Sahil Sharifdin Bhat
Those who have no business of their own interfere with the business of others. Those who have no dreams of their own are hired or used to fulfill the dreams of others . Those who don’t try to become heroes have no option but to become fans of others. In simple terms, the cheap people are cheap from several angles and the great people are great almost from every angle.
Allama Iqbal has composed an amazing quatrain titled the lion and mule. It is actually a short dialogue between the lion and the mule. Once the lion praised the mule saying that he was a very unique and impressive animal. He carried enormous weight and ran swiftly. The lion further asked him to introduce himself to him ( the lion ) — to tell him the name of his father and the name of his tribe. The mule felt ashamed to mention that he was the son of the donkey. Therefore, he said that the famous royal horse of some city was his maternal uncle. The moral of the story is that those who possess nothing special of their own to flaunt brag shamelessly about the things which their distant relatives, friends or idols have.
Similarly, a chinar tree stands on its own whereas, a grapevine or a pumpkin plant needs a support to stand on. The point I want to drive home to readers is that it is futile to bark in favour of someone or against someone when one can do something constructive for himself or his family. I have observed that there are countless people out there, who waste their time and energy glorifying their friends, relatives, teachers, doctors, neighbours, leaders, celebrities and whatnot. In most of these cases, the glorified has no idea whatsoever about his glorifier. These glorifiers get started anywhere — during travel, on a shop, in classroom, in a domestic assembly or on the social media. They are not paid to do. However, they may be attention seekers or they may have a serious psychological disorder. In fact, they don’t know consciously the reason of this weird addiction. They just do it. Probably because they need to vent their anxiety, frustration and depression. They must needs divert their minds off the pain, problems, miseries and misfortunes in their lives. They are referred as ‘barkers’ in the language of netizens. Usually, the topic on which they pass their unwanted opinions are not even remotely connected to them. Since they have time, they do not delay giving their opinions on anything or anyone. These barkers are very clever. They don’t comment on useful topics. They always prefer controversial topics. If you upload on your social media account some popular quote or a holy verse or a great poem or a story with a moral, it will go unnoticed. Unless they get an excuse to bark at you, they do not open their mouths or care to comment on your post. I have seen many professors uploading many inspirational things on the social media and receiving hardly any comment. On the contrary, one happens to see on daily basis, something nonsense uploaded from a female account or from fake accounts or from the account of some street dancer or a bathroom singer or a so called tiktok star with millions of likes and comments. One at times wonders how come these barkers from various regions have similar mindsets ? When they troll someone , they are united. When they appreciate something, they are united. When they ignore something, they are again united. They may not know ABC of religion but they do not hesitate to lecture the innocent people on the social media on religion and good manners. It is hilarious to see an alcoholic lecturing a well-educated and well-mannered person on manners and etiquettes on the social media. The trolls attack anyone anytime without any rhyme or reason. They invent all kinds of excuses for all types of people. They pass judgement on university education without even being in any university. They find faults with scriptures without ever reading one. They attack any person on the social media without even knowing anything properly about him. It seems that their job is to eat, drink and bark at others. When they earn, what they wear, what they eat, how they run their families or how they have so much sphere time, all that is a mystery. It is unbecoming of a truly educated person to be a troll or barker or backbiter and thus waste his time and energy for nothing. It is utterly foolish to hurt known and unknown people in real life or on the social media. The praiseworthy principle is to speak only when it is necessary and useful. It just takes a few seconds to hurt people but it takes decades to persuade them. You don’t have to be a philosopher to know the fate of those who waste their time and energy on futile things. The one who keeps speaking, writing or thinking on the fame, beauty, happiness, success or failures of others and does not bother about his own success and happiness is a big loser. In case, he is not a big loser today, he surely will be tomorrow.
On the other hand , there are people who know the value of their time and energy and they spend these gifts carefully. They mind their own business. They have no time for trolling, backbiting, commenting, peeping and peeking. They are good today and they will be better tomorrow. They are happy and share their happiness with others. They are peaceful and spread peace around . In fact , people share with others what they have in abundance. A frustrated and depressed individual shares nothing but frustration and depression with others. Where will an ideal student get time for backbiting and trolling? Where will an ideal teacher get time for gossiping about others? The head of an efficient doctor is always filled with causes and treatments of diseases. An honest advocate is constantly worried about his clients and their cases. A successful businessman is swamped with his growing business. A devoted soldier concentrates on war strategies. A good mother focuses on her recipes to enhance the flavour of the dishes she cooks. A caring father struggles day in and day out to improve the standard of living of his kids. All these people are performers . They have all the time to love themselves and no time to hate others. They have all the time to upgrade themselves and no time downgrade, humiliate or talk ill of others. They don’t bother about the homes, clothes, cars, culture, faith, faces and voices of others . They bother about themselves.
One of the signs of the successful people on this planet is that they either speak good things or remain silent. They don’t get provoked. They know the value of their time and energy. They never bother to respond to barkers. They know that silence is the most beautiful answer. They abort the missions of all attention seekers by observing silence. It is said that when you remain angry with someone for a minute, you waste sixty seconds of your precious life. Stay away from barkers and be a better performer by doing something more beautiful for yourself or your family. There is no need to open your mouth to impress the people around. Let your success impress them. Be a beautiful silent rose and let your fragrance attract the people.