To The 10 And Back (part 6) Uncalled Responsibilities
When I was telling about my not_so_enthusiastic inclination into continuing to slog with studies to a friend of mine, she responded "..Anshul, u have been given this intelligence, wouldn't it be a shame if u didn't work on it....". Shame, the word hit me hard. Hmm, was it that bad. I mean, did I sign up for this deal. Well, I am sure happy about the reapings that I am getting but is this what I asked for ? Sure its a good thing to score well, but is it a responsibility to score well given that u have a good brain ? I am not saying its not. But is it ??
There was this quote from the movie National Treasure that Nicolas Cage makes, "If there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action". Is it true ? Well, he was referring to a crisis but is it that u have to take on the responsibility whether u like it or not ?
I mean, sure this is a debatable topic and it did need clarification for me to move on. I was in a fix. I didn't want to slog. I was happy and wud b happy with decent marks, 8 ish. But once the 10 came, well, it bcame a responsibility. I cud make a 10. But does that mean I shud make a 10. Then it dawned on me (actually it dawned just now). There are many in IIT's who can make a 10, but they do not. If I didn't press on, I wud b one of them. Is it wrong to b like them ? I guess not. Its as simple as priorities. Priorities are personal and also dynamic, that is, they change with time and situation. But still, I still sometimes think of the shame that the entire issue brought up for me.
In one way, its good. It pushed me to do things that would help me. Sure it might be painful on the way and I had to slog thru some very sick courses, but, that's how it is. That's the way things are. Good and bad. We sure cud do without the sick courses, but then I had to go thru it like many others did. Sure the education system is all messed up but this is the education system that is in right now. It won't change overnight.
I guess that tho I cribbed a lot, I must accept that there are two sides to everything. The only thing was, that I hoped u ppl wud understand that 10 is not all that it looks like. It isn't.
In my first days in IITK, I and most ppl understood one thing - ppl are not what they look like. Its not written on anyone's face or behaviour that he/she is such_and_such.
Likewise, just bcoz of an image, don't assume that the person will also be like that.
There was this quote from the movie National Treasure that Nicolas Cage makes, "If there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action". Is it true ? Well, he was referring to a crisis but is it that u have to take on the responsibility whether u like it or not ?
I mean, sure this is a debatable topic and it did need clarification for me to move on. I was in a fix. I didn't want to slog. I was happy and wud b happy with decent marks, 8 ish. But once the 10 came, well, it bcame a responsibility. I cud make a 10. But does that mean I shud make a 10. Then it dawned on me (actually it dawned just now). There are many in IIT's who can make a 10, but they do not. If I didn't press on, I wud b one of them. Is it wrong to b like them ? I guess not. Its as simple as priorities. Priorities are personal and also dynamic, that is, they change with time and situation. But still, I still sometimes think of the shame that the entire issue brought up for me.
In one way, its good. It pushed me to do things that would help me. Sure it might be painful on the way and I had to slog thru some very sick courses, but, that's how it is. That's the way things are. Good and bad. We sure cud do without the sick courses, but then I had to go thru it like many others did. Sure the education system is all messed up but this is the education system that is in right now. It won't change overnight.
I guess that tho I cribbed a lot, I must accept that there are two sides to everything. The only thing was, that I hoped u ppl wud understand that 10 is not all that it looks like. It isn't.
In my first days in IITK, I and most ppl understood one thing - ppl are not what they look like. Its not written on anyone's face or behaviour that he/she is such_and_such.
Likewise, just bcoz of an image, don't assume that the person will also be like that.
posted by anshul at 11:50 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with most or perhaps all of what you said. But since it has become a routine to comment on your blogs and since you already said "thank you" and stuff and encouraged me, here goes. I am a firm believer in the saying that Knowlege without Morality is dangerous. We can hassle about the meanings of knowlege and morality and get into deep pholosophical debates but lets not do that here. Let us concentrate on the fact that the situation you are in, your Knowlege will give you great power, sometime in life, and with that Power will come responsibilities. There was the word responsibility somewhere in here and although in that context it really was not a responsibility, in my context it is. This is the real responsibility that you may have to face as a tenner. What are you going to do about it?
Material for a new blog? Or have I been totally incomprehensible? Pardon me, but I've read three papers in a row and am having a severe headache.
Bye
That 'shame' theme struck a chord in me. I think that yeah...since we have above-average (?) intelligence, it does become our responsibility to get to a position where others can benefit from it, family, nation, humankind in general. God has given us this great gift. What are you going to say to Him when He asks you what you did with it?
Now...this does not mean that we totally devote our lives to helping others, I just mean that our general direction of motion should be towards that. Doesn't mean we slog our butts off mugging stuff we don't want to.
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