Races —Worth Running

 I was walking down the lane looking straight on an endless road; at  the far end I could see a canopy of trees making the way seem more  greener and aesthetic. The pleasant soothing fresh air all around was  very refreshing which made me not to worry about the destination the way  was leading to.  As it was early in the morning there were dewdrops  scattered around on flowers and leaves. The sun was slowly rising;  marking its importance, as the intensity of rays increased everything  around grew luminous and the flowers blossomed with fine texture and  aroma. Brain is the craziest organ, I don’t have any idea of how it works, and it has an amazing working pattern.  A second before I was experiencing the beauty of nature, but not long  suddenly I was surrounded by a flurry of thoughts, I sat down on a bench  which was under a tree watching the kids enjoying their early summer  coaching camp.

 I saw a man calling everybody in the ground to assemble  at one place nearby a mark in white. He randomly selected ten members  and asked them to stand on the mark in front of them; with the above  actions I could understand that there was a 100 meter race on the cards. The man blew the whistle and the kids started running with all the  determined expressions on their faces. Looking at the kids I thought  there are more races to be run in the coming days and everyday will not  be a sunshine day. There will be days when even standing in the storm will be difficult, but still there will be a race on.In the verge of winning the so called battles we all keep that extra effort  and so were kids but in vain one young boy fell to the ground and was  bleeding in the knees, some just looked back, some had the a pity filled  expression, but none stopped, that’s the way life is, Everybody has  their own race to run. The boy in spite of the agony he was facing he didn’t give up , he  raised ,stood on his feet with all the pain and made an effort to run  again , Looking at his determination , the coach had a smile on his face  and was feeling proud of the boy. All the other boys finished their  race but they stood on the mark facing the injured boy and were  encouraging by clapping and shouting “Come on”   

The boy finally made it with all the pain and the other boys gave him  a lift they carried him on his shoulders and were happy, the boy was  delighted he looked at the sky, had a sigh of relief and said “Yes“. But to be frank I was confused and we all shall be because he did not win the race; I  went up to him and asked him “Why you are so happy, even though didn’t  win the race?” He replied “Yes but if I had not completed the race  everybody might have been sad”. I got a straight answer and I left the place congratulating the boy. I pondered over the scene having a cup of coffee watching the birds  flying high from the balcony of my room. The boys words had a deep  impact on me.His response was straight but there were several  implications that I could figure out from his words.

 We all are in the race, our strength lies in living up to the  challenge be it failure or be it success, what always counts in, is the  heart to accept both and moving on. I also realized how people  perceive success in their own way. Winning the race was success to all  other boys but completing the race and making every one’s day was more  of importance to him. May be that’s why they say “one man’s meat is another man’s poison”.