Opinion and Influence

In this beautiful journey called life, every single day we come across people of different kinds. There are few who are meant to stay forever, while others are there for different wavelengths of time. But each one of them gets a part in the story of our life, just like we add to theirs. While some may take a single paragraph or a page in the book of  life, some are chapters who are meant to stay  through the course of time. As we grow, our stories diverge in different directions with different people, as sub phases of the main plot of dear life. And in this process lies the very beauty of  life, making it even more varying and versatile.

But with this diversity comes in the concept of acceptance, rejection, judgment and perception. We as humans attach notions with every experience, interaction and feeling. They say we have no right to form an opinion of someone based on how they appear on the face of it unless we know their story and step into their shoes. They say be as kind and compassionate as possible to the ones you interact with, for you never know what the other is going through emotionally, mentally or physically. Yet we end up judging and forming an opinion of anyone and everyone, be it consciously or subconsciously. Of a lot of people who you meet in life, you will find some who are warm, caring and emotional, and others who appear rather cold and reserved, some who are chirpy and happy, while others who keep quiet and enjoy the silence. Some may make you smile, while the others may leave you feeling frustrated all the time.

The combination of attributes in these people is never-ending, for two persons can be somewhat similar, but never the same. For people are made out of their past, situations, ambitions, feelings and their state of mind. And what matters is how you deal with such opinions, instead of imposing them or letting them out in the open, being human enough to keep them privately to yourself. For we may not know or realise, how one unkind word, gesture or reaction could affect someone’s self-confidence, push them deeper into distress and make them feel even more undermined. It could make them question their worth or life, and break them down completely from inside. We are gifted with the power of influencing lives, why not show some compassion and make someone rise?

Everyone is fighting a battle of their own, some which we might even be aware of, but we can never feel it in the same way as someone who actually deals with it every single day. For smiling faces often hide and the silent ones are strong inside. And if once, for once, we could keep our prejudices, opinions and preferences aside and see people in a new light, the world would be a different place. A better place.

The One who Loves “More”

They say in life, your greatest wealth is not the that money you earn or the things that you own, but it is the relations that you build. If you have even one person who will stand by you through the ups and downs,highs and lows, then you’ve earned success in this game called life. Relations are the foundations and pillars of survival in the journey of life. There are some relations that we’re gifted by blood, and others that we build through the feelings of love and trust. But more than anything, a relation is a special bond of your emotional vulnerability that you share with a person. The extent to which you expose the colours of your inner self, is what defines the relation between the two.

What we grew up hearing was that mutual effort, trust and respect is required to make any relation work. But as we grew up and came face to face with reality, the harsh truth of life started to dwell upon us. We realised that firstly, no two relations can ever be the same, and secondly, there is hardly anything that is put in equally by two people. There isn’y a concept of half and half, there is always an unequal ratio. There is always the one who is more loving , or more sacrificing, or putting in more efforts than the other into the relation in order to sustain it. And emotionally, one of the most devastating things you could do to yourself is to be the one more giving. If what you give is what you get, why is the one putting in more left with a void of unhappiness?

But one thing which undoubtedly true and absolutely unquestionable, is the fact that this class of “more” people possess an exceptional amount of courage and strength. On the face of it they may seem weak for holding on too much, but they are the ones who learn the art of giving and expecting nothing in return at a very early stage, without being taught. They know the pain of hidden desires, yet they act as shields and mentally protect the other. They know how to suppress their own feelings in order to deal with someone’s emotional unavailability. And most importantly, they know how to not give up even when they see little or no light from the other end of the tunnel.

Being the more loving one in any relation is heart breaking, but it is also an act of great selflessness, something we find rather rarely with mankind today. It depicts how relations and people are valued over the feeling of always being taken for granted, and also how love overpowers ego. And nothing deserves more appreciation and respect than such courage, because no regret is greater than the loss of something so irreplaceable.