Everybody knows the classic Aesop fable of the tortoise and the hare, where in a race between the two, the proud hare loses to the slow and steady tortoise. With the advent of the internet and its global reach, it has sparked off creativity and imagination in each and every one of us. One of the email forwards I got was a story,a variation to this classic fable, which I absolutely loved.
A proud hare challenged a tortoise to a race. A fox decided the track and agreed to be the judge of the race. The whistle blew and the race began. The hare sprinted off quickly leaving the tortoise behind. A few minutes passed before the rabbit came to a stop at a river bank. The finish line was beyond the bank and the rabbit could not cross it. So, it waited by the river bank trying to figure out what to do.
As the rabbit sat there thinking, tortoise reached the river bank. The rabbit was ashamed to look at the tortoise and kept its head bowed down. The humble tortoise asked the rabbit to climb on its back. After a lot of hesitation and a lot of pursuing by the tortoise, the rabbit sat on the tortoise’s back. Together they crossed the river. Once they reached the other bank, the tortoise had resigned to the fact that the rabbit will sprint to the finish line right away. But it was taken aback when the hare asked the tortoise to climb on its back.
When they both together crossed the finish line, there was a thunderous applause from all the viewers in the jungle.
While you would have found the story to be too simple that it is childish or you would have guessed the ending from the first line of this story, the point that this story makes, is simply beautiful. This story is built on the concept of co-existence. Co-existence operates under the fundamental assumption that there will always be someone or something more powerful than you (Oh, and btw, I am not endorsing the existence of God or any such being through that line!). Imagine the entire world as a forest and only this hare and this tortoise exist on this earth. The hare and the tortoise will co-exist.
For those who find it hard to understand this term, I would like to rule out the following meanings my above statement could have implied.
• The hare needed the tortoise and depended on it for survival.
• The tortoise needed the hare and depended on it for survival.
• The tortoise and the hare should stay together at all times and fight off the unknown mysteries of this earth.
• Tortoise has to become the master of the seas and Rabbit has to become the ruler of the land.
No No No No. They co-exist. They realize that they exist in this world. Its as simple as that. Do not try to extrapolate this sentence beyond what it means.
The very fundamental concept of domination lies in a desperate attempt to control. The limited time that we have on this earth, domination stresses on finding control in this world, in this birth.
The only truth lies in the quote “Nothing is permanent except change”. Now, operating from this universal truth, the concept of control is flawed, because it operates under the fundamental aim to defeat change and time.
Now, I am not saying that working hard to earn your living or aiming to become like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs is wrong, just because we are going to die one day. How we live this short life is also equally important. But how you live that short life is where ethics and moralities have to be observed. If you ask why one should observe that, the answer is that ethics and morals are the by-products of our power of reasoning, the only thing that distinguishes humans from animals.
Let us consider the following situations:
• A lady harasses her daughter-in-law and her parents to pay more dowry and doesn’t get satisfied with what she gets.
• A husband beats his wife in the middle of a street in front of everyone.
• A wife beats the crap out of her husband to ensure he stays in line.
These scenarios may be very familiar to you or you would have at least read about them. We see many different types of domination – male domination, female domination etc. And every single one of those concepts is bull shit, because the fundamental concept of domination itself is flawed.
To a guy who thinks women are stupid and dumb, and that men are superior and women have no purpose but to serve men, I say “You are due at a psychiatrist asap. Women don’t need to serve under men. Just because they are different from men doesn’t mean they fall behind in your stupid race about superior species.”
To a woman who thinks men are nowhere near women’s intellect and abilities and men will always treat women like shit and so they have to prove them that they are superior, I say “Not all men are like that. And just because you hate being dominated, women dominating men is not the cure to abolishing the above mentioned guy’s mentality. It is very important for you to clarify what you are fighting against and how you go about doing the same.”
In short, the concept of domination is nothing but a mirage, a route to salvation that doesn’t exist. If there is anything that I would like to change in this world, it is that people understand this fact about domination and evolve.
Men and women are different and they have to co-exist. After all, we are all human beings.
Live and Let Live !
This article has been written for the "Time to Change" contest conducted by Indiblogger. Do check out the following link: www.facebook.com/sftimetochange
A proud hare challenged a tortoise to a race. A fox decided the track and agreed to be the judge of the race. The whistle blew and the race began. The hare sprinted off quickly leaving the tortoise behind. A few minutes passed before the rabbit came to a stop at a river bank. The finish line was beyond the bank and the rabbit could not cross it. So, it waited by the river bank trying to figure out what to do.
As the rabbit sat there thinking, tortoise reached the river bank. The rabbit was ashamed to look at the tortoise and kept its head bowed down. The humble tortoise asked the rabbit to climb on its back. After a lot of hesitation and a lot of pursuing by the tortoise, the rabbit sat on the tortoise’s back. Together they crossed the river. Once they reached the other bank, the tortoise had resigned to the fact that the rabbit will sprint to the finish line right away. But it was taken aback when the hare asked the tortoise to climb on its back.
When they both together crossed the finish line, there was a thunderous applause from all the viewers in the jungle.
While you would have found the story to be too simple that it is childish or you would have guessed the ending from the first line of this story, the point that this story makes, is simply beautiful. This story is built on the concept of co-existence. Co-existence operates under the fundamental assumption that there will always be someone or something more powerful than you (Oh, and btw, I am not endorsing the existence of God or any such being through that line!). Imagine the entire world as a forest and only this hare and this tortoise exist on this earth. The hare and the tortoise will co-exist.
For those who find it hard to understand this term, I would like to rule out the following meanings my above statement could have implied.
• The hare needed the tortoise and depended on it for survival.
• The tortoise needed the hare and depended on it for survival.
• The tortoise and the hare should stay together at all times and fight off the unknown mysteries of this earth.
• Tortoise has to become the master of the seas and Rabbit has to become the ruler of the land.
No No No No. They co-exist. They realize that they exist in this world. Its as simple as that. Do not try to extrapolate this sentence beyond what it means.
The very fundamental concept of domination lies in a desperate attempt to control. The limited time that we have on this earth, domination stresses on finding control in this world, in this birth.
The only truth lies in the quote “Nothing is permanent except change”. Now, operating from this universal truth, the concept of control is flawed, because it operates under the fundamental aim to defeat change and time.
Now, I am not saying that working hard to earn your living or aiming to become like Bill Gates or Steve Jobs is wrong, just because we are going to die one day. How we live this short life is also equally important. But how you live that short life is where ethics and moralities have to be observed. If you ask why one should observe that, the answer is that ethics and morals are the by-products of our power of reasoning, the only thing that distinguishes humans from animals.
Let us consider the following situations:
• A lady harasses her daughter-in-law and her parents to pay more dowry and doesn’t get satisfied with what she gets.
• A husband beats his wife in the middle of a street in front of everyone.
• A wife beats the crap out of her husband to ensure he stays in line.
These scenarios may be very familiar to you or you would have at least read about them. We see many different types of domination – male domination, female domination etc. And every single one of those concepts is bull shit, because the fundamental concept of domination itself is flawed.
To a guy who thinks women are stupid and dumb, and that men are superior and women have no purpose but to serve men, I say “You are due at a psychiatrist asap. Women don’t need to serve under men. Just because they are different from men doesn’t mean they fall behind in your stupid race about superior species.”
To a woman who thinks men are nowhere near women’s intellect and abilities and men will always treat women like shit and so they have to prove them that they are superior, I say “Not all men are like that. And just because you hate being dominated, women dominating men is not the cure to abolishing the above mentioned guy’s mentality. It is very important for you to clarify what you are fighting against and how you go about doing the same.”
In short, the concept of domination is nothing but a mirage, a route to salvation that doesn’t exist. If there is anything that I would like to change in this world, it is that people understand this fact about domination and evolve.
Men and women are different and they have to co-exist. After all, we are all human beings.
Live and Let Live !
This article has been written for the "Time to Change" contest conducted by Indiblogger. Do check out the following link: www.facebook.com/sftimetochange
