Who am I?
By: Rahul (May 16th, 2008)The world has become very busy. Everywhere people are running. Running for what? Status? Money? Fame? Success? In this mad rat race people have surely forgotten who they are and what is it that they really and truly want. Are the things that they run after, the things that they really want or are their real needs something else? Do they stop running once they get what they were running for in the first place?
In some of our metros, people don’t have time even to meet their children. They meet them on Sundays, because on weekdays, when children leave for school, parents are sleeping and when parents return home in the night, the children are sleeping. So what is it that is so big that people are running after it at the cost of their family life and even their own lives?!
In Mumbai, they are running on the platforms, to the bus stands, on the roads, in the markets, to the clients, even to the garden! I mean, they are so determined, engrossed and focused in their running that I am sure they will not notice even their parents if they pass by them. What is the use of such a living? I read somewhere that the irony of the rat race is that at the end of the race you realise that you are only a rat!
Well, this is not just the story of Mumbai. Increasingly, everywhere, the situation is becoming the same. Money is everything. Everything is measured against money. Everything is sieved through the filter, money. Everything is viewed through the lens, money. Money has invaded each aspect of our thinking. People have given up family values and respect of elders in the name of privacy and pragmatism, so much so that even simple opinions of parents are viewed as interference! Where are we heading to?
I think each person needs to ask who he is, where he is from, what is the purpose of his life? My quest lead me to a God who I believe made me and had a purpose with my life. Without him, all my running would be like chasing after the wind, and even if I did manage to accumulate and get for myself a whole lot, I would still suffer an identity crisis. I would still grapple with the question of who I am, what is my purpose? Can I run away from Him? I mean, can we run away from this question?
There are time outs that we need to take and tackle this fundamental lacuna. The earlier the better! If we don’t, then we will surely keep running and running and then encounter this question at a later stage. At that time it would look really silly even to ask ourselves this question, “Who am I?” After having made it big in the world, after having gained so much after so many sacrifices, if at the end of the day we have to start answering basic questions like “Who am I, where am I from, what is the purpose of my life?”, what can be more pitiable? I hope you understand what I am saying. It makes everything all the more meaningless!
As for me I found my answers in Jesus. I found in him the way, the truth and life. I found in him, some one to carry by burdens and cares. I found in him my identity. I found in him, my purpose. I found in him, my hope and destiny. I was stumped by the question, “What use it is to gain the whole world and lose one’s own soul?”
Stop and think. Find your answer before it is too late.
Tags: family life, Rat race
May 16th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
its like a runner going on a quest for meaning and purpose and identity after the race is done….
a fighter doing the same after the battle…
and the sad part is….that lives of people are being short circuited by untoward and unexpected incidents like blasts, quakes and sudden and mysterious illnesses…!!