When young we always have many dreams and ambitions that wag our bottom to move on. We see people with beautiful houses and cars, with handsome husbands or drop-dead beautiful wives, we see bosses ordering people around, we see rich people buying up anything that attracts their fancy, we see film stars being hounded by fans and admirers, we see statesmen and political leaders telling people what to do to serve their country... And we get fired up with ambition, with volition and with a determination to achieve similar goals.
The unachieved keeps us going, The unachievable makes us reschedule our life-goals. There are various degrees of achievementand various levels of satisfaction. Logically, the things that we have achieved and sort of satisfied our desire, should reduce the intensity of our efforts, energy and resources, spent in that direction. Does it work that way. Hell, no. People who are powerful strive on for more power, those who are filthy rich may do even filthy things to become richer, the lovable film stars keep on searching for more love and adulation to improve their score, and the mighty and powerful strive on to subjugate everything possible...
We see them around us. Unknowingly, we could be one of them. The little success that we achieve becomes a powerful booster to keep accelerating our effort to achieve more of the same. Until suddenly the social combustion engine coughs and staggers and goes kaput. That's ok. What's not ok is that we leave behind a mess, a confusion and a society that has lost its bearing. Worst, we leave behind a crowd of wanabes who will fight each other to usurp the place that has been left vacant, or even knock away the lame incumbent who refused to buzz off.
Does that keep society moving up in the right direction? I don't think so. That's the kind of thing that makes a society repeat the mistakes of the past for those taking over from those who have dropped off or were hounded away are driven by the same
ambition and desire as espoused by their predecessors. Many a time it is the unwilling inheritor of a legacy, with no pretension or real ambition for self-glory, who will bring new successes to society. How seldom do we find such people as against those who are just too eager to take over from those who have dropped out or were forced out!
7 comments:
Nice! Banyak implied meaning but it describe the truth and what's happening in our society today. I wish I could write this way.
Anyway, after the administration of our beloved Tun M, many viewed he had put a very high benchmark and some yang were little kittens turned tigers after he retired. Even society yang used to chant Malaysia Boleh now dah jadi Malaysia Boleh kah? Hehehe
Anyway, about direction ... I read in some articles in a woman's magazine ... do not fear that u climb the social or career ladder latter in life. Because when U reach the top too soon ... what next?
Quite true ... don;t u think so?
I totally agree with u. Reaching the top of the social or career ladder too soon, is certainly a problem, like a young Minister who is not reelected or reappointed. What next but return to base. Must be a traumatic experience. But not so if he or she had been a reluctant holder of the post, pushed by public demand and not self-interest.
He or she held the post in trust and would be just too happy to relinquish it and become a normal citizen again. Do we see such attitude here? Everyone seems to want to cling on to a cushy job for life and pass it on to his/her sibling.
Dato',
Your concluding paragraph is just like a mirage whereby it is almost impossible to find those who fills up the shoes of power through the ballot box by sheer altruistic aims.
It is human nature once a person tastes power, unless he is a puritan, he becomes intoxicated by it, thus clinging to a slender thread even before letting it go.
The question is AHS ( or would ABHAS be a more appropriate abbr?), who made human power-hungry and greedy? Allah or dunia? Can't we find the honest-to-goodness man anymore? Is our education sytem and system of social sanctions properly geared towards producing the God-fearing man? As u said, once a man had a taste of power he will try to cling on to it even when it's as thin as a piece of thread. Salam.
Dato',
When Man was first created, he was free from evil until his partner was created from one of his ribs and both were misled by the devil. So began Man's journey in this world balancing his " Nafs " and " Iman " through what had been sent through HIS Messengers since time immemorial. Finally our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) closed the Messengerhood and left his legacy in the form of the Al-Quran and the Hadith. Our struggle has always been to keep within the parameters that ALLAH has given humankind and not to transgress the boundaries. But it all depends on how strong is the hold of the beliefs is internalised. No matter how much education one receives but the most important thing is whether one lives up to those beliefs.
Ana setuju sangat-sangat AHS,(btw pls drop the dato & call me norzah je). Dlm hal ini Ana cuma berpegang pd ayat al-quran:
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَنْ زَكَّاهَا
Sesungguhnya berjayalah orang yang menjadikan dirinya yang sedia bersih bertambah-tambah bersih (dengan iman dan amal kebajikan),
10. وَقَدْ خَابَ مَنْ دَسَّاهَا
Dan sesungguhnya hampalah orang yang menjadikan dirinya yang sedia bersih itu susut dan terbenam kebersihannya (dengan sebab kekotoran maksiat).
tq again, salam.
I will from now on address you as you please, ie. Sdr. Norzah. Not wanting to be misconstrued as unschooled, that's why I addressed you as such.
I am grateful for your guidance and willingness to share your thoughts and knowledge. Salam and thank you.
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