Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Bundle

How many times is a ‘bundle of 100 sticks’ stronger than each of them?

Well the answer is not 100. Where does the additional strength come from? Does it come from the thread that makes the sticks a bundle? In-fact not, and further more, the thread by itself is useless without the sticks. It is the unity that makes the difference. Things like these look obvious in case for stuff like sticks, but not so very obvious in real life.

How many times did you really appreciate someone? And how many times of this appreciation is for a deed instead of an achievement? And again the answer is not any number. At least, I don’t mind accepting that I do not do it very often. Not that I am doing a crime or that I am unethical, but just that my sense of reality is like this:

  • To do a real difference to the world around me, I have to be successful
  • To be successful, I should concentrate on self-improvement
  • Self-improvement for me is to constantly compare myself with others, if not dominating them.

This is something that I’ve adapted from the society that I’ve grownup in. And this I think is the case with many of us, just that the intensity varies from one to another. Symptoms of which I see in our group’s chats where the discussions on new ideas seem to die faster, whereas the conversations on tripping live the longest. I remember that when I missed 1st rank in my 3rd grade, I envied the ones who got 1st and 2nd and when I was 1st in the next exam, the ones who got 2nd and 3rd now envy me ☺. Though this struggle appears just in this case, the same attitude appears detrimental when you are up-to something in life. The reason is simple: a bundle is always stronger and that strength is what drives you to what you are up-to.

So I started thinking what does it take to make us a bundle. May be 2 things:

1) Willingness of the individual sticks to form a bundle
2) The thread that makes the individuals a bundle

So first of all the willingness is important. This post is my confession to our group that I will give up my sense of reality and stop believing that “energy can never be created, and that I have to prove others weak to make myself strong(er)” and start believing that "creation is possible".
Standing in this place I started thinking of the twine that makes the bundle. This should be the possibility that each of us sees for us as a group, the possibility of leadership, joy, happiness and achievement.

It is just one day that I’ve taken up this new belief system, and I can see that creation is possible. Candy started writing his blog, our group have been together for dinner after almost 10 months playing air hockey.

Not bad huh? After all, the journey is what makes it worthwhile than the destination itself.


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