, but it is indeed a curse to die without leaving a penny for the children that you brought to this world. It is undoubtedly a sin to bring a pet dog to your house if you cannot take care of it, just to let it die in suffocation. If you cannot look after a pet then you shouldn’t have brought it home in the first place. This is exactly what a lot of people do, they bring children to this world and let them just suffer in this world.
Have you ever imagined what your spouse, your children or your loved ones would say before your coffin? If you have never thought of it, why not just close your eyes for a moment and imagine what they would say in front of your coffin. Would they appreciate the life you lived or would they be glad you are dead? One day a person who is quite close to me said, “I wish you would die soon”. Today, that very person says that I am a blessing to the entire world. Therefore, do not lose heart based on what has happened in the past.
There is nothing you can do about an ugly painting you have done, but the moment you draw a beautiful painting, people will no longer remember the ugly painting you did in the past. Be determined to create a more powerful present than your past. If you do not commit yourself to make fruitful decisions, then your future will be weaker than your present. A dream will never become a reality if it is not fueled with passion and commitment.
Unfortunately, many people weaken the strength of their dreams through grumbling daily and murmuring rather than fueling their dreams with passion and commitment. Instead of watering and fertilising a plant, what do you think would happen if a dog was allowed to urinate to it on a daily basis? This is exactly what happens when we grumble at challenges rather than courageously challenge the challenges. We have to lead the way for the next generation so that they would not fall into the trap of leading a lifestyle with “one step forward and two steps backwards.