Doodles.pdf Jul. 2014 | Page 89

Life is a journey and it is not the destination that matters. It is important to enjoy the journey as much as the destination or the end results. But most of us forget this truth and kindly follow others, without even realizing our real passion, and at the end we will wish for the courage to have followed our passion. In fact, Robert Frost captured this essence in his poem, ‘The Road Not Taken’ through the lines,“I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference”. Following dreams doesnot always ensures that you donot fail. Failure is a part of life. In fact, the fear of failure is what keeps most people away from pursuing their goals. Facture is sometimes good as it lets us learn from our past mistakes and also makes us humble and it makes the taste of victory sweeter. When Christopher Columbus ventured out to discover a new sea route, he might have also had moments of doubt. But he continued with his dangerous mission because he wanted to be a player in this short game called life. The noted motivational writer Shivkhera has said that winners do not do different things, rather they do things differently. Had it not been the case, the great scientist Thomas Alva Edison, would not have invented the electric bulb, which today is counted amongst the most important invention of science. He had failed quite a number of times before this great invention. But being a person of great will, he refused to be let down by his failures and instead learnt from his mistakes and moved on to create history. His example is apt in the context that “No pain, no gain”. Failures are in fact our greatest teacher. We learn more from our failures than from our success. Paulo Coelho’s ‘The Alchemist’ is a novel that bursts with optimism and tells the story of Santiago, a shepherd boy who has dreams of travel and a treasure. By the end of the novel, however, Santiago discovers that “treasure lies where your heart belongs”, and that the treasure also included the journey and the wisdom he acquired. We see that it is essential to venture out and take our duties and ambitions seriously and pursue them with a passion equal to nothing else and for people, who are still not convinced I shall end with a quote “ If not now, when? ” 91