Hero!

( Its raining outside, after a long time. The first drops of rain always fill me with nostalgia -- sad yet so sweet)

A very common lament, often heard, in all circles is: " What can I do? I am but one man."

This is the most common excuse for people going through their lives as if one is born just to somehow pass the time allotted to him or her on this planet.

But, if we stop to look back and reflect, it will not take long before one realizes that it is the effort of one man that does make a difference. The systems today, any system, are flexible and less rigid. This is to say that people, on all levels, have begin to accept that change is the law of nature and nothing is going to remain the same. In earlier times this was not the case. Take for example the Caste system in India or the Slavery in the west. It took ages and ages for people to fight aginst these before something could be done about them. But it was the effort of individuals that brought about the change in the system.

If a Martin luther king, Jr. or a Mahatma Gandhi or even Jesus Christ had thought that he is but one man, I dont know what shape the world would have been today. All it takes is one man's belief in himself and the people.

They often say that its better to live today, so that you can fight another day. But a true Hero is one, who can go to the battle field against all odds and give his best. Someone who knows that he might lose, someone who accepts that he is facing a stronger enemy, Someone who can go out there knowing that defeat and death await him. If you run away today, the chances that you get another chance tomorrow are slim, and even if you do get a chance it is quite probable that you run away again to fight another day. The time to live in is now, not tomorrow or the day after.

In this context I recall something , I read somewhere, about a man who was sentenced to death. He was sorry for all that he did and in his last moments just wished to get another shot at life, do things differently, live every moment and never waste time in frivolties. He got his chance as he was let free due to some technicality. The first place he visited was a bar to celebrate his new life with a drink. On a smaller scale, I think most of us have gone through the same thing. We have a deadline to meet and we are running late and we promise ourselves that this is the last time this is happening. But come next deadline and the same story repeats itself.

So its time that we stopped blaming the system or destiny or whatever and looked inwards for help. There is much truth in the saying :" God helps them who help themselves".

( Oh! its stopped raining and the Sun is trying to break out from behind the dark clouds)