SILENCE IS GOLDEN
In the last seven decades of my living a
pleasant life I found that silence has been the
most beautiful and meaningful voice for me.
So whenever I was in any social conversation
with anyone I found that it was better to cross
the line and suffer the evil consequences than
to just stare at that line for the rest of the
time. Now there are times when my greatest
accomplishment and enjoyment come to me
when I just keep my mouth shut.
Having established this internal sense and
sensibility I could better deal with people and
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understand them and so did the people
around me in a variety of ways:
Often silence has become a real good
answer for my people and me;
All meaningful silent occasions turned
out to be better than my most
meaningless words;
The quieter I became the more I could
hear other people and even myself;
I soon realized that the most powerful
statement was my dignified silence;
When my people did something wrong I
never forgot all the things they did right
silently;
I realized that only those who cared
about me could easily hear me when I
was quiet;
Therefore I came to know that only a few
people care about me and the things
around me whereas the rest of them are
just curious;
I then began to let my people know that
‘Never mistake my silence for my
ignorance’, my calmness for my total
acceptance and all my kindness for my
weaknesses’ ;
Consequently, I began doing little things
for my people and as time went by those
little things silently began to occupy the
biggest part of their hearts and minds;
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I now know for sure that every
successful person begins living with two
solid beliefs and that are that when they
understand the true meaning of the
phrase ‘silence is golden’ then their
future can be better than their present
and they themselves can easily develop
the immense potential and power to
make it so;
So I have silently tried my best not to let
anyone’s ignorance, hate, drama or
negativity stop me from being the better
person I could become;
It became succinctly clear to me that
when anyone gave up it became the
easiest thing in the world to do for them
but to hold it together when everyone
else around them would endeavour to
quietly understand if they fell apart then
it all became their true and greatest
strength;
I then realized that all wise people are
not always silent but they know it fully
well when it is the right time to be so;
Of course, we all are aware that a
moment of patience in a moment of
anger saves us a hundred moments of
pain and regret;
I would never trust someone who lets
me down for more than twice because I
take once as a warning, twice as a good
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lesson and anything more than that is
taking advantage of my silence;
I have never been in competition with
anyone and I have no desire to play the
game of being better than anyone. In my
entire life of 78 years I simply tried to be
better than the person I was yesterday;
Silence for me did not always mean that
I had nothing to say but I realized that
words are not always necessary to
express yourself adequately;
I always believed that small minds
cannot adequately comprehend big and
extended spirits and thoughts so I had
to be strong to be great and be willing to
bear
all
mockery,
hatred
and
misunderstanding of the people around
me;
I now know that someday, everything
and everybody would make perfect
sense to me and so for now I need to
laugh at all the confusion, smile
through my tears and keep reminding
myself that everything happens for a
reason;
I only trust people who can see these
three things in me: My sorrow behind
my smile, the love behind my anger and
the reason behind my silence;
Now silence does not always mean
“YES”. Sometimes it means I am tired of
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explaining important things to my
people who find it hard to understand
me;
So I do not waste my words on people
who deserve my silence because often
the most important thing I can say is
nothing at all;
Often it is best for me to stay quiet
because my silence can speak volumes
without ever saying a word;
I now know that one day I will be just a
memory for my people so let me do my
best to be a good silent admirer of
things, people and places;
Consequently I never go out of my way
to explain anyone my honesty and
worthiness because time has its own
way of silently showing the truth and
worth of people;
My silence and my smiles were two
powerful tools for me and my people
because I believed that smile was one of
the ways to solve problems and silence
was the right way to avoid problems;
My silence never meant that I made an
exit from attachments but it simply
meant that I did not want to argue
unnecessarily with the people who failed
to understand my contentions;
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When I am silent with such odd people
and situations I cannot understand why
I am screaming inside;
Of course, in my many years of
interaction with people I never saw any
light and lamp that were shining more
brightly than the lantern of my silence;
So my best advice to all people has been
twofold. Firstly, silence is the best
answer for all stupid questions.
Secondly, smiling is the best reaction in
all situations;
For me my silence has always has been
my ocean and my humble speeches were
my river because I knew that silence
spoke a million words at times;
I found that the silence of the people
around me was not empty but full of
answers;
Finally without some stupid people
around us we would have no one to
laugh at so it is advisable to take time
and silently appreciate the contributions
of such people;
Therefore in my life before I was ready to
silently THINK I had to find out that
whatever I was thinking had enough
TRUTH in it; it was HELPFUL to and for
me; it INSPIRED me; it was NECESSARY
and it expressed the KINDNESS that I
deserved.
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These then lead us to some of my deep beliefs
that should enable the readers to form their
own opinion on their own beliefs.
I believe in many things that are very personal
to me and I feel that this is an age of faith, in
which I like it or not, I am surrounded by so
many militant creeds that in self-defence, I
have to formulate my own.
Tolerance, good temper and sympathy are no
longer enough in a world which is rent by
religious and racial persecution, in a world
where ignorance rules, and science which
ought to have ruled, plays a subservient pimp.
Tolerance, good temper and sympathy still
matter and if the human race is not to
collapse, I feel they must come to the forefront
before long.
Faith, to my mind is a stiffening process, a
sort of mental starch which ought to be
applied as sparingly as possible. I personally
like the stuff because I do believe in it. My
home is my best temple because I can let
anyone enter it and do whatever good one feels
like doing. I have the right to exclude those
who offend me.
We have to live in this age of Faith- the sort of
things we used to hear praised and
recommended when we were children but as
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we grow up of Faith becomes selective. As a
consequence I am not a person who has blind
faith. I believe in what is right, applicable,
plausible and good for my living and
development.
I have total belief and faith in my relationships
with the Supreme Being and my ancestors
who have given me a firm foundation, a solid
root to stand on and granted me various
applicable knowledge and talents to rely on for
all my future developments. It is because of
these relationships that I am able to get a little
order into the contemporary chaos that the
society
and
community
goes
through
presently.
I am fond of my people who are truthful, good
and beautiful in their words, actions,
thoughts, character and heart. If I find my
people who are reliable then I should also be
reliable. I love to serve my country honestly
and as best as I can but here too my service
has to be legitimate because I firmly believe in
promoting peace and war of any form is
distasteful to me. We as human beings have
the power of negotiation and the essence of
agreeing to disagree with our fellowmen and
fellow women.
This brings me along to democracy, which
starts from the assumption that the individual
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is important and that all types are needed to
make a civilization. It doesn’t divide its citizens
into the bosses and the bossed, as an
efficiency- regime tends to do. The people I
admire most are those who are sensitive and
want to create something or discover
something, and don’t see life in terms of
power, and such people get more of a chance
under democracy than elsewhere.
In my belief democracy has another merit. It
allows criticism and if there isn’t public
criticism there are bound to be hushed-up
scandals. That is why I believe in the press
and the parliament despite all their lies and
vulgarities. So let me hail two cheers for
democracy; one because it admits variety and
two because it permits criticism.
These contentions then bring me to the issue
of force- police force, armed force and judicial
force. In my belief they all are doing their best
in the circumstances but isn’t there a saying
that we could do more to suit the
circumstances. Often we hear legitimate
criticism of these forces. I realize that all
society rests upon force but I believe that they
should not get out of their boxes.
Often the members of the police force do their
job well or bring a wrong person to be tried
but the judicial force often lets them down by
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making decisions that show that their
sentencing and punishments do not suit the
crime. They are too lenient, too harsh or
absurd. I believe that these two forces should
complement each other to keep our society
safe.
I believe that the armed forces should defend
the country and its people rather than be sent
to interfere with the sovereignty of another
nation. Let each country stand for itself and
defend themselves without any interference
from outside forces.
There is of course the concept of hero worship
frequently recommended as a panacea in some
quarters. Hero worship I believe is a
dangerous vice because it produces great
being on the one hand and small people on
the other. This brings inequality and division
in the society. Those that perform heroic deeds
should be humble and remain gentle to be
with the rest of the human kind.
So a lot of changes are needed in the society
and the country generally to enhance the
economic, educational, cultural, social and
political developments. A similar change is
needed in the sphere of morals and politics.
Not by becoming better but by ordering and
distributing the inherent truth, goodness and
beauty will we shut up forces into boxes and
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gain time to explore the world around us to set
our valid marks upon it worthily.
Such changes I believe can come if we have
faith in the Supreme Power and our own
endeavours, talents and actions. There is no
need for division among the human race but a
complete and comfortable belief in unity in
diversity. It is shame that while we practice
our own way of life we have developed a poor
tendency to dislike the culture and belief of
our other members of society who hold and
practice different way of life.
The time is here and now to unite and live
peacefully by loving our neighbours more than
ourselves because they are our best
companions for immediate assistance when
the needs arise. Instead of barking on obsolete
traditional practices and religious dogmas I
believe in liberating ourselves to willingly
respect, to happily honour and to ardently
accept the other point of view.
I firmly believe that we should become more
humans than what we presently show and
practice to share the common elements of the
great teachings of all our religions which are
our love, care and respect for one another.
There lies all our future salvation.
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SURVIVAL OF THE
FITTEST AND THE
LIVING OF THE
SKILLED
I believe that when a person thinks he or she
is about to die, the adrenalin begins to pump
and he or she can become super–human in a
final effort to survive. The effort to survive and
to see another day has always been a problem
since the first human walked the Earth. There
are many obstacles that make living day-to-
day a harsh struggle and many reasons why
some fail to meet the expectations of this
struggle.
In order to survive in this world, people
sometimes go to great lengths. Within them
they carry a spirit that inspires the will to go
on. A girl soccer team battles its way to the
top; a disaster-movie heroine finds the
strength to save herself; a struggling couple
discovers in their love the spirit to go on. All,
no matter what, have an instinct or a survival
attitude that pushes them to become
winners— to overcome the odds they confront.
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The will to survive affects even ordinary
activities such as high school sports
competitions. The girls’ soccer team at a High
School, for example, learned a lot about
survival last year. These girls started out the
season, wanting to achieve great things. We all
knew that they had the talent to win the state
soccer championship, but did they have the
determination to do so?
The season began with a rocky start, including
problems
with
several
team
members
themselves, not to mention facing tough,
higher-ranked competitors. But one game at a
time, the team made it to the state
competition. It was a harsh battle, and there
were plenty of tears along the way, but they
survived the worst the season had to offer and
earned the title of state champions. That is an
example of survival of the fittest.
The will to succeed can train us to survive
under extraordinary circumstances, too. Such
life-and-death situations are the subject of
some of our most successful movies, including
Titanic, the biggest box-office success of all
time. Rose, the movie's glamorous heroine, is
in love with Jack, and the two are struggling
to stay alive as the ship goes down.
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In the final scenes of the movie, Jack dies and
Rose is faced with the challenge of survival.
She can stay in the water and risk the freezing
temperatures and the diminishing possibility
of rescue, or she can use every remaining bit
of strength left in her and summon the lifeboat
that is many yards away, looking to pick up
those alive in the water.
As she sees the lifeboat go by, she finds a
small whistle, uses it to call the boat's
occupants, and is rescued. Someone else
might not have found the strength to go on,
weak and exhausted in the freezing water,
with a true love lost to such enormous
disaster. Rose, however, found the will to
survive. The spirit of survival we admire in the
heroine of Titanic can help us to endure less
glamorous but equally difficult struggles. We
too can learn to survive.
We find such a struggle in many living
examples where courageous people through
their instinct and survival attitude have
overcome the most difficult and demanding
situations of their lives. You may be
exhausted, crying with pain or suffering other
calamities every day and night but if you are
hoping that you will be able to escape from the
hardship that plagues you life, you can do it.
No matter how hard things get, you will be
able to hold on to your hopes for various kinds
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of love. You got to have the will to survive and
you will.
We all have experienced that our lives are
plagued by various kinds of losses, chronic
diseases and other tragedies. Such adversities
help us build our strong character but more
importantly, they show us whether we can
step up to the challenges our life presents. The
will to survive comes from within each one of
us. It is the factor that shapes the way we will
be remembered.
To survive is to continue to live or exist despite
dangerous or life threatening situations. There
are many circumstances that could threaten
the survival of a person or a group of people.
Some of these include dire socio-economic
situations and war. It could also be
unexpected situations which arise suddenly
such as being shipwrecked or marooned on an
uninhabited Island, lost in a desert, or cold
corner of the world, isolated Arctic regions or
in a dense forest.
Looking at these various scenarios, it is clear
that to survive in each of these situations one
would most certainly need somewhat different
sets of skills. Therefore, survival skills have to
be developed and discussed in terms of the
scenario to which they apply and, hence, one
could say that there are physical survival
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skills, social survival skills and economic
survival skills. There may be a few among
others.
Let us assume that you are stranded in a
forest and it is almost night fall. What do you
do? How do you cope before the elements of
the weather or wild animals get to you? How
do you beat the odds and stay alive? The
critical answers to these and similar questions
depend on whether you possess survival skills
or not. It is naïve to believe that a situation
where you will need critical survival skills to
survive will never arise because according to
Murphy’s Law, whatever can go wrong will
certainly go wrong. So it is better to be
prepared for the unexpected by developing
critical skills needed to survive extreme
situations.
During my adolescence years I used to
accompany my father on various hunting
expeditions. One such trip took us to the
forests of the mountain range commonly
known as the Sleeping Giant. The running of a
few wild goats made my father follow them
deeper into the forest beyond the huge rocks. I
as