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TSH 2009 Essay Contest Entry No: 7 (Winning Essay – Priyanka Debnath, Langham Crek HS) “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” This quote by Rabindranath Tagore has continually inspired me in my endeavors and my outlook on life. It has helped me to see the beauty of the obstacles I once viewed negatively in that they add to the lessons I have learned from life. The power of Tagore’s works is not lost, even so many years after his death. One of his most famous quotes is “I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy”. With his words of universal appeal and application, Tagore continues to influence each member of society to better themselves and appreciate the simple joys of life. “I slept and dreamt that life was joy.” As a child, every day is new and exciting, and life is an adventure full of opportunities to learn and discover. A child has no thoughts of sadness or anger, but only those of pure happiness. “Age considers; youth ventures.” As the child ages and enters adulthood, he or she discovers that there are things in life that cause pain and suffering, and that joy is somewhat diminished, giving way to negative thoughts and emotions. Yet, idealistically, every person dreams that life will be full of bliss which can overcome the misery. What many people do not consider is that life itself is a gift we should celebrate. The fact that we have the opportunity to make an impact on the world through our actions we should rejoice about. The obstacles we face are what cause those negative thoughts because so many people believe they diminish happiness. Tagore shows us that these very obstacles can be seen instead as challenges which help us appreciate what we have and find the true joy in the lives we live. A quotation of Tagore’s brings to mind this idea. “I have become my own version of an optimist. If I can't make it through one door, I'll go through another door - or I'll make a door. Something terrific will come no matter how dark the present.” Tagore’s words are timeless, and the idea behind them persists also in the words of Swami Chinmayananda, another great spiritual leader from India, in the quotation “You are successful and creative only when you see an opportunity in every difficulty”. By viewing the obstacles with the optimism that they are something that can be overcome will only enhance the happiness we feel. “I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” The most selfless acts are sometimes the most fulfilling. From my personal experience, I have discovered that I am happiest when I am helping someone else. The feeling I get when I have done something which benefits someone else, no matter how small the task is, cannot be compared to anything but pure bliss. Service to me is anything which is done selflessly, with the intention of furthering someone else’s goals or dreams instead of one’s own. I believe in the same philosophy shown through Tagore’s quote that “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence “. Learning, discovering, and building our own life is integral, but this commonly conceptualized view of education is not the highest form. In my opinion, service is the highest form of education. The life lessons learned and experience gained from helping others are invaluable. As a child, I learned the value of putting others before myself by serving food to the elderly at functions. As I grew older, I gained experience about true friendship and compassion by volunteering in the oncology department of the local hospital. I have found that these experiences and lessons are only those which could have been gained through serving others. Aside from education, the elation I feel when I serve others leads me to believe that as life is joy, and service is life, service is therefore joy. Tagore’s timeless philosophy can be universally applied to our society today. If we remain positive in our outlook and help others to the best of our abilities, we will be able to find the happiness in the simplest aspects of life. There is no more fulfilling experience than that of helping others. Tagore’s philosophy manifested itself in the school he built, Visva-Bharati, to which he donated the money he earned from winning the Nobel Prize and whose textbooks he wrote himself. His dedication to educating people by connecting all parts of the world is one example of how service is joy; the happiness he gained by promoting his idealistic education was immense. Though not every member of society has the same goal as Tagore or the means by which to achieve a goal of that magnitude, it does not mean that they too cannot dedicate themselves to servitude. In today’s society, the opportunities to help others are boundless. The conflicts in Darfur, the growing poverty and illness in third world countries, even the homelessness here in America are examples of where service is needed. Even the simplest of tasks such as serving the homeless in a soup kitchen or helping children at the library constitutes as service. It is selfless activities like these that lead to self fulfillment as well as the betterment of society. This ideal is inescapably evident to all those who behold it. Even the hardest of criminals can be moved by the compassion of selflessness that displays itself when one serves another. If every individual chose to dedicate themselves to aiding and serving a group of people in one aspect of life, the altruism that would abound in the world would in turn help society to see the beauty in Tagore’s words; not only is service be joy, but that life truly is joy. |
